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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
·COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.
at Tytam Reservoir so as to impound an additional supply of 100,000,000 gallons, and the streams from an additional area of 400 acres have been intercepted by catchwater channels and led into the reservoir. A new storage reservoir to contain some 30,000,000 gallons is in course of construction at Wongneichong Gap and will be fed by the streams from a drainage area of 200 acres, furnishing a valuable contribution to the water supply of the Eastern districts. In addition to the above works two covered service reservoirs have been constructed, two others are in progress, and additional filter-beds are being made, whilst the populous villages of Aberdeen and Shaukiwan, and the greater part of the Kowloon Peninsula, including the important villages of Hunghom and Yaumati, have all been provided with a supply of excellent water, laid on to street hydrants or individual dwellings.
It will thus be seen that every attention is being paid to each branch of sanitation, and as the Chinese gradually become better acquainted with Western sanitary principles there is reason to hope that the public health will improve materially within the next few years.
¡CLIMATE, &c.
The average monthly temperature during the year was 72° Fahr., the highest recorded temperature reaching 94° Fahr. in the month of July, and the lowest 40.7° in the month of December. The maximum monthly temperature, viz., 88.1° Fahr., was registered for the former month, and the minimum monthly temperature—53.1° Fahr.—is credited to the month of February.
The total rainfall for the year was 72.780 inches, towards which total the months of June and July contributed over 31 inches, which, taking into consideration the high temperature that prevailed during those months, illustrates the trying nature of the summer in Hong Kong as compared with the conditions obtaining in hotter but drier climates. The greatest variation in temperature, which is another trying feature of this climate, occurred in the month of December, when the highest temperature reached 76.5° Fahr. and the lowest stood at 40.7° Fahr., a difference of more than 35 degrees in one month.
TYPHOONS.
There were four typhoons during the year, viz., on the 29th July, 9th August, 5th October, and 11th October, but that which occurred on the first mentioned date is alone worthy of special record, and is generally considered to have been the
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