35-
HONGKONG.
No.
1921
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON THE PROVISION OF FACILITIES FOR SEA-BATHING IN THE COLONY.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, 7th April, 1921.
We have considered the questions referred to us, which were as follows:
(1.) The feasibility of providing adequate public facilities for sea-bathing for
the residents of:-
(a.) The Island of Hongkong.
(b.) Kowloon.
(2.) The possibility of supplying cheap and easy means of transport to the
public in connection with such sea-bathing.
2. Some persons who wish to indulge in sea-bathing in the Colony do so by means of private launches and yachts, and in the case of societies and schools by hiring craft of all kinds for the season or by the trip at a small cost per head. There are, however, many who are unable to make use of any of these facilities and they have hitherto depended on using the beaches at Kennedy Town and North. Point.
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3. In view of the fact that reclamations for industrial purposes threaten in the near future to remove the beaches hitherto used we have had to consider how they can be replaced, and in doing so we have adopted as a maximum figure for the cost of transport to, and use of, a bathing beach the sum of 40 cents per head. With this limit we find that it is feasible to provide public facilities for sea-bathing both for the residents of the Island of Hongkong and Kowloon.
4. In the Island of Hongkong we recommend that the Government should undertake the preparation and upkeep for public bathing of two places in Victoria :-
(a.) The first place is a beach 230 feet in length lying between Marine Lot 290, the premises of the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club, and Marine Lot 321, the premises of the Hongkong Electric Company. We are advised that this beach can be developed satisfactorily so as to be available for bathing at practically all states of the tide. It is proposed to reclaim this beach for a depth of 30 feet from the existing road channel by means of a pitched rubble slope, the sea-ward line being built to a level of ten feet above Ordnance Datum. The reclaimed area would be surfaced in lime and cement concrete and matshed accommodation would be erected on it, and a fresh water shower bath. A bamboo pier with diving places would be constructed along the South-west boundary of Marine Lot 321 and the bath area enclosed by a hardwood boom of suit- able depth to prevent floating debris passing underneath and fitted with a splash board to prevent oil being thrown over into the bathing area by the motion of the water. The boom will also provide a safeguard against accident.