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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841–1941
COLONIAL reports-ANNUAL.
June, and Mlle. Morel, daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor of Tongking, unveiled the obelisk.
The proposal to construct a new Typhoon Refuge at Mongkoktsui, which had originally been made in 1904, and which, since the typhoon of the 18th September, 1906, had been before the Typhoon Relief Committee, was favourably reported on by the Public Works Committee of the Legislative Council, who further recommended that pending its construction the accommodation in the Causeway Bay shelter should be increased by deepening the area therein which dries at low water. It was estimated that the latter work would cost $70,000, and that a breakwater at Mongkoktsui to enclose 166 acres of sheltered water would cost $1,540,000. The matter was discussed in Legislative Council on the 6th August, and with a view to financing the works a resolution was passed by the Council on that day increasing the dues:-(a) for all river steamers entering the waters of the Colony to five-sixths of a cent per ton register; and (b) for all other ships entering the waters of the Colony (excepting British and foreign ships of war) to two cents per ton register. It is hoped by this means to defray half the cost of the Mongkoktsui Breakwater, the other half being paid out of the reserve funds of the Colony; and in the Colonial Estimates for 1909, passed by the Legislature on the 15th October, a sum of $200,000 is provided for the Mongkoktsui Typhoon Shelter, and a sum of $20,000 for deepening the shallow area of Causeway Bay to one foot below Ordnance Datum.
In the meantime, on the night of the 27th to 28th July, the Colony was struck by another disastrous typhoon in which 26 privately-owned buildings collapsed, with a loss of 59 lives, and damage was done to 77 Government buildings, with a loss of one life. The river steamer "Ying King" foundered with a loss of 424 lives, including those of the master and three European passengers. Inside and outside the harbour limits 17 European and 125 native craft were sunk, many more being wrecked or damaged. The loss of Government property alone was estimated at $100,000. The storm swept on to Canton where great destruction of river craft and much loss of life occurred.
Under instructions from your Lordship a Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council to provide for the transfer to the Government of Hong Kong of the Widows' and Orphans' Pension Fund and of the management and control of the pensions of widows and orphans. The Bill was passed on the 30th July and the fund, amounting to a sum of $371,321, was transferred to the general revenue of the Colony, out of which the pensions in question will in future be paid.
A riot broke out in the town of Victoria on the 1st and 2nd of November in connection with a boycott of Japanese goods by the Cantonese. This boycott was due to the feeling excited in China by the "Tatsu Maru" affair, and was actively organized by the "National Disgrace Society" at Canton. It soon spread to Hong Kong, where the Government from the first took active steps to combat it, with the result that by the autumn several Chinese