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REVIEW
they built a larger factory at To Kwa Wan and it was reported in 1908 that Admiralty engineers regarded concrete made from the firm's cement as unsurpassed in fineness and tensile strength, and used the cement exclusively when building the naval dockyard at Victoria.
With the imposition of a levy on imported liquors in 1909 Hong Kong ceased to be a completely free port and in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance No 27 of 1909 a preventive service was inaugurated as a branch of the harbour office to control the import and export of spirits, opium and sugar. The staff consisted of three European officers and 20 Chinese searchers, under the command of the assistant harbour master, and from this small beginning has grown the present preventive service of the Commerce and Industry Department.
Following the disastrous typhoons of 1906, 1908 and 1909 it was considered essential to build another typhoon refuge on the western side of the Kowloon peninsula at Mong Kok Tsui, now known as the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. Building began in 1911 and the shelter was completed in August 1915 when the Governor, Sir Francis Henry May, laid a commemoration stone.
Imports and exports of all commodities declined during the First World War. Shipping figures for 1913 show that 21,867 ships of 22,939,134 tons entered and cleared the port; by 1918 the figures had dropped to 19,997 ships of 13,982,966 tons. At the beginning of the war the Supreme Court of Hong Kong was declared a Prize Court so that any captured enemy vessel could be disposed of in the Colony without delay. To ensure that moorings in the harbour were maintained in reasonable condition the Government pur- chased 25 private moorings from their owners in 1915. The follow- ing year a further 20 buoys were laid in various parts of the harbour, including seven in the coal anchorage off Wan Chai and 12 in the rice anchorage off West Point. The daily hire rates for the buoys ranged from $4 to $8 a day, depending on the size of the vessel.
Up to 1918 cross-harbour transport, other than the Star Ferry service, was operated by 16 companies each owning one single- deck boat. Fares were five cents for a rattan chair on the vessel's