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PUBLIC UTILITIES
Chapter 10
The supply of water to the Colony is undertaken by the Public Works Department of the Government. The generation of electric power is in the hands of two private companies one of which operates on the Island of Hong Kong and one in Kowloon and the New Territories. Domestic gas is supplied on both sides of the Harbour by the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., Ltd. Bus, tramway and ferry services are in the hands of private companies. Broadcasting is a Government undertaking under the control of the Postmaster General.
Waterworks
There are no large rivers or underground sources of water and the Colony has to depend for its water supply on the collection in impounding reservoirs of the rains falling on upland gathering grounds. These reservoirs are thirteen. in number and collect the heavy south-west monsoon rains between May and September. Little rain falls in the remain- ing months of the year, so that the storage necessary to provide for an all-the-year round supply is relatively heavy. The total capacity of existing reservoirs is 5,970 million gallons, only 2,362 million of which are on the Island. Of the 3,608 million gallons on the mainland 2,921 million are contained in the Jubilee Reservoir at Shing Mun. This reservoir is the largest in the Colony and the 275 foot dam forming it is one of the tallest in the Empire. To augment the run-off from areas draining directly into the reservoirs, about 35 miles of catchwater channels have been constructed on the hillsides to lead the water from upland areas the natural drainage of which falls outside the reservoir catch- ments.
Despite the completion of the Shing Mun Valley Scheme in 1941, the increased growth of the population resulted in a demand still in excess of the available resources, and investiga-
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