254
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Most of the roads are surfaced with concrete or bituminous materials, roads in rural areas included, since unsealed roads are liable to severe damage from the tropical rainstorms which occur during the summer.
The exceptionally heavy rainstorms in June caused numerous landslides and other damage; Victoria Road which skirts the western shore of the Island was at one point buried under a land- slide of some 10,000 tons of rock and earth and, in the space of two miles, Tai Po Road was washed out in a number of places, with chasms up to 50 yards across and 40 or 50 feet deep. The roads were quickly reopened to traffic but it took many months to repair all the damage done.
New roads built during the year gave access to villages and large areas of land previously approached only by hillside path- ways or, in some cases, by sea. The 24 mile road from Sai Kung to Tai Mong Tsai, which follows the coast and opens up a region of superb scenery in Port Shelter, is an example. The first motor road on the island of Lantau was completed and is already quite busy even though there is no road link or vehicular ferry with Hong Kong and Kowloon.
The Tin Hau Temple Road which traverses the hillside above North Point has given access to many building sites with fine views 'over the eastern portion of the Harbour. The Kowloon Foothills Road, construction of which started during the year, will have a similar effect.
Road stone and coated macadam for the roads is produced from two Government-operated quarries, one on Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon.
The improvement and extension of street lighting continued in 1959, and 1,200 new electric lamps were installed, mostly in new locations though some replaced inadequate electric lamps or gas lamps, few of which now remain in Hong Kong.
VEHICLES
The number of vehicles registered in the Colony on 31st December 1959 was 41,298. This represented an overall increase of 4,776 over 1958.