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to nearness to the market in Hong Kong, partly to the presence of coral in the shallow and then comparatively clean waters of the western approaches: in fact the sea near Ping Chau was officially divided into two Marine Lots, Nos. 1 and 2. Not long after, with constant raking of the sea bed for raw material, growing pollution of water from rubbish dumping by the Sanitary Department and increasing sewerage from Hong Kong by increase of the water carriage system, the industry declined for lack of coral to burn: complaints were made about this to me at one time. In Ping Chau this industry employed numbers of Hoklo lime burners and in 1925 they staged a clan fight which cost several men their lives. There was no police station on the island, so investigations were delayed and no evidence of murder could be got: so after taking a lot of evidence in my 'court' in the Hong Kong office, I simply bound everybody over, which at any rate gave a period of peace to Ping Chau. It must not be thought that the decline of lime burning ruined Ping Chau, for the islanders had thoughtfully provided themselves with a lucrative light industry in the shape of six or seven flourishing gambling houses, which naturally emptied whenever a D.O.'s or Water Police launch appeared.
Communications with the outside world were then pretty elementary. A junk left Ping Chau about 8 a.m. for Hong Kong and returned to the island in the evening; no more encouraging to anyone wishing to 'Come to sunny Ping Chau' than the clouds of smoke and lime dust that rose perpetually from the kilns. Another industry for which Ping Chau and the other western islands were well adapted was distilling, as their inaccessibility was a great assistance to undertakings wishing to short-circuit the revenue regulations.
Yet another industry flourished at one time in this group of islands. The small islet of Kau Yi Tsai, between Ping Chau and Kau Yi Chau, has a cleft in its granite cliffs which opens inwards into a cave of some size. About 1922 this was the scene of the greatest opium seizure in the Colony's history up till then: 8 tons of Persian opium came from the cave, and the crew of the sampan guarding it were put up for banishment. Only the banishees appeared before me, as I was then in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, but what became of them I cannot remember.
The increasing population and prosperity of the Colony caused similar developments at Cheung Chau: building land was greatly