enactment to be approved by the Queen and that it should be placed under the control and supervision of the Master of the Royal Mint with a view to assay and verification of the coin to be issued from it. Arrangements were accordingly made by Sir Hercules, the site now occupied by the East Point Sugar Refinery was appropriated for the purposes of the Mint, additional land reclaimed from the sea at a cost of £9,000, a water supply secured at a cost of $3,550, buildings commenced which cost $25,000, and a staff ordered from home. Several Ordinances were also issued, providing for the conversion of British currency in all payments by or to the Government (1 of 1864) and for the organisation of the Mint service (2 of 1864). The former of these two Ordinances ordained, with reference to the abovementioned proclamation of January 9, 1863, that, as soon as the date referred to could be fixed, all payments due in British Sterling to or by the Government should be made in dollars, cents or cash, to be issued from H.M. Mint at the rate of 4s. 2d. to the dollar.
As regards public works, the principal undertaking of this period was the so-called Victoria water-works scheme which had been under discussion during the preceding administration. Sir Hercules took it up with the vigour which characterized all his doings. He commenced by offering (October 15, 1859) a prize of $1,000 for the best plan. Several competitors entered the lists (S. G. Bird, J. Walker, S. B. Rawling) and sent in elaborate plans. The Governor referred the papers to a Committee (Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. Mann, R.E., J. J. Mackenzie, Ch. St. G. Cleverly) and adopted on their recommendation the scheme of Mr. Rawling, Clerk of Works to the Royal Engineers. This scheme proposed to construct a large reservoir at Pokfulam, to connect it by an aqueduct with two large tanks above Taipingshan and to provide thus, before the close of the year 1862, a supply of water for the western and central parts of the city at a cost of about £30,000. Tenders were immediately called for and the work commenced in 1860 under Mr. Rawling's supervision. An Ordinance (12 of 1860) was passed to empower the Governor in Council to appropriate from current revenues
