Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/139

Rh Notwithstanding the large Tytam works, the supply still proved to be inadequate, and in 1895 the raising of Tytam dam for a further height of 12½ feet was proceeded with. This increased the capacity of the reservoir to 385,000,000 gallons. Subsequent additions to the works include storage reservoirs at Wongneichung Gap (1899), and below the overflow of Tytam reservoir (1904) with capacities of 30,000,000 and 22,000,000 gallons respectively; the construction of nearly 5 miles of catchwaters; additional filter-beds and, finally, a low-level storage reservoir (1907) in the Tytam Valley, with a capacity of 196,000,000 gallons. To render the supply from the last-mentioned source available, pumping engines capable of raising 2,500,000 gallons per day have been installed, and 3¼ miles of 18-inch cast-iron mains have been laid. The combined capacity of all the existing storage reservoirs is 699,000,000 gallons, but, by the insertion of sluice boards on the overflow weirs, this is increased to 747,000,000 gallons.

A scheme for the construction of another low-level reservoir to contain 1,200,000,000 gallons has been prepared but has not yet been undertaken. A large increase in the pumping plant will be necessary in connection with this scheme and the rising main will have to be duplicated.

The frequent occurrence of periods of scarcity, owing to severe droughts, has rendered it necessary to adopt some means of economising the consumption of water. The means adopted has been the laying, throughout the Chinese quarters of the city, of what are known as rider mains, with which all house services are connected. These are subsidiary mains controlled by valves, by means of which the supply of water to the houses can be temporarily discontinued without rendering it necessary to obstruct the flow in the principal mains, with which the fire hydrants are connected. The supplies to all European houses, which are connected with the principal mains, are metered.

The only supply obtainable by the inhabitants of Kowloon up to the end of 1895 was from wells, many of which were privately owned. In that year, a supply derived from springs in some of the larger valleys in British Kowloon was rendered available by pumping, the necessary engines, mains, service reservoirs, &amp;c., having been installed. The quantity obtained from this source was about a quarter of a million gallons a day, which sufficed for a period to meet the needs of the inhabitants, but, by the lime the new territories were acquired (1898), an increased supply had become a matter of urgent necessity. Works were therefore undertaken at the earliest possible opportunity for intercepting the waters of some streams on the Kowloon range of hills, thus rendering available an additional supply of 100,000 gallons per day which was laid on in 1900. It was, however, recognised that substantial works, including a storage reservoir of considerable capacity, must be undertaken, and a scheme, which is now (1908) nearing completion, was put in hand in 1902. It includes a storage reservoir (capacity 350,000,000 gallons); a large catchwater, 2 miles in length, to supplement the natural catchment area; filter beds; a large covered service reservoir; 4 miles of main, 18 inches and 12 inches in diameter; and numerous subsidiary mains for distribution purposes.

Public Lighting.—In 1857 the lighting of the streets in the city by oil lamps was undertaken, but this gave way in 1865 to gas lighting, a private company for the manufacture and supply of gas having been formed and entrusted by the Government with the public lighting. In 1890 a considerable section of the city was illuminated by electric arc lamps, but from the fact that no extension of this system has ever been carried out it may be concluded that the gas lighting, which has been altered to the incandescent system throughout, is regarded as the more suitable form of illumination. In Kowloon, no lighting of any kind existed prior to 1892, when the Gas Company extended its operations to the other side of the harbour and laid down a small gas works, enabling the lighting of the peninsula to be carried out. A comparatively short length of road has since been lighted by electric incandescent lamps, a company having been established for the supply of electricity to consumers generally. The lighting of the roads in the Hill District by means of incandescent gas lamps was carried out in 1905. Lighthouses.—The importance of lighting the approaches to the harbour seems only to have been recognised in comparatively recent years. In 1875 the first of the lighthouses, containing a first-order light, was completed at Cape D'Aguilar, and this was followed a few months later by another on Green Island containing a fourth-order light. In 1876 a sixth-order light was established on Cape Collinson, but the more outlying approaches remained unlighted until 1892, when a first-order light was displayed on Gap Rock, a similar light being established on Waglan Island in 1893. In the case of the Gap Rock light permission had to be obtained from the Chinese Government to construct the lighthouse, which is situated on a small island some 30 miles to the south of the Colony, and as regards Waglan light, arrangements had also to be made with the same