ENG-1955 — Page 210

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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servants at Leighton Hill and above Conduit Road. These comprise a total of 99 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats. The Conduit Road block, which has been named Chater Hall, occupies part of the site of the former Marble Hall, the home of the late Sir Paul Chater, who bequeathed the property to the Government.

The new Colonial Secretariat and Council Chamber in Lower Albert Road, and a block of government offices in Shamshuipo were under construction at the end of the year. Working drawings were being prepared for Public Works Department branch offices in Kowloon, and for two further ten-storey blocks of flats similar to Chater Hall and those at Leighton Hill.

The Sai Wan Military Cemetery, laid out by the Public Works Department in accordance with drawings prepared by the Imperial War Graves Commission, was completed and officially opened in February.

Water-borne sewage systems are provided in nearly all built-up areas, including the larger towns in the New Territories. As reconstruction of old buildings and the erection of large new blocks of flats continues, the number of new connexions made is steadily increasing. Many of the older sewers are thus becoming loaded beyond their designed capacity, and the work of re-laying and enlarging them is going steadily forward. Major schemes have also been approved for the provision of intercepting sewers, which will abolish the numerous outfalls into the harbour and bring the sewage to selected sites, where it will be chemically treated and thereafter discharged via submarine outfalls. The first project, covering the west side of the Kowloon Peninsula, is nearing completion, and the second, which will cover the Wantsai area, will shortly be started.

Surface water, draining from the hills through built-up areas, was originally led to the sea via large open-trained channels, known locally as nullahs, which passed down the centres of roads, with bridges at road intersections. These nullahs were frequently 10 feet or more wide and almost square in section, and with the tremendous increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic it became essential that such obstructions be removed. During the last four years work on this has proceeded steadily, and many nullahs have been either decked or culverted, greatly relieving congestion on a number of main traffic routes.

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