CHINA LIGHT AND POWER
(Continuation)
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be folly to abandon the place and throw away all the benefit of our past work there. With the advent of the railway, will come more work for us there, but we must be better fitted to cope with it than at present. Our present engines are steam engines of an obsolete type, and very wasteful and costly to run. We must have modern engines of the latest and most effective and economical description, and we must also make provision for having to lay all our lines underground. This will no doubt use up all our surplus cash, but in return you have a thoroughly up-to-date factory with power more than enough for all our probable requirements for some time to come.
Time has shown how prophetic were those references to expansion on the mainland.
And now for an interesting bit of history as disclosed in the chairman's speech at the first annual meeting of the Company, quoted in yesterday's article. It will be noted that he referred to the acquiring of a valuable site for the plant of 60,000 square feet, "on des Voeux Road". To the uninitiated this may suggest that at one time the concern operated on Hongkong island, but it is not so. The explanation is simple.
Owing to the confusion of similar names on both sides the harbour it was decided early this century to change the names of several Kowloon roadways (for example Nathan Road) was at one time Robinson Road. We find, then, that Chatham Road was formerly known as Des Voeux Road, and it was this Kowloon thoroughfare which was referred to at the meeting.
The first generating station of the China Light and Power Co. stood on the Chatham Road extension (former Des Voeux Road) where the railway goods yard is to-day.