Directory_and_Chronicle_1890 — Page 411

HONGKONG.

Sir William Des Voeux. The chief public building is the City Hall, erected in 1866-9 by subscription; it contains an elegant theatre, numerous large rooms used for balls and public meetings, an excellent and valuable Library, and a Museum yearly increasing in importance. The Government Offices, Supreme Court House, and Post Office are plain but substantial edifices. Government House occupies a commanding situation, in picturesque grounds pleasingly laid out, in the centre of the city. The Gaol is a large and massive structure, but the accommodation afforded by it is not in excess of the large demands made on it, owing to the inroads of the criminal population of Kwangtung being so constant and persevering. The Lunatic Asylum is a small building on Bonham Road. The Government Civil Hospital is a large but plain building affording extensive accommodation, and has been much improved recently. The Alice Memorial Hospital, situated at the corner of Hollywood Road and Aberdeen Street, is a useful and philanthropic institution, which is also the headquarters of the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese. The Victoria College, a handsome and commodious structure, which stands on a fine site having its chief frontage on Staunton Street, is the home of the Government Central School, the chief educational institution in the colony. It was opened in 1889. The Hong- kong Public School, now held in St. Paul's College, is to be provided, by the munifi- cence of one of the residents, with a new building on a side above Kennedy Road. The Tung Wa Hospital, a Chinese institution, occupies a large and roomy building. The Barracks for the garrison are large, and constructed with great regard to the health and comfort of the troops, and the buildings belonging to the Naval Establish- ment are substantial and spacious. A new and commodious Central Market has been designed, and will shortly be built on the old site, which has been increased by the removal of a number of houses; a temporary market has been constructed on the water frontage to supply accommodation in the meantime. The building of the Hong- kong and Shanghai Bank is large, handsome, and massive, and would do credit to any city. The Praya wall, which was reconstructed in 1879-80, is a work of much solidity and strength, reflecting the greatest credit on the Survey Department. The present Praya will not, however, long continue to be the water frontage, as a project for reclaiming a further strip of land from the foreshore is about to be prosecuted, and will make the existing Praya an inland street from the City Hall to the Sailors' Home The Clock Tower, near Pedder's Wharf, was erected by public subscription in 1862, and the illuminated clock was presented to the Colony by the firm of Messrs. Douglas Lapraik & Co.

The chief religious buildings are: S. John's Cathedral (Anglican), which oc- cupies a commanding site above the Parade Ground, and is a Gothic church of considerable size but with few pretensions to architecture. It has a square tower, with pinnacles, over the western porch, and possesses a peal of bells. A handsome stained window in the east end, over the altar, is the chief adornment of the interior. It also possesses a fine three-manual organ containing 47 stops, erected in 1887. S. Peter's (Seamen's) Church, at West Point, close to the Sailors' Home, is a neat Gothic erection with a spire. It also has a stained glass window, presented in 1878. Union Church, a pleasing edifice in the Italian style of architecture, with a spire, and containing accommodation for about 500 persons, formerly stood in Staunton Street, but is now being rebuilt, on the plan of the old building, on a new site above the Kennedy Road. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is situated in Glenealy ravine, near the Public Gardens, and is a fine structure in the Gothic style; the tower is at present incomplete. S. Joseph's Church, in Garden Road, is a neat edifice erected in 1876 on the site of one destroyed by the great typhoon of 1874; S. Francis Church, at Wanchai, and the Church of the Sacred Heart, at West Point, are small and un- attractive structures. fhere is also a Jewish Synagogue in Staunton Street, and a Mahomedan Mosque in Mosque Street. There are also several Protestant mission chapels. S. Joseph's College, a school for boys managed by the Christian Brothers, occupies a large and handsome building on a prominent site in the centre of the city, The Roman Catholics possess a Reformatory for Chinese b ys and several charitable and educational institutions which are very efficiently managed. Other denominations likewise support establishments of the same character, conspicuous