Directory_and_Chronicle_1898 — Page 701

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HONGKONG

Of the islands and islets in the waters of the Colony the most important is Stone- cutter's Island, formerly known as Wong Chune-chow, opposite to and about three-quarters of a mile from the north-western extremity of the Kowloon peninsula. The island is an irregular ridge about a mile in length, and a little over a quarter of a mile broad. The Gunpowder Depôt is on the eastern end, near the wharf; the pricipal eminences are occupied by batteries more or less formidable, and no one is allowed to land without a permit. The Quarantine Sta- tion is also located here. After the great typhoon of September, 1874, two or three thousand bodies of the victims found afloat were interred on Stonecutter's Island. Keliet's Island is a small rock near East Point, on which a fort formerly stood, but which has been replaced by a small magazine. Green Island, at the western entrance of the harbour, has been planted with trees and now justifies its name all the year round. A lighthouse has been placed on itssouth-western extremity. One Tree Island is a tiny rock near the entrance to Aberdeen. A Dynamite Depôt has been erected on it. Aplichau, a considerable istand opposite Aberdeen, of which harbour it forms part, has a populous fistung village on its northern shore facing Aberdeen. There appears to be considerable doubt whether the large island of Lamma, on the southern coast, is British territory, though it is obviousty a geographical dependency of the Colony, from which it is only about a mule distant in the narrowest part of the East Lamma Channel. It is sparsely populated by agriculturists and fishermen.

POPULATION, GARRISON, AND OFFENCES

The total population of the Colony, according to the census taken in January, 1897, numbered 246,880, compared with 221,441 in May, 1891, and 160,402 in 1881. The resident civil population is composed as follows:-Europeans and Americans other than Portuguese 3,269, Portuguese 2,263, Indians 1,348, Eurasians 272, other races 882, Chinese 200,005, The mercantile marine numbered 1,971, of whom 356 were Europeans and 1,523 Chinese. The Chinese floating pupulation numbered 31,752. The army, including an Indian regiment, numbered 2,850, and the Navy 2.268. Of the resident population and mercantile marine 2,374 were natives of the British Isles, 223 Americans, 118 French, 366 German, 163 Jewish, and 105 Spanish, the balance being spread over various other nationalities. The population of Victoria is about 165,000 and that of British Kowloon about 27,000.

The Garrison, according to the Estimates for 1897-98, consists of three companies of Garrison Artillery, 657 of all ranks ; one company of Royal Engineers, 165 of all ranks; one battalion of Infantry, 1,012; six of the Army Service Corps; six companies of Local Artikery, one company of Local Engineers, and eight companies of the Hongkong Regiment, 1,550 of all ranks; 30 of the Medical Staff Corps, six of the Army Ordnance Department, 15 of the Army Ordnance Corps, an 1 tive of the Army Pay Corps. Total of au ranks, 3,426. There is also a Volunteer Corps consisting of one Field Battery and one Machine Gun Company.

The approaches to the harbour are strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of weli constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutters Isiand and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channel. Another small battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mun Pass is defended by two forts, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hungham, which completely command the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading ordnance.

In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the turret ironclad Wivern, 2,750 tons, carrying 4 guns, the gunboats Esk (at present detached for service on the Yangtsze) and Treed, each carrying 3 guns, and four torpedo boats. The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Tomar, which is also the headquarters of the Commodore and his stall. The Naval Yard is an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yau-ma Ti.

CLIMATE

As intimated in earlier paragraphs, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarial fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was caused by excavating and otherwise disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists, and which appears to throw off

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