Directory_and_Chronicle_1915 — Page 1094

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HONGKONG

fine bund, with a massive granite wall, has been constructed there, and an extensive range of godowns built and several fine wharves made for discharging cargo and coaling. During 1905 and 1906 extensive reclamation works were carried out extending eastward from the godown company's property to Hunghom. Messrs. Butterfield & Swire have erected extensive godown accommodation on the reclamation. The same period will also be remembered by the building of two churches at Kowloon -St. Andrew's, in Robinson Road, being the gift of the Hon. Sir C. P. Chater, C.M.G., and the Roman Catholic Church in Chatham Road, the gift of Dr. S. A. Gomes. There are two hotels, one possessing large accommodation. The Kowloon British School was erected in 1901 on Robinson Road at the expense of Mr. Ho Tung. The Navy maintains a small naval yard, subsidiary to the principal establishment on the Hongkong side. The Royal Observatory is situated on Mount Elgin; and a large and handsome Police Station for the Water Police occupies an eminence just above the Praya. A steam ferry plies regularly between Tsim-tsa Tsui and Victoria; ferry boats also run between Victoria and Yau-ma-Ti and Hunghom, where the principal docks of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co. are situated. The Cosmo- politan Dock and works, also belonging to the same Company, are situated at Fuk Tsun Heung, formerly known as Sam Shui Po. At Hok-ün are also situated the exten- sive works of the Green Island Cement Co., Ld., and the patent slip and shipbuilding yard of Messrs. W. S. Bailey & Co., Ld. The Orient Cigar Factory is situated at Yaumati In 1898 an agreement was entered into whereby China ceded to Great Britain for ninety-nine years the territory behind Kowloon Peninsula up to a line drawn from Mirs Bay to Deep Bay and the adjacent islands, including Lantao, the extent of the New Territory being about 376 square miles, namely, 286 square miles on the mainland and 90 square miles on the islands. The ceremony of formally taking over the terri- tory was fixed for the 17th April, 1899, when the British flag was to have been hoisted at Taipohu, and the day was declared a general holiday. Attacks, however, having been made on the parties engaged on the preliminary arrangements, the mat-sheds erected for the accommodation of the police having been burnt, and other evidences of an organised opposition having been given, it was deemed advisable to assume full jurisdiction on the 16th April, on which date the flag was hoisted by the Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary. Military operations were found necessary to overcome the opposition, and on the 18th April the rebels were completely routed in an action fought at Sheung Tsun, their force numbering some 2,600 men. On the British side there were no fatalities and only one or two slight casualties; on the Chinese side a number were killed and wounded, but the exact figures were not ascertained, those who fell being carried away by their friends. In the Convention it was provided that Kowloon City was to remain Chinese, but it having been established beyond a doubt that the hands of the Chinese officials were by no means clean in respect of the disturbances which occurred on the taking over of the leased area, the Home Government determined to mark their sense of the duplicity of the Chinese in a suitable manner and orders were accordingly issued to the military authorities to seize Kowloon walled city and Shamchun. This was done on the 16th May, 1899, no opposition being encountered at either place. The Hongkong Volunteer Corps took part in the expedition to Kowloon City. Shamchun, the other place seized, is an important town on the river of the same name just beyond the boundary originally agreed upon. Unfortunately it has not been retained, having been restored to the Chinese authorities in November, 1899, and has become a resort for desperate characters. The New Territory under 'British jurisdiction is being developed by the construction of roads; police stations have been established, and a system of administration by means of village communities organised. The headquarters of the administration are at Taipohu. The railway from Kowloon to Canton, which passes through the New Territory to Shamchun, has already done much to develop it. The Hongkong Golf Club acquired an area of 55.62 acres in the valley stretching West from Fanling and have converted it into a Golf Course which promises to be the best in the East. The principal islands and their populations are as follows:-Lanta, 7,940; Cheung Chau, 2,734; Lamma, 1,134. The islands to the west of Hongkong con- tained 1,925; those to the east, 1,169. The Chinese population of the New Territories is

estimated at 85,000.

Of the islands and islets in the waters of the Colony (exclusive of the alve acquisitions) the most important is Stonecutter'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 principal eminences are