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expressed themselves as apprehensive that the formation of such
a Harbour Board would eventually lead to increased expenses being placed on shipping. They also stated they were generally in favour of the establishment of a Harbour Board provided that the ultimate aim of Government was to form a Body which would eventually be given limited authority with moderately wide terms of reference in respect of general questions of policy in Harbour development.
(14)
Later the idea grew that a smaller and more flexible Body would be desirable, and in 1931 the Board was dissolved and a small "Harbour Advisory Committee" was substituted,
consisting of four Government officials, three unofficial
members who were British subjects and one of whom was of Chinese nationality, and a Naval officer. The Colonial Secretary
acted as Chairman of this Committee. From time to time various
matters were referred to the first Advisory Board and subsequently
to the Advisory Committee.
(15)
It seems that the Harbour Advisory Committee is still
in existence in name but no meeting has been held for about two
years. It cannot therefore be said to have a marked influence
on the policy of the Port. I will, however, refer to it later
in this Report.
(16)
Extent of the Port's trade. The extent of the trade of
the Port may be judged by the amount of shipping entering and
leaving the Harbour. The following table gives the shipping
tonnage at five-yearly intervals from the year 1919:-
Ocean-going tonnage. Other than ocean-going.
Year.
1919
14,467,847
1924
27,874,830
1929
28,285,741
1934
28,905,526
1939
22,148,228
Total
21,147,322
35,615,169
28,856,247
56,731,077
18,900,440
47,186,181
13,008,496
41,914,022
8,749,720
30,897,948
The year 1924 shown above happens to be the peak year of the
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