Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 1027

918

HONGKONG

on the sea wall lift 100 tons at a radius of 70 feet, and wagon and crane roads run the full length from end to end. This sea wall which forms the boundary of the yard is 3,200 feet long and built of concrete blocks of an average weight of 15 tons. There is a depth of 39 feet at high water Spring tides for the greater length of the wall, which will enable ships of any size to berth alongside for the removal or fitting of heavy boilers, machinery, etc. The establishment is known as that of the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co., Ltd., of Hongkong. His Majesty's Naval Yard likewise contains machine sheds and fitting slops on a large scale, and repairs can be effected to the machinery of the British men-of-war with great expedition. A large extension of the Naval Yard, including an important reclamation on the foreshore, the construction of a dock (capable of accom- modating the largest ship afloat), and erection of various workshops was completed in 1909.

THE PEAK DISTRICT

A well-made but rather badly-graded mountain road leads up to the summit of Victoria Peak, with numerous otlier paths branching off from it at Victoria Gap along the adjoining hills. A tramway, on the wire rope system, runs to the Victoria Gap, where the stationary engine is fixed, the lower terminus being close to St. John's Cathedral. It was opened to traffic on the 30th May, 1888. Passengers can alight at the Kennedy, Bowen, May, and Plantation Roads, where stations are provided for their accommo- dation. The Military erected a sanatorium on the heights near Magazine Gap in 1883, and in 1897 acquired the handsome and commodious Mount Austin Hotel for the same purpose. The Peak Club is domiciled in a neat building just below Craigieburn. It was erected in 1902 and enlarged in 1912 by the addition of a second storey. The Peak Church, an unpretending structure after the similitude of a jelly mould, was opened for worship in June, 1883. Exten- sive accommodation for visitors is afforded at the Peak Hotel. A finely-situated private Hospital, known as the Peak Hospital, is situated at Victoria Gap, just above the Peak Hotel. The Victoria (Jubilee) Hospital for Women and Children, occupying a breezy site on Barker Road, was opened by Sir Henry Blake on November 7th, 1903. Yet another hospital, named "The Matilda Hospital," is situated at the southern corner of Mount Kellett. It was built at a cost of about $350,000 and opened in 1906. expense of erection and maintenance are borne by the estate of the late 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. A small public garden, or children's playground, situated at the junction of Chamberlain and Mount Kellett Roads, was opened in 1906.

The

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 Pokfolum 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. 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 bunga lows 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 sanitorium of the French Missions is located