CO129-608-7 Future policy- Report on Port Administration by Sir David Owen 24-2-1941 - 24-2-1941 — Page 175

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the I suggest that the post should be aŭvertised in Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa and India. The post should carry annual increments covering a period of ten years and should also carry a provident fund in lieu of pension. If you want to in these days of air transport it would not be difficult to bring a particular candidate to Hong Kong for an interview, though personally I think such interviews are a waste of money and time. I should suggest a three or six months' probationary period with the probationer in full control of his job. I do not consider that previous port experience is essential in fact I believe that too much technical knowledge in his job will be undesirable. He requires experience of administration and a general business knowledge of accountancy.

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This system that I have sketched should ensure cohesion with all concerned in port matters if it is allowed to work freely and unhampered. For example in Hong Kong it is necessary for vessels discharging at a quay wall to lie off about ten feet and sometimes more in low water. I assumed that this was due to a lack of dredging during the war years, but I now find that the main reason is owing to the design of the quay walls which appear to be the same throughout the Colony. They are designed entirely as retaining walls for reclamation and no doubt excellent for that purpose but entirely unsuitable for cargo handling unless you provide shore cranes they are not even suitable for ships' derricks. I am sure that with a Port Administration and a Port Engineering Department working together something far more suitable would evolve deeper foundations or a projecting top hamper.

Apart from general routine work the Port Director and his staff will be fully occupied with long-term policies for improving the facilities for transhipment and the general entrepot cargo - for the coastal and river craft and for the junk traffic. There are many schemes for the Connaught Road, but whatever is decided you must have a permanent responsible staff to see it through and not a Committee without responsibility which will change its personnel constantly.

And there is also the Kowloon side which is seldom discussed fran this point of view because the Yaumati Typhoon Shelter has a magnificent #ea wall which is all that most Hong Kong Europeans ever see of it. You cannot appreciate it in a launch or in a car. You must walk as I have done during the last month along the Canton Road and every quarter of a mile you can walk up a dead end about a quarter of a mile long and at each end you will find a short broken down jetty. Then the water is low even the sampans cannot approach the jetty unless they get out and push their boat over the black, stinking slime. I doubt if there is anywhere in the world to equal the squalor of the Yaunati Typhoon Shelter. I suggest that it is the result of the lack of co-operation and is entirely unnecessary. No doubt the original planning was made by the engineers and it was probably originally an excellent plan. When finished the Land Officer took control, who in accordance with his duties proceeded to cover the cost to the best advantage financially for the Government. Government Marine Department are mainly interested in safety for shipping as a Typhoon Shelter and incidentally in access to the Government slipway at the extreme south point.

The remedy is obvious and not difficul! but it will take a strong and energetic man to see it right through over a period of years, and I think he will be handicapped and not helped by an ever-changing irresponsible Committee. There must be a broad quay right round the full extent of the Taumati Typhoon Shelter, which I expect would be there today if there had been one authoritative body in control beautifully designed and broad granite pier heads indicate this: they are used occasionally for mending nets and sails.

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