5
combined Vehicular and Passenger Ferry Service,
and it is now proposed to build for this
purpose a new and modern wharf on the site
of the present Queen Victoria Street Tharf,
extending over the front immediately to the
west of it. Both the existing ferry companies are interested and have applied to be given.
the contract for the proposed service.
[
Last summer the Governor decided that the
present financial position of the Hong Kong Government would not permit of direct action by
the Government, even to the extent of con-
structing the piers out of Government funds;
and in consultation with the Council, he decided
that forms for public tenders should be drafted
to include the provision of wharves by tne
tenderer, out preserving to the Government the
right to resume such wharves at suitable
intervals on payment of reasonable compensation.
at the beginning of this year
With his consent, however, (the matter was further discussed in the Executive Council,
but
when he repeated his view that the heavy
commitments of the Hong Kong Government in the next few years convinced him that the vehicular ferry could only be established in the near future by private enterprise. In February 1930 the Executive, Council decided that the Govern-
decided to
ment should build the piers provided that the
permission of the Secretary of State for a loan
car
eould be obtained: that the Secretary of State should be approached for permission to issue a loan forthwith; and that the decision
o running
h
concerning the building of ferry boats and the
running of the forcies should be reserved for the
present.