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THE COMING OF RICKSHAS
What may be termed one of the phases of Old Hongkong in view of the rise of motor traffic and the policy of gradual elimination of the man-pulled vehicle is the ricksha. The chairs we shall probably always have with us, owing to the many steep paths which radiate from even the most up-to-date motor highways on the island, and the numerous houses which have a multitude of steps going up to their front doorways. The chair is one of the oldest modes of conveyance in China itself, and it must have come to Hongkong in the earliest years: in one of the old drawings, published in this series on 3-3-34, we have a chair clearly shown, and that was a sketch made in 1857. Other pictures of the period show sedan chairs, and several of the earlier accounts of the Colony mention this means of conveyance.
But the ricksha came much later: it was an innovation a full forty years after the Colony was founded.
This may appear strange to the average resident who thinks rickshas and China almost synonymous; but one must recall that the ricksha came originally from Japan, not very many years ago, and is said to have been the invention of an American. It is not intended here to go into the history of this vehicle, but merely to note that as recently as 1884 there were few means of getting about in Hongkong. Thereafter, the rickshas increased somewhat rapidly, and traffic in Pedder Street became more congested, so that we find the agitation for the removal of the Clock Tower attaining renewed vigour. (See 19-2-35 et seq.). In fact, it is in that correspondence that we find a date for the introduction of the public ricksha to Hongkong, apparently a luxury confined at first to a few private owners.
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As we have seen, the following paragraph occurs in a letter written by Mr. K. N. D. Stephens on February 5, 1898:
"It is only since 1884, and after the (first) petition referred to was sent in, that the ricksha has been used in Hongkong to any extent, as at that time there were only one or two private ones."
Thereafter, the rickshas in the Colony became a necessity, and a problem. In 1901 (see 8-9-34) a Commission was appointed to report on the chairs and rickshas which were plying for hire: it examined the conditions under which the coolies worked, and the system of ownership and hiring out, with the rates charged. It cannot be pretended that the owners do not do very well, and have always done well, out of the business: it is also fair to admit that the majority of coolies are able to earn a comfortable living. Occasionally they have gone on strike, against what they considered (probably rightly) to be their hard lot. The S.C.M. Post of January 7, 1908, reports:
"Hongkong residents were set wondering yesterday morning, when they found that it was impossible to hire a ricksha. To add to this discomfort, a break in the tram wire at Wanchai prevented the cars from running in the early morning. This latter fault was early remedied and the cars were set going. But the coolies remained obdurate, and the only method of conveyance available, apart from the cars, was to take a chair.