619
KOWLOON WHARF & GODOWN
(cont.)
affair. The first hint we have of a public wharf and godown company comes later. The Hongkong Times of November 26, 1873, for instance, reports the sale by Messrs. Lane, Crawford and Co. (who were then also operating as auctioneers) of what is termed the Hongkong Pier and Godown, when the whole of the property was bought in by Mr. Greig, representing the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (of which he was then manager) for the sum of $80,000. It appears to have been an enforced sale. It is in the Eighties, however, that we come to the actual formation of a big-scale public company designed to afford berthing and storage facilities to shipping using the port. The company is the one operating to-day, greatly enlarged in keeping pace with the development of Hongkong and Kowloon.
The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co., Ltd., with which Sir Paul Chater was also associated, was formed in 1897 by taking over from Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., property at West Point and Kowloon, with a capital of $1,700,000. The property consisted of godowns having storage capacity for 65,000 tons, as well as 3 wharves, 3 launches, and 7 lighters.
A new undertaking of this kind required considerable time to develop. Old customs and prejudices had to be overcome and the advantages of ships going to wharves to discharge had to be clearly demonstrated. The second year of working was considered satisfactory when something like 70,000 tons of cargo was handled (against approximately a million and a half tons during 1932).
In 1894 the Company had a setback when plague was prevalent in the Colony. Without warning, all Swatow coolies left their quarters, apparently under the impression that ships calling at the wharves were responsible for the sickness, and it was three months before they returned.
The Company made good progress till 1906, when the typhoon on September 18 of that year washed away two steamer wharves and five smaller ones, whilst a third was badly damaged. Out of 8 launches, 3 were wrecked; and of the fleet of 65 lighters, 61 sank.
This was a terrible disaster, but the Company rapidly recovered and in four years new wharves were built, godowns reconditioned, and new launches and lighters were in service.
The Company's first offices were where the Kowloon Railway Station now stands, and the Water Police Basin had an entrance on the Praya with godowns on both sides, which was a great handicap to handling cargo. An exchange of property was made in 1912; this included an exchange of the Station site for the Police Basin.
A PIONEER WHARF COMPANY
In writing a brief history of the H.K. and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co. (see 15.9.33), I mentioned the earlier concerns which had operated here. The first duly-constituted business of this kind appears to have been the Pier and Godown Company, which operated in Hongkong for only a brief period before being overtaken by economic disaster. The establishment commenced operations at the beginning of the Seventies, with a location apparently at West Point. In 1872-73 it built extensive wharves and godowns, and these were completed during the latter year.
In a newspaper report dated April 4, 1873, we get this optimistic account of the company's new property: