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MAPS OF HONG KONG.
An account of the various surveys which have been made of the Colony, and a reference to the new 1 inch maps of England.
L. GIBBS.
Shortly after the acquisition of Hong Kong Island in 1842—a survey was undertaken by the Royal Engineers. The map produced was on the scale of 4 inches to the mile. It was dated 1845, and bears the name of Lieut. Collinson, R.E. It was, till 15 or 20 years ago the only available survey map of the Island.
At the time this survey was made there was little else to show on a map of the Island but the hills and water-courses. The hills were shown by contours 100 feet apart, these are of a limited degree of accuracy-probably sketched on. The development of the Island soon put this map out of date and it is now only of archacological interest, but as such should command a place in the City Hall and in the Land Office.
The growth of the City of Victoria soon produced a demand for a map on a scale large enough to show the different properties and streets. This map was made on the scale of 160 feet to the inch and from 1860 onwards passed through several editions. One of these editions contained some amusing errors, Cricket Grey Lion for Cricket Pavilion,'
Cleanse skin" for "Gleneskin," Cows Nest
Crow's nest for parallel no doubt, to the Chinese system of translating a foreign name into the nearest Chinese sounds.
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Across the water, Kowloon Peninsula was not acquired till 1860, and so
was not included in the Collinson survey. In the eighties or nineties of last century when the development of the Peninsula had com- menced and public works were contemplated, a survey of this district was undertaken by what was then known as the Water and Drainage Depart- ment (since merged in the P.W.D.). A good map was produced to a scale of 1/2500 (208 feet to the inch).
Continued building development on the Peninsula soon put this map out of date, and it was followed by a new map, produced by the survey branch of the P.W.D. on the scale of 200 feet to the inch. Contours were not shown on either of these maps, and, considering the way hills are removed and holes filled in at Kowloon, contours would be of no permanent value as showing the topography,
The New Territory was leased in 1898. Before that date the only available large scale map of the district was one made by Italian mission- aries. This map was on the scale of 1 inch to the mile. The outline was taken from British Naval Charts. It covered the whole of the San On District, thus including Hong Kong, the New Territory and a considerable area to the north. It was printed in English and Chinese. Several of the villages were out of place and the physical features were poorly shown, but it was a useful map in its day.
On the acquisition of the New Territory, one of the first undertakings of the Government was the making of a survey of the district. It was to be mainly what is known as a " cadastral survey i.e. a large scale survey of occupied land for the purpose of fixing its ownership and as a basis for
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
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