CO129-581-11 Electricity Supply- proposal to establish a cross-harbour line from Hong Kong Electric Company Ltd.- to... 14-12-1938 - 12-5-1939 — Page 13

- 2 -

13

proposal that the work should be done entirely at the

expense of public funds, although a contribution towards

the cost may be regarded as justifiable in the interests of the Colony's defence. A suggestion has been made that

the undertaking of the work at the expense of the companies

might be profitable to them if it were part of a scheme

of voluntary merger between them, but there are many

obstacles to such a merger.

4. The two companies, the Hong Kong Electric Company,

Limited, and the China Light and Power Company, Limited,

enjoy on the island and on the mainland, respectively, a

monopoly in fact but not in law of the supply of electric

current to the public. They have received from time to

time permission for the establishment of cables, overhead

lines, etc., and regulations controlling the quality and

operations of their plants, designed for securing the

safety of the public, have been enacted in the Schedule to

Ordinance No.18 of 1911 as amended by Hong Kong Government

Gazette Notifications Nos. 354 and 568 of 1930 and 39 and

882 of 1935; but the exclusive right to supply electric

current is not conferred by any ordinance, licence or

agreement. There is at present no general provision for

the regulation of their relations with the public or the

Government, although the supply of electricity to the

Government as consumer is the subject of a special agreement

confined to that subject. A proposal for an ordinance,

which would have granted the two companies legal monopolies

in their respective spheres and at the same time have

secured powers of control over their charges etc. was the

subject of long discussions extending from 1919 to 1929, but

the idea was finally dropped largely because the companies

saw no advantage to themselves in the acquisition of a legal