1941-01-20 — Page 60

CHINA MAIL, PAGE 12

1841

HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER

Overcrowded

(Continued from Page 10)

lished at Shumshuipɑ but the dock was purchased on the last day of December by H. K. Whampoa. The Hong Kong lee Co. was re- gistered that same year,

Hong Kong also continued growing as a port, more shipping services included the Colony as a port of call, while the authori- ties improved on and erected new navigation aids.

The first of a regular service of steamers from San Francisco fly- ing the Pacific Mall S.S. Co. flag arrived in January. 1867, while the opening of the Suez Canal on March 18, 1889, was destined to have great effects on the Colony's trade a few years later.

Shipping Doubled

Indeed. 1869 was a good year for shipping in Hong Kong. Mes- sageries Maritimes and the Paci- Be Mail doubled the number of slups on the Hong Kong run, two new local steamship companies came into being and, despite the "Blockade" and its consequent effect on junk draffle, trade general improved during the year.

"Natural Iazards.” including pirates and typhoons, continued to make more than a Guisabre of themselves, the year

1874 per haps being outstanding in this regard for, in addition to two shape being lost on the rocks and an- other by collision near the bar- hour, a violent typhoot, struck the Colony in September and at the end of six hours over 2,000 lives, 35 foreign ships, an untold num- her of native craft und some $5,000,000 worth of property were lost or destroyed.

Mint Closed

Lighthouses were completed at Cape D'Aguilar and on Green Island in 1875 and the following year Cape Collinson light house came into operation. The obser- vatory at Kowloon was completed In 1883, in which year a 1,400- foot long breakwater

was con-

to

structed at Causeway Bay provide a safe anchorage of some 100 acres for small craft during typhoons.

The Hong Kong Mint, which had opened in 1866, was not at all successful, and the Commission which was set up that same year to enquire into its working issued

report in 1867 in which it ad- vocated that the Mint be closed down; it had cost $400,000 10 establish and took $70,000 a year to maintain,

The Mint was actually closed in 1888, after it had made only $20,- 000 in stignorage: costs were cut as much as possible by the sale of the buildings for $65,000 and the disposal of the plant to Japan for a further $60,000,

First $1 Notes

The Hong Keng & Shanghai Banking Corporation put out its frst issue of $1-notes in October, 1872, while the supply of sub- sidiary coins, from the London Mint started three years later.

One of the big local problems of this period in Hong Kong his- tory was provided by the gambling houses, An ordinance for the maintenance of order and cipan- liness, authorising the licensing of gaming houses, was passed in 1807, in which year 11 gaming houses were opened in Septem- ber, their number shortly increas- ing to 16. They soon formed a useful, source of revenue.

in

expressing

Missionaries

Hong Kong. however, started an agitation against this practice and this out- cry was taken up at Home, the Secretary of State strong disapproval in 1889 of the raising of revenue from such source, not to mention the man- ner in which the revenue used.

Was

When, however, the Lieutenant- Governor gave notice in 1870 that gaming houses were to be closed from January 1, 1871, this no- tice was disallowed by the Secre- tary of State. But gambling house licensing did not last much long- er. The monopoly of the licences was sold on January 21, 1871, for $15.000 a month, but a growing volume of protests from residents in the Colony, coupled with in- Creasing agitation at Home, even- tually resulted in the abandoning of the scheme in December that same year.

(It is interesting to note that, assuming a minimum of $165.000 was received in 1871 as revenire from this source, it formed a very

1

City In

In 1885

22

000 gallons) in 1871; the re-con- struction of the Mint and Blue Pool dams and the provision of ronds and wells at the Peak int 1874; the establishment of the water police station and Lime-ball tower a Tsimshatsui

of in 1884; the, reclamation acres at Kennedy Town by the construction of a 3,690-foot sea- wall; and the completion in 1889 of the original Tyłam water works scheme, providing an im- pounding reservoir holding 312,- 330,000 gallons, a tunnel 1.38 miles long, a conduit three miles long, six filter beds, and a ser- vice reservoir of 5,700,000 gallons, bringing the total capacity storage reservoirs to 378,330,000 gallons.

Praya Scheme

One of the biggest factors in the growth of Hong Kong was, of course, the expansion of rapid communications with the outside [ew short world, and within a years cables and telegraphs were bringing the Colony into close the touch with other parts of world, near and far.

Cable Service

Northern

In 1870, the Great Company's cable, linking Hong Kong, Amoy and Shanghal, was opened for traffic, and this was followed in 1871 by the opening Com- of the Eastern Extension of

pany's cable from Hong Kong to Cape St. Jacques to Singapore.

The "Praya Reclamation Scheme" finally gut under way. Initiated by Mr. (later Sir Paul Chater, it was to reclaim 65 acres extending two miles from the Noval Yard to beyond the West Point gasworks and included a new road to be known as Con-

D'Aguilar Street in 1945 from a sepła wash drawing in the Chater Collection by E. Ashworth, (Photo: King's Studio).

large part of the Colony's total revenue for the year of $844,418; expenditure that year totalled $894,209.)

Opium, however, continued to provide revenue. In 1872, revenue from the oplum farm totalled $122,400 and a commission which had been appointed to enquire into the working of the monopoly recommended that it be let for three years (instead of for one year, the procedure adopted since 1858, when it was let for $33,000 a year).

not The recommendation was followed at first, however, for in let for one 1876 the farm was year at $110,000; in 1877 for two years at $132,000 a year; in 1882 for one year again at $210,000; in 1885 for one year at $159,000; and finally for the recommended three years in 1886 for $182,400 per

annum,

was

Work on the Peak tramway

started in 1885 and •it·· was, completed and opened for traffle on May 30, 1888, starting at St. John's Cathedral (100 feat above sea-level) and running up to Victoria Gap (1,300 feet)..

Blue Port Dam

"Public works" of special note during this 25-year period (1806- 1891) 'include the completion of the Pokfulam Reservoir (66,000,-

naught Road, after the Duke of Connaught, who laid the memorial stone in 1890.

Hong Kong was really begin- ning to feel itself to be quite a modern

tele- city, for in 1881 phones came into use and by 1890 the lower levels. of the City of Victoria were actually lit by 50 arc lamps!

Royalty, too, had begun to take note of the Colony's existence. In 1809, the Duke of Edinburgh visit- cd Hong Kung, opening the City Hall shortly after his arrival. A

the short visit over

Christmas holidays of 1881 was paid by Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales, while in 1890 the Duite and Duchess of Con- aught arrived, the Duke laying the memorial stone of the Praya scheme, as already noted

Ulysses Grant

Another noted figure to visit the Colony was General Ulysses resident of Grant, who was a Hong Kong from April 30 to May 12, 1879.

1

Although not greeted with pomp and circumstance, another v.sitor arrived, to take up permanent re- sidence in the Colony, He was the humble, hard-working rick- shaw coolle, the first of these ubi- quitous vehicles appearing on the streets of Hong Kong on April 22nd, 1880.

In June, 1883, Hong Kong was connected by direct cable. with Shanghai and Foochow and th's was followed by the opening of the Can'on-Kowloon telegraph line a month later. A year later saw the Hong Kong/Macao cable in a use, Communication by cable with the Philippine Islands had been established four years carlier, traffle being opened un May 1, 1880.

come

inf

But despite all these improve- and modern sations. Hong Kong was still far from being out of the waddling clothes stage and still suffered from all he adment:

baby town"

Police Fraction

Thu, the police force and 21. rest of the city did not get on at all well together at times. In 1869. District Watchmen, paid for by Chinese, were first enrolled and placed under the control of the Resident-General. The im- mediate effect of this was friction with a capital "F" between that ufficer and the Captain Superin- tendent of Police,

By 1871, there was considerable agitation against the inefficiency of the police force, but things got no better and eventually culmin- ated in а public meeting in October, 1878, to discuss the "in- security of life and property" in the Colony. There had been a particularly bad spate of robberies that year, the climax being an armed attack on a Chinese bank in Wing Lok Street.

A few months later, early in 1879, the police force was ordered to have two-thirds of its power always on night duty,

Serious Fires

man-

The "insecurity of life and pro- perty" mentioned at the public meeting also included losses and damages by fire, for there were several large outbreaks during this perlod. In 1867, nearly 500 houses were destroyed by fire; in 1878, 368 houses and $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed by fire in Vletoria; in 1881, 36 houses were destroyed by fire in Tai- pingshan; in 1884, serious fires broke out within a space of five days at Hunghom; and so on.

Then there was the problem of the Colony's health. Overcrowd- ing in the city-agitation over which grew so keen in 1885 that a Land Commission was appoint- ed-the effects of the climate or newcomers, and the almost total Jack of knowledge of sanitary, and other measures by a vast propor-- tion of the native population only added to the difficulties,

The year 1872 was a' particu- larly bad one for malaria, while cases of dengue occurred for the first time; 1888 was another bad

(Continued on "Pago. 14).

1941

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