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Laboratory. We wish to record our appreciation of the excellent work of Sub-Inspector Shaw. The senior officers of the Fire Brigade were available at all times for question- ing. The Chief Officer prepared for us a useful and comprehensive memorandum on the equipment and working of the Fire Brigade, which was of great value to us in preparing our recommendations.
CHAPTER III-THE WING ON PREMISES AT WEST POINT.
Description of the Godown Area:
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17. The Wing On Company possesses three buildings at West Point. Godown No. 1 faces the seafront on Connaught Road West and is a narrow building of four stories. This building was not involved in the fire. Across Whitty Street, also facing the seafront, is a large building consisting of five floors, and this is officially described as the Wing On Godowns Nos. 2, 3 and 4. It is not partitioned vertically inside, and is generally described as the Wing On Godown No. 2, by which it will be described throughout the report. At the rear of this godown, and separated from it by a six-foot wide scavenging lane, is a building fronting Des Voeux Road West. The ground floor of this building was used as godowns which are officially described as the Wing On Godowns Nos. 5, 6 and 7. It is generally referred to as Godown No. 5 and this terminology is adopted in the report. Above the godown No. 5 are four floors of tene- ment flats. On the western side of the godowns separated from them by a lane are two blocks of offices with godowns beneath them, belonging to the Royal Inter Ocean Lines. The southern end of this scavenging lane, that is to say the Des Voeux Road end, was bricked up and roofed over during the war, in fact becoming an extension of the Inter Ocean Lines Godown. There is a wall across the Des Voeux Road end of Whitty Street, also constructed during the occupation, the effect of which is to deny ready access by foot passengers and still more so by vehicles to the seafront, except by a long circuit round neighbouring streets. Reference to Plan A will make clear the lay out of the buildings and their relationship to roads in the West Point area.
Description of Godown No. 2:
18. The Godown No. 2 was constructed in 1926. It is a very substantial struc- ture of brick and concrete construction 88 feet long, 36 feet wide and 80 feet high, with a capacity of about 750,000 cubic feet. It has concrete floors, two interior flights of open stone stairs, and an unenclosed lift shaft situated towards the front. There is a cockloft on the ground floor adjacent to the lift shaft, which served as an office for all the godowns, and in which all the books were kept. Floor spaces are obstructed by concrete pillars which form part of the framework of the building. This godown had three iron flush-fitted doors on the seafront side, one on the Whitty Street side (bricked up), and two at the rear giving access into the scavenging lane. There are five vertical rows of windows on the Whitty Street side, nine vertical rows of windows on the seafront and southern sides, and no windows on the western side. All ground floor windows have fanlights. The windows themselves consisted of small panes of wired glass, but on the ground floor at the rear all except the most easterly window had been replaced during the Japanese occupation by panes of ordinary glass. The windows are protected by substantial iron bars placed close together and embedded in the brickwork of the walls. There are two slightly elevated structures on the roof at the top of the staircase, and these structures were fitted with oblique glass louvres to allow ventila- tion when the main windows and doors were closed.
Description of Nos. 351-367 Des Voeux Road West:
19. The Des Vœux Road building was also constructed in 1926 as a block of four-storey standard Chinese-style tenement flats, with ground floors to be occupied by shops, etc. It appears that it was difficult to lease these ground floors, so that in 1927 with the approval of the Public Works Department, the ground floor openings were bricked up, the level of the floor of the back yard raised to the first floor, and the result- ing space turned into a godown. The floor of the new back yard was of strong construction and of course now formed part of the roof of the godown. Access to the