Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 794

HONGKONG

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A fine bronze statue of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of the Colony 1872-6, erected by public subscription, stands above the second terrace looking down on the fountain. It was unveiled in November, 1887, by Governor 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. In front of the main entrance is a large fountain presented in August, 1864, by Mr. John Dent, a merchant of the Colony. Eastward of the City Hall is a fine open space or lung in the shape of the Parade Ground south of the road and of the Cricket Ground on the north. The latter is furnished with a neat Pavilion, and the turf is kept in perfect order. The Government Offices, Supreme Court House, and Post Office are very plain and inadequate cdifices, but new Law Courts are in course of erection, and a new Post Office is under design. A statue of the Duke of Connaught, presented by the Hon. C. P. Chater to the Colony, only awaits the completion of the Law Courts to be provided with a suitable site in front thereof. Government House occupies a commanding situation, in picturesque grounds pleasingly laid out, in the centre of the city. Victoria Gaol is a large and massive structure. The Police Barracks and Central Station adjoin the Gaol, as does the Magistracy, a small and inconvenient structure. The Police Force numbers over 916, of whom 146 are Europeans, 360 Indians, and 410 Chinese. A Re- formatory was built and opened in 1900 at Causeway Bay. The cost of erection was borne by Mr. E. R. Belilios. The Lunatic Asylum consists of two small buildings, one for Europeans and the other for Chinese, below the Bonham Road. The Government Civil Hospital is a large and well designed building affording extensive accommodation, situated in the Western part of the town. The Alice Memorial Hospital, situated at the corner of Hollywood Road and Aberdeen Street, is a useful and philanthropi institution, which is also the headquarters of the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese affiliated with it is the Nethersole Hospital on Bonham Road. The Royal Naval Hospital occupies a small eminence near Bowrington. The Queen's College, handsome and commodious structure, which stands on a fine site having its chief frontage on Staunton Street, is the home of the chief Government educational institution in the colony. It was opened in 1889. The Belilios Public School for Girls, in Gough street, is the chief centre of female education. The Tung Wa Hospital, a Chinese institution, occupies a large and roomy building. The Barracks for the garrison are extensive, and constructed with great regard to the health and comfort of the troops, and the buildings belonging to the Naval Establishment are substantial and spacious. The chief cantonments lie on both sides of the Queen's Road, between the Cricket Ground and Arsenal Street, Wanchai. There are also extensive Barracks at Kowloon, in which the "Hongkong Regiment" and other troops are quartered; and a magnificent sanatorium (formerly the Mount Austin Hotel) at the Peak for the European troops. A smaller one is situated near Magazine Gap. Head-quarter House, the residence of the General in Command of the Troops, occupies a pleasant elevation overlooking the cantonments. A new and commodious Central Market opened in 1895. The building of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank is large, handsome, and massive, and would do credit to any city. It occupies a fine site next to the City Hall, and has frontages on Queen's Road and Des Vœux Road. The exterior walls and elegant fluted pillars are of dressed granite, and the offices on the Queen's Road frontage are crowned with a large dome. An extensive reclam- ation along the city water frontage from West Point to Murray Road is now approaching completion, and the various sections as they are ready are being rapidly built upon. On the eastern section a handsome building for the Hongkong Club was finished in 1897, and was occupied in July of that year. Near the Club stands the Jubilee statue of Her Majesty the Queen, the erection of which was postponed until this site became available; it was unveiled on the 28th May, 1896. The statue represents Her Majesty in a sitting posture and is of bronze enclosed in a stone canopy. 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. It is proposed to re-erect it shortly on a new design at the head of the new Pier at the foot of Pedder's Street, which was opened on the 29th December, 1900, and named Blake Pier in honour of Governor Sir Henry Blake.

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The chief religious buildings are: St. John's Cathedral (Anglican), erected in the year 1842, occupies 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 new chancel was built in 1869-70, the foundation stone of which was laid by the late Duke