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Public Utilities.
shortage.
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Mobile cranes were borrowed from U.N.R.R.A. and it was expected that, when these were assembled, delay in the discharge of lighters and in dock clearance generally would be greatly reduced.
100. On the re-occupation of the Colony, one of the most important tasks with which the Administration was faced was to review the position of all the public utility companies with a view to their operation on as full a scale as possible at the earliest moment.
101. The two electricity companies and the various wharf and godown companies were perhaps the most important, since the successful establishment of the Military Administration depended on an adequate supply of electric power, and berthing facilities for ships containing urgently needed supplies.
It was necessary to advance funds for operating expenses and to supply a certain amount of material. It was also necessary to reinforce with technical service personnel the skeleton staffs released from internment. Later an agreement was entered into with the two electricity companies under which they were to operate under the direction of the Administration for a period of six months. The terms were briefly that all receipts were payable to the Adminis- tration who would meet all operating expenses and would also pay a rental for the use of the companies' plant and distribution system.
102. The Telephone Company, Tramway Company, Gas Company and Taikoo Dockyard were all fortunately able to operate from the outset on a commercial basis with only minor assistance from the Administration. Holt's Wharf was able to resume operation on a full commercial basis from the 1st March, and it was hoped that the two electricity companies would be entirely independent of Government control by the end of March.
103. The cross-harbour ferry service required assistance only in respect of the repair of its piers and the supply of coal. The Yaumati Ferry Company operated all cross-harbour services in the early stages of the Administration since the Star Ferry had no boats in serviceable condition. The latter company repaired sufficient of their vessels, however, to enable them to
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take over their normal service on a 15-minute interval basis from the 1st February.
Industry.
104. At an early stage it became evident that the plans Trade and which had been made in London, contemplating no private trading for some six months or more, would require urgent reconsidera- tion. Pressure was exercised by American agents for permission to import commodities which were said to be ready for shipment on the Pacific coast of the U.S.A.; and Chinese merchants, with dollar credits in U.S.A., or sterling credits in London, were daily urging a revision of what was regarded as a restrictive policy liable to worsen the Colony's already precarious supply position, and thus lay it open to forms of unrest which it was the primary aim of the Administration to prevent. It was also urged that a resumption of private commercial trading was the only method of maintaining, and possibly improving, the advantage which Hong Kong seemed to have gained over rival ports in China.
105. In these circumstances the Colony was formally opened to private trading, except for a few reserved commodities, on the 23rd November, and merchants were invited to resume their import and export business. Restricted facilities for foreign exchange were made available in early December, and, by the middle of the month, the first commercial ship had discharged its cargo, and applications for import licences, chiefly from America and Australia, were being received.
106. There is no doubt that the lifting of these restrictions was justified and that it had a far-reaching effect not only upon the commercial and industrial life of the community but upon the morale of the people generally. Starting on a minor scale, the general trade of the Colony gained increasing momentum during the ensuing months. The value of imports and exports, excluding official supplies and transhipment cargo, handled by the port during November, totalled $12 millions; for December the figure rose to $27 millions and for January to $71 millions. For February and March the figures were $64 millions and $93 millions, of which about 60% was in respect of imports. Prices, of course, remained high, and it would be necessary to reduce these figures by some two-thirds before comparing them with the 1939 volume of trade; but the figures remained impressive when it was