14
GILMAN & CO., LTD.
EAST INDIA MERCHANTS
Established 1841
1941
1841
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST-HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, CENTENARY SUPPLEMENT
L.CO
G
HONGKONG
JANÚARY 25, 1941.
Newspapers Come Into Being:
Road Developments Start
In this summary of local history and the introduction of amenities, it is Atting to include brief notice of the Press, the files of which, in fact, form the basis for a great deal of historical record, and a mine of information for any future work on these lines.
The oldest established newspaper in the Colony to-day is the China Mail, which first appeared as four-page weekly on February 20, 1845, publish- ed in premises at Pottinger Street, with Mr Andrew Shortrede as editor and proprietor. It became a daily in the fifties, being then produced at arı address in Old Bailey Street, and early in the 'sixties had moved to 2, Wyndham Street, behind the Hong- kong Club. Later, a move was made to premises further up the same street, But this was not the first paper to appear locally.
Old records show that the Friend of China and Hongkong Gazette was the first of our newspapers: it appeared on March 17, 1842, under the editorship of the Rev. J. L. Schuck (or Shuck) and Mr James White. It appears to have been a weekly devoted mainly to the dissemination of Government pro- clamations, and it is worthy of note that the compositors were Portuguese, as was the case with locally produced newspapers for a good many
years.
In 1843, the Canton Register, which had appeared at Canton as far back as 1827, appears to have established an office in Hongkong, and the Eastern Globe had also made its appearance. By 1845 the Hongkong Register had come into existence, apparently replac- ing the Canton Register; in 1856 there was the daily Hongkong Shipping List; and in 1857 the Hongkong Daily Press came into existence (still published to-day). By the 'sixties the others had disappeared, but the Hongkong Mercury appeared about 1866, and the Hong- kong Times in 1873; while in 1851 had appeared Dizzon's Hongkong Recorder, issued gratis, and published by Mr Andrew Scott Dixson, of the China Mail. By 1873, most of the competition with the China Mail and Daily Press had dropped out of the running, but a China Overland Trade Report, entirely catering to commercial interests, had short run, as well as a Daily Advertiser and Shipping Gazette, start- ed in 1871.
a
FIRST EUROPEAN BUSINESS PROPERTY IN H.K.
Jardine, Matheson's property at East Point, seen from Causeway Bay in 1846.
The First Reclamation Project
ROAD DEVELOPMENTS Meantime, various developments of a material kind
and the new Post were going ahead. The roadways were being extended, reclamations were being carried out, and residential areas opened up.
Afler Queen's Road, several smaller The Daily Press first appeared OD roadways branching off the main city October 1, 1857, under the editorship of
street were constructed. From the Mr George M. Ryder, and was publish- older records it is evident that Ice ed at Wellington Street. The propri- House Street, Duddell Street, and etorship passed to Mr Yorick Jones Zetland Street were in use by the Murrow in 1858, and he
the Afties; while Wyndham Street, paper for some years, retaining the D'Aguilar Street, Wellington Street and ownership up to the time of his death Aberdeen Street had been constructed in 1884, the family still having its with the development of their adjacent
interest therein.
edited
con-
areas in 1845-46, Hollywood Road, The Hongkong Telegraph made its serving the old Gaol, was also appearance on June 15, 1881, as anstructed about this period, afternoon daily, and has been published ever since. The first, offices were at Wellington Street, near the junction with D'Aguilar Stres, and later a move was made to Pedder's Hill (opposite
Well-
Hainz' tur
Queen's Road extended only as far as Wanchai; but a highway on to Shaukiwan was completed in 1842, and
servic--**
a
Valley f
་་།
land, on which most of the present large office buildings were constructed, Office. Hongkong Club and Supreme Court found sites, The Hongkong Bank, with several acres of land opposite its premises after this reclamation (now part of Statue Square) retained its foreshore | Sir Hercules Robinson, then Governor, rights, and the garden space opposite the Bank premises is its property.
There has been a certain amount of smaller reclamation work from time to time, but the biggest project in the Colony's history was the Praya Eas: pleted by 1928, being soon covered with scheme, which was practically coin- buildings, extending the area of Wan- chai district to more than double its previous size. In the course of this work, a large portion of Morrison Hill, near the Naval Hospital, was cut away and it would have been levelled com- pletely had it not proved to be almost solid rock.
L
However, Peak residence was in vogue much earlier, and several houses built before 1888 stand to-day. The Governor's Peak residence has already
naval been mentioned, and &
sana- torium had also existed at a time when the only means of access was by chair.
ordered the cutting of the path to Victoria Peak, carried out in 1859-60. The military authorities then built ก sanatorium on the Peak, in 1862, but the project was not a success. By 1876, however, the idea of dwelling on the Peak so as to be out of the summer- time beat, had become established.
Mr
Much of the credit for the development of the Peak goes to the late Granville Sharp, who despite lack of support. continued his advocacy of the idea, and was one of the earliest Peak residents.
In Kowloon, the Portuguese were the
KŠANAS