Directory_and_Chronicle_1906 — Page 1062

HONGKONG

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Mr. Granville Sharp, who devoted the bulk of his fortune to provide such an institution for the benefit of persons needing it who are of European or American birth.

The road from Victoria Gap westward leads to Victoria Peak, which is 1,823 feet above the sea and rises almost abruptly behind the centre of the city of Victoria- On the summit is placed the flagstaff, from which the approach of the mails and other vessels is signalled. Not far from the summit of the Peak, on a most command- ing site, stands Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of H.E. the Governor, which was erected in 1901. An excellent and well graded road, commencing on the Bowen Road, leads to Magazine Gap, near which a second hill village of foreign residences has been formed on the southern side of the hills at an elevation of about 900 feet above the sea. Another road leads from Victoria Gap to Pokfulun and Aber- deen, and at the side of this, about half a mile from the Gap, a small granite cross has been erected. This bears the inscription :-"W. W. H. 1869" and marks the scene of a brutal murder there by a Chinese footpad, the victim being Mr. Holworthy, an officer of the Ordnance Department, whom he felled with a bamboo and robbed, inflicting fatal injuries. The Peak roads are now lighted by gas.

THE RURAL DISTRICTS

There are several villages on the island, the largest of which is Shau-ki Wan, situate in a bay in the Ly-ee-mùn Pass, a great resort of Chinese fishing craft. Aberdeen, known to the Chinese as Shek-pai-wan, on the south of the island, possesses a well sheltered little harbour, also much frequented by fishing craft. Two large docks of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company are situated there, and add to the importance of the place. Pokfolum, on the road to Aberdeen, about four miles from Victoria, was formerly a place of resort for European residents in the hot weather, and some elegant bungalows were erected in pleasant and picturesque situations, commanding fine sea views and cool breezes, but since the development of the Peak district Pokfolum has been comparatively neglected. The sanitarium of the French Missions is located at Pokfolum, and is a fine building with an elegant chapel attached. The Dairy Farm is also situated there. Wong-nai Chung is snugly located at the head of the valley of that name and is the most accessible of all the villages from Victoria. Stanley, situated in a small bay on the south-east of the island, was once the site of a military station, but the barrack buildings have been pulled down, and the village is now stationary. A cemetery on the point contains numerous graves of British officers and soldiers. One of the places most in favour with pedestrians who are not afraid of a good long tramp is the little village of Tytam Tuk, nestling among trees at the mouth of the stream of the same name, which here enters Tytam Bay, the most extensive inlet on the southern coast. There are good carriage roads from Victoria both to Aberdeen and Shau-ki Wan and bridle roads to Stanley and Tytam, and as a memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of the late Queen Victoria a new road round the body of the island was constructed. Saiwan is a small village picturesquely situated in Saiwan Bay. just outside the Ly-ee-mùn Pass, and is also much frequented by pienic parties, In the belief that it was a healthy locality, small barracks were erected there carly in the forties, but the experiment proved most disastrous, for in five weeks out of a detachment of 20 English soldiers five died and three more were removed in a dangerous condition. The buildings were therefore soon abandoned, Shek O is a small but prettily located village occupying a small valley shut in from the water on the eastern coast, not far from Cape D'Águilar.

KOWLOON AND OTHER DEPENDENCIES

Across the harbour is the dependency of British Kowloon. The peninsula was first granted in perpetual lease by the Kwangtung Government to Sir Harry (then Mr.) Parkes, but was definitely ceded to Great Britain in 1860 by Article VI. of the Peking Convention. It has an area of four square miles, and has latterly made considerable progress. Yau-ma Ti, the principal village, has increased in population, and bids fair soon to become an important town. There is a considerable Chinese junk trade at this place, and amongst other industries is a preserved ginger factory. The Military and Police Rifle Ranges are at the back of and near the village, but will shortly be removed to a site further back near Kowloon City. Gas Works were erected here in 1892, and the settled portion of the peninsula is lighted with gas; electricity is also now largely used, the generating station being at Hunghom. Waterworks were established in 1895, but the supply has become wholly insufficient for the rapidly growing population, and new scheme, providing for the supply of a million gallons daily, is now being carried out. Three regiments of