Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 1033

HONGKONG

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Sports are also held every year by the residents and the garrison, and occasionally swimming matches and boat races take place. There is a Philharmonic Society (resuscitated in 1922) and also an Amateur Dramatic Club, the members of which give occasional performances in the Theatre Royal during the season. There are three large Chinese Theatres, where the Chinese drama is almost constantly on view.

There are four daily papers published in English: the Hongkong Daily Press and the South China Morning Post, which appear in the morning; the China Mail and the Hongkong Telegraph, issued in the evening. There are two weekly papers-the Hongkong Weekly Press and China Overland Trade Report, and the Overland China Mail. The Directory and Chronicle for China, Japan, Straits Settlements, &c., has been issued annually since 1863 from the Daily Press Office. The native Press is represented by five daily papers-the Wah Sheung Chung Wui Po (with which is incorporated the Chung Ngoi Sun Po, the oldest vernacular journal, published at the Daily Press Office); the Wa Tsz Yat Po, or Chinese Mail; the Tsun Wan Yat Po, the Tai Kwony Po and the Hongkong Shunpo. There is also a small Japanese paper called the Hongkong Nippo. The Government Gazette is published once a week.

There are several good hotels in Victoria, the leading ones in the city being the Hongkong Hotel, extending from Queen's Road to Des Vœux Road, and the King Edward Hotel, situated in Des Voeux Road Central. The Peak Hotel is situated at Victoria Gap, about 1,400 feet above sea-level, and provides considerable accommodation. A palatial building on Kennedy Road, erected as a residence for the late Mr. E. R. Belilios, C.M.G., but never occupied by him, has been converted into a private hotel, and named Kingsclere. On the other side of the island a hotel at Repulse Bay was opened on New Year's Day, 1920, by the H.E. Sir R. E. Stubbs. In Kowloon there are the Station Hotel and the Palace Hotel, while plans have been prepared for the erection on Salisbury Road, by the Hongkong Hotel Co., Ltd., of a hotel on the most up-to-date lines and containing extensive accommodation, to be called the Peninsula Hotel.

INDUSTRIES

Manufactures are yearly increasing in importance. There are three large sugar refineries: the China Sugar Refining Co.'s establishments at East Point and at Bowring: ton, and the Taikoo Sugar Refinery at Quarry Bay. In connection with the first-named Company there is also a large Distillery, where a considerable quantity of rum is manu- factured. There is an Ice Factory at Bowrington, a large Rope Factory in Belcher's Bay, Steam Saw Mills at Bowrington, a Glass Manufactory at Causeway Bay, and a Match Manufactory at Kowloon, a Feather Cleaning and Packing Establishment at Kennedy-town, a Soap Factory at Shaukiwan, and two or three Engineering Works. The Green Island Cement Company has works at Deep Water Bay, on the south side of the island, and at Hunghom, in Kowloon. A Paper Mill on a considerable scale, fitted with the best English machinery, was erected at Aberdeen in 1891 and is successfully run under Chinese management. In 1899 a Cotton Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing mill was established at Soo-Kun-po, but after working with indifferent success for fifteen years, the mill was transferred to Shanghai, Flour Mills at Junk Bay, capable of turning out 8,000 sacks of flour per day, commenced operations on January 1st, 1907, but disaster overtook the concern in 1908, and the mills were closed about a year later. A Brewery, designated the Oriental Brewery, was opened at Laichikok in 1909. It was equipped with the most modern plant, having a capacity of about 100,000 barrels of beer per annum, and an ice- plant was worked in connection with the Brewery, but this concern also has had to close down. Among the industries pursued by the Chinese are glass blowing, soap making, vermilion and soy manufacture, tanning, dyeing, knitting and weaving, cigarette- making, biscuit baking, boat building, etc.

The works of the Hongkong and China Gas Company are situated at West Point and at Yaumati, and those of the Hongkong Electric Company at Wanchai. A new power- station for the Electric Company has recently been completed at North Point, on a site reclaimed from the sea for this purpose. The city is illuminated partly by gas and partly by electric light, the latter having been introduced at the end of 1890. Electricity is supplied in Kowloon by the China Light and Power Co., Ld.

There is excellent Dock accommodation in the Colony. The Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, Limited, have three extensive establishments-one at Hunghom, Kowloon, one at Tai Kok Tsui, and the third at Aberdeen on the south side of