43
Cransport.
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80. With one exception this through service was maintain- ed in spite of almost continuous movement of Chinese troops into the Colony. The conveyance of their stores and equipment, particularly since the middle of February, seriously impeded the clearance of UNRRA traffic coming into the port. A large portion of the railway area was congested with heavy lifts which had either been wrongly discharged or were awaiting the release of flat cars employed to convey motor transport belong- ing to the Chinese Army. The discharge in Hong Kong of 389 knocked-down railway wagons for assembly further complicat- ed the congestion in the railway area. The assembly of the wagons was commenced in February and by the end of the Military Administration 90 wagons had been completed.
81. The most serious threat to the safe working of the line was the condition of the Beacon Hill and Taipo tunnels which had been blocked by demolition ordered by the military authorities prior to the capitulation. These had been roughly shored by the Japanese with timber supports which were a re- current danger due to rotting, and necessitated a careful watch being kept at night to prevent theft. The permanent repair of these tunnels had to be deferred owing to lack of supplies.
82. At the Japanese surrender a bare minimum of railway stock was found in the Colony. This consisted of two locomo- tives, one British and one Chinese, 9 coaches and 19 wagons, of which the latter were mostly unserviceable. The workshops had been stripped of all tools and only the oldest lathes and other plant remained. It was possible to replace only a very small proportion of the pre-war stock during the Military period.
83. On the re-occupation, the bulk of motor transport available consisted of civilian-type cars and lorries, most of which had been captured by the Japanese in 1941 and had been inadequately maintained by them since then. A few vehicles of Japanese manufacture were also found, but these were later turned over to the Chinese military authorities. All services were extremely short of transport and it was necessary for the Army and Navy to requisition a number of the vehicles left by the Japanese in order to carry out their duties. The remainder were requisitioned by the Military Administration,
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and a Land Transport section was formed to operate them. All motor transport remained virtually under Government control throughout the Military period.
84. At first only the most pressing demands for transport could be met, but the situation gradually improved as cars and lorries were built up from unserviceable vehicles. The R.A.F. was fortunate in receiving its full transport requirements at an early date and was able to hand over some 200 vehicles to the Military Administration. This coincided, however, with a consi- derable increase in the requirements of the various Civil Affairs branches, and the transport position remained unsatisfactory until late in February when the first consignment of Civil Affairs transport was received. This provided the Administration with its minimum requirements of load-carrying vehicles, but the supplies of serviceable cars and light vehicles was short for the remainder of the Military period. Lack of adequate maintenance during the occupation resulted in a serious shortage of buses, and for the whole of the Military period it was possible to run only six buses in Hong Kong and a similar number in Kowloon. After the arrival of the civil transport consignment a few load-carrying vehicles were converted into buses, but it was not possible to do this on any considerable scale, and the public transport position was not likely to improve greatly until new buses could be imported.
85. The Administration's main difficulty with regard to transport was due to the condition of the vehicles when they were taken over and to the continued shortage of spare parts. In February a grave shortage of tyres occurred and vehicles of all types had to be taken off the road for no other reason than that worn-out tyres were irreplaceable. As transport which had been requisitioned by the services was released to the Administration, it became possible in the later stages of the Mili- tary period to allocate cars to certain essential business firms on a hire basis. At the end of the period the importation of new cars from America and elsewhere was beginning on a limit- ed scale.
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