1904-1919
HONG KONG, 1908.
15
The typhoon of July 27th caused great damage, and this together with repairs still being executed on account of the typhoon of September, 1906, formed a very heavy charge on the recurrent votes.
During the year 1908 considerable progress was made in the British section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway.
About 40 per cent. of the reclamation for a site for Kowloon Station Yard was completed, and a very large amount of earthwork was done north of the Kowloon Hills.
About 3,500 feet of heading was driven in Beacon Hill Tunnel making a total of 5,000 feet out of 7,212 feet, and a total of 2,700 feet of tunnel was lined complete and an extra 700 feet excavated to full section ready for lining. The other four tunnels made good progress, the three short ones being almost completed. The larger one at Taipo had 572 feet of heading driven leaving 350 feet to complete.
Nearly all the bridges were completed with the exception of the iron-work which, however, is all in the Colony. Only three bridges remain on which no work has been done.
Indents have been sent home for rails, sleepers, and rolling stock.
Malaria, beri-beri, dysentery, and other diseases were much less prevalent among the railway employés, due to better organization.
The expenditure during the year was $3,372,832, making a total of $6,251,639 up to the end of 1908.
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The large amount of rock-blasting with high explosives, especially in the long tunnel, where moreover drilling is carried on with very powerful compressed air rock-drills, coupled with the proverbial carelessness of the Chinese coolie, would lead to the expectation that a large number of accidents would occur among the 3,000 odd coolies employed on the works. It is, therefore, very satisfactory to record the fact that from the inception of the railway in 1906 to the end of the year 1908 there were only 19 fatal accidents (1 in 1906, 9 in 1907, and 9 in 1908) and 13 other serious ones (8 in 1907 and 5 in 1908).
The Chinese section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway made considerable progress during 1908 under the able direction of Mr. Grove, C.R.E., who has stated that there is every prospect of opening a length from Canton of 30 miles by April, 1910, and anticipates that he will be able to run through trains for traffic with the British section on or before July 1st, 1911. Negotiations carried on at Peking for a Construction Loan for the northern portion of the Canton-Hankow line had not resulted in any loan agreement by the end of the year. The southern section from Canton northwards made some progress under a Chinese chief engineer, and with Chinese capital. By the end of the year about 40 miles were open to traffic.