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two conductors is now standard practice. The total labour force employed is numerically 70% greater than in 1941. Total wages costs are twelve times higher than at the close of 1941, with individual earnings from 500% to over 600% above pre-war rates. The fare structure is upon a flat-rate basis for any distance over any route-the maximum of which is 63 miles of 20 cents (3 pence) 1st class, and 10 cents (1 pence) 3rd class. With increased service accommodation available, the former practice of concession fare tickets for regular passenger groups was re-introduced by the Company during the year by the issue of Monthly Tickets and Half-Fare Children's Tickets in addition to a 1st-class Half-Fare Military Ticket. A total of 13 million passengers was carried at these reduced rates.
The Peak Tramway, or as it was then known, the Hong Kong High Level Tramway, was first opened for traffic in May 1888, and has provided almost without interruption for over sixty years one of the fastest and most efficient funicular services in the world. The winding gear was originally steam driven and the cars were attached to each end of a single rope, but this obsolete system was replaced in 1926 by modern electric haulage gear consisting of two drums in tandem with separate ropes of 5,000 feet. The steepest gradient (at May Road) is 1 in 2. Until motor roads were opened in 1924, it was the only means of trans- port to the Peak.
At the outbreak of hostilities in 1941, the engine room and track suffered extensive damage from shell fire. After the fall of the Colony, the Japanese operated a limited service, which ceased altogether in August 1944. The liberation of the Colony in 1945 found the workshop stripped of equipment and tools, and reconstruction of the entire organization became a monumental task, but on Christmas Day of that year a service of 25 cars was re-inaugurated. Before the war, an average service of 97 cars per day was maintained from 6 a.m. to 12.15 a.m. Owing to the difficulty in obtaining tools and machinery replacements, resuscita- tion of the Company's former standard of service has been gradual; nevertheless, it catered successfully for 732,000 passengers in 1946 and 876,000 in 1947 with the figures reaching close to a million in 1948. Full scale rehabilitation of the plant and rolling stock has been completed. A minimum service of 51 cars per day is being operated and more cars are run as and when traffic demands.
Bus Services.
Bus services are maintained in Kowloon and the New Ter- ritories by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company and on Hong Kong
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