3
The attempts by the government to improve and modernise teaching in the village schools, therefore, although they began in 1904, only started to make a real impact after about 1920
However, even if there was an inchoate openness to new ideas in the area, nonetheless oral testimony from all over the eastern New Territories suggests that the traditional society of the area remained basically untouched until after the opening of the railway and the new roads brought the area into a closer physical relationship with the city.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway started operation only in October, 1910, and the light railway branch to Sha Tau Kok only in December, 1911.7 The railway was an important factor in the modernisation of the central and north-eastern New Territories, but the effects of the railway were, clearly, only substantial after 1910-11
In 1914, it was decided to build a surfaced circular motor road around the New Territories This was done in phases, between 1914 and 1921. Since the crucial Tsuen Wan to Castle Peak and Kowloon to Tai Po sections were only ready for motor traffic in 1921, the road system thus only became a significant factor in the modernisation of New Territories life after that date.
In the islands, there had been an intermittent steam ferry service to Cheung Chau from before 1899, but a regular daily service seems only to have begun in 1910. It is unclear when the regular steam ferry service to Tai O began, but it was probably shortly before 1915. It seems that it was only in 1919 that there was more than a single ferry service a day to Cheung Chau, and only from 1922 that there were more than two Easy contact with the city, and the modernisation and change that implies, began before 1899, but became a marked feature of islands life only after 1910, although the effects were clearly significant by 1921
All in all, it is clear that New Territories physical communications with more developed communities were poor before 1911, and only became a widespread factor of importance after 1921
The district officer noted in 1912 the changes that the railway in