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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
area was further developed by the construction of the Jubilee Reservoir, the largest yet built in the Colony.
The Colony's earliest hospitals were run by missionary bodies, as indeed are a number at the present time. The first Government hospital was the Civil Hospital, founded in 1859. Part of its large old-fashioned buildings is still in use, and on the remainder of the original site there stands today the spacious and modern Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital, opened in 1955. The Kowloon Hospital was opened in 1925, and the Queen Mary Hospital, one of the largest and most up-to-date in Asia, in 1937. The provision of adequate medical and health facilities at times of refugee influx has been one of Hong Kong's major problems, surmounted only by the combined efforts of the Government and unofficial organi- zations.
The need to safeguard fishing junks and other small craft from destruction by typhoons was met by the construction of large typhoon shelters on both sides of the harbour. One of the main functions of the Royal Observatory, founded in Kowloon in 1883, was to give reliable forecasts of the approach of typhoons, a function which increased in importance with the development of air transport, which in Hong Kong may be said to date from the laying-out of Kai Tak Airport in 1932.
THE CHINESE REVOLUTION AND WORLD WAR
In 1911 the Manchu dynasty fell, and was replaced by a Republic, guided by Sun Yat-sen, whose political thinking had been deeply influenced by his contacts with British institutions and ways of thought while a student in Hong Kong. During the events leading to the overthrow of the dynasty many refugees sought sanctuary in Hong Kong, using the Colony's Chinese news- papers as a vehicle for conveying their ideas into China.
Following the establishment of the Republic came a long period of unrest in China. Once again large numbers of refugees, mainly from the southern provinces, made their way to the Colony. Their arrival coinciding with a commercial boom which occurred during the First World War, many of them made their permanent home in Hong Kong, and identified themselves with local affairs. Among the refugees were a number of Buddhists who, from this time