into a general store and store offices, the old store accommodation being inadequate for present railway requirements. Eight lock-up garages were provided, also a timekeeper's office. This contract was nearly completed at the end of the year.
Work on the construction of the overbridge to the north of Yaumati Station (Bridge No. 7) was delayed until the arrival of the steelwork, which was over-carried owing to the seamen's strike. The main line was deviated round the side of the new bridge, and traffic diverted without any interference. The masonry abutments and piers, with the exception of the west wings, which are situated under the deviation, were built in trenches, and were nearly up to bedstone level at the close of the year.
Considerable attention was given in collaboration with the Town Planning Committee to future railway requirements, and reservations of land likely to be required later for Branch Lines and Stations were decided upon. Surveys for the junctions of two probable branch lines were made, and centre lines staked out.
The new station building for Sheung Shui Station, for which provision was made in the estimates was not undertaken. An alternative proposal whereby the long grade of 1 in 100 would be reduced to 1 in 250 and a new station built in substitution for both Fanling and Sheung Shui was considered, but the project is still in abeyance.
At Lowu the 150 feet brick running-shed mentioned in the last report was completed and sidings laid, a small reservoir was also made and water supply installed.
On the Fanling Branch Line the old engine-shed at Fanling Station was rebuilt, and a new one was erected at Sha Tau Kok. The old steelwork from the dismantled station at Hunghom was used in these buildings, with corrugated asbestos cement roofs and sides.
About 3,100 sleepers were renewed in the Main Line. Of these, 807 were of reinforced concrete and the remainder Australian hardwoods. During the year 1,165 reinforced concrete sleepers were cast.
In July Messrs. Butterfield & Swire terminated their lease for the 1,800 sq. feet of spare railway land occupied by them for coal storage, and new leases were entered into with the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co. for several areas to be used as timber yards.
From the 13th January to the 8th March there was a strike of seamen which, as it developed, involved the majority of trades and seriously affected the business of the Colony. All strikers left the Colony for Canton and this coupled with the fact that river