1085.
HONGKONG
INDUSTRIES
Manufactures are yearly increasing in importance. There are three large sugar refineries: the China Sugar Refining Co.'s establishments at East Point and at Bowring- ton, and the Taikoo Sugar Refinery at Quarry Bay. In connection with the first-named Company
there is also a large Distillery, where a considerable quantity of rum is manu- factured. There is an Ice Factory at Bowrington, a large Rope Factory in Belcher's Bay, Steam Saw Mills at Bowrington, a Glass Manufactory at Causeway Bay, and a Match Manufactory at Kowloon, a Feather Cleaning and Packing Establishment at Kennedy-town, a Soap Factory at Shaukiwan, and two or three Engineering Works. The Green Island Cement Company has works at Deep Water Bay, on the south side of the island, and at Hunghom, in Kowloon. A Paper Mill on a considerable scale, fitted with the best English machinery, was erected at Aberdeen in 1891 and is successfully run under Chinese management. In 1899 a Cotton Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing mill was established at Soo-Kun-po, but after working with indifferent success for fifteen years, the mill was transferred to Shanghai. Flour Mills at Junk Bay, capable of turning out 8,000 sacks of flour per day, commenced operations on January 1st, 1907, but disaster overtook the concern in 1998, and the mills were closed about a year later. A Brewery, designated the Oriental Brewery, was opened at Laichikok in 1909. It was equipped with the most modern plant having a capacity of about 100,000 barrels of beer per annum, and an ice- plant was worked in connection with the Brewery, but this concern also has had to close down. Among other industrial enterprises in the Colony are a lard factory, boot factory, and a cigar factory.
The works of the Hongkong and China Gas Company are situated at West Point and at Yaumati, and those of the Hongkong Electric Company at Wanchai. The city is illu- minated partly by gas and partly by electric light, the latter having been introduced at the end of 1890. Among the industries pursued by the Chinese are glass blowing, opium boiling, soap making, vermilion and soy manufacture, tanning, dyeing, beancurd, toothpowder, and boat building, etc., etc.
There is excellent Dock accommodation in the Colony. The Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, Limited, have three extensive establishments, one at Hunghom, Kowloon, one at Tai Kok Tsui, and the third at Aberdeen on the south side of Hongkong Island. The establishments of this Company are fitted with all the best and latest appliances for engineering and carpenter's work, and the largest vessel in H.M.'s Navy on the China Station has been received into the No. 1 Dock at Hunghom. The docks and slips are of the following dimensions:-Hunghom :-No. 1 (Admiralty) Dock-576 feet in length, 86 feet in breadth at entrance at top and 70 feet at bottom, and 30 feet depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides. No. 2 dock -Length on keel blocks, 371 feet; breadth at entrance, 74 feet; depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides, 18 feet 6 inches. No. 3 dock-Length on keel blocks, 264 feet; breadth at entrance, 49 feet 3 ins.; depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides, 14 feet. Patent Slips: No. 1-Length on keel blocks, 240 feet; breadth at entrance,60 feet; depth on the blocks, 14 feet. No. 2-Length on keel blocks, 230 feet; breadth at entrance, 60 feet; depth of water on the blocks at ordinary spring tides, 12 feet. Tai Kok Tsui : Cosmopolitan dock-Length on keel blocks, 466 feet; breadth at entrance, 85 feet 6 inches; depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides, 20 feet. Aberdeen: Hope dock-Length on keel blocks, 430 feet; breadth at entrance, 84 feet; depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides, 23 feet. Lamont dock-Length on keel blocks, 333 feet; breadth at entrance, 64 feet; depth of water over sill at ordinary spring tides, 16 feet, The Hungham and Cosmopolitan Docks are in close proximity to the shipping in port and are well sheltered on all sides. The approaches to the Docks are perfectly safe and the immediate vicinity affords capital anchorage. The Docks are substantially built throughout with granite. Powerful lifting shears with steam purchase at Hunghom and Cosmopolitan Docks stand on a solid granite sea wall alongside which vessels can lie and take in or out boilers, guns and other heavy weights. The shears at Hunghom are capable of lifting 70 tons and the depth of water alongside is 24 feet at low tides. There are other establishments at which shipbuilding and foundry work is carried on, and Some good-sized steamers have been launched in the Colony. In 1908 the new docks constructed by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire at Quarry Bay, just inside the Lyeemoon Pass, were completed. The Dock has been built to British Admiralty requirements, is the largest out of England, and, while it is capable of accommodating the biggest vessels afloat, it has been designed to permit of further increasing its length if it should become necessary at some future time to
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