Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 992

HONGKONG

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The Post Office, an imposing building in which several other Government depart- ments are accommodated, occupies a site with frontages on the Praya, Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road. The Courts of Justice were designed by Sir Aston Webb and Mr. E. Ingress Bell, consulting architects to the Government of Great Britain. The foundation stone was laid in 1903 and the building was completed at a cost of $856,310 and opened in January, 1912. Immediately opposite on the seaward side and appropriately occupying what was long known as "the finest site," stands the Colony's War Memorial-a replica of the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London--which was unveiled by H.E. Sir R. E. Stubbs and dedicated to "The Glorious Dead" on Empire Day, 1923. The monument, which is of granite, stands 35 ft. high. Occupying a site in the centre of Statue Square to the west of the Courts of Justice stands the Jubilee statue of H.M. Queen Victoria, the erection of which was postponed until this site became available; it was unveiled on the 28th May, 1896.

The statue represents Queen Victoria seated on her throne, and is of bronze under a stone canopy. Close by, there was formerly a fine bronze statue of the Duke of Connaught, presented to the Colony by Sir Paul Chater. It was unveiled by Sir William Gascoigne on the 5th July, 1902. This statue was removed in February, 1907, to a site on the waterfront near Blake Pier, and H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, who paid a second visit to the Colony, this time as Inspector-General of the Forces, on February 6th, 1907, unveiled, in what is now designated the Royal Square, a fine bronze statue of the late King Edward, presented by Sir Paul Chater, C.M.G., and one of H.M. King George, presented by Mr. James Jardine Bell-Irving. A statue of H.M. Queen Alexandra, subscribed for by the Community as a memorial of the Coronation of their Majesties in 1902, and one of H.M. Queen Mary, presented by the late Sir H. N. Mody, were placed in the same Square in 1909. Sir Paul Chater desired to add a statue of the Prince of Wales in commemoration of His Royal Highness's visit in April, 1922, but, at the Prince's request, the money ($50,000) was invested instead for the local branch of the British Legion and the Ex-Active Service Men's Association. Government House occupies a commanding situation, in picturesque grounds pleas- ingly laid out, a little above the European business centre. Victoria Gaol is a large but ill-designed structure, with its main entrance from Arbuthnot Road. A branch prison was opened at Lai-chi-kok, Kowloon, in 1920. The Police Barracks and new Central Station adjoin Victoria Gaol, as does the Magistracy, the reconstruction of which was practically completed at the close of 1914. An additional Magistracy was opened at Kowloon in 1924. The strength of the Police Force for 1925 was 246 Europeans, 564 Indians, 805 Chinese and 230 Water Police (composed of Chinese).

The total authorised strength of the Fire Brigade (including Motor Ambulance Service) for 1925 was 206, comprising (Europeans) 4 officers; (Chinese) 105 firemen, 26 motor drivers, 32 float men, and 39 other ranks. A Reformatory was built and opened in 1900 at Causeway Bay, the cost of erection being borne by the late Mr. E. R. Belilios, C.M.G.; but the building has not been used for the purpose, the idea having proved im- practicable. The Eyre Diocesan Refuge, an institution founded for rescue work among the Chinese, is now housed in this building. The Lunatic Asylum consists of two smal buildings, one for Europeans and the other for Chinese, below Bonham Road in the western part of the town. Adjacent is the Government Civil Hospital. The Alice Memorial Hospital, situated at the corner of Hollywood Road and Aberdeen Street, is a useful and philanthropic institution; affiliated with it is the Nethersole Hospital on Bonham Road. A little to the west is a hospital designated the Ho Miu Ling Hospital, the gift of Madame Wu Ting Fang to the Medical Mission of the London Missionary Society. The Royal Naval Hospital occupies a small eminence near Bowrington, and the Military Hospital, a fine range of buildings, completed in 1907, occupies a commanding site above Bowen Road. The Hongkong University, a large and handsome building erected in a commanding position at the west end of the city, was opened in 1912. Queen's College, a commodious structure, which stands on a site having its chief frontage on Staunton Street, is the home of the chief Government educational institution in the Colony. King's College, a fine building accommodating nearly a thousand students was opened in 1926 in Bonham Road. The Belilios Public School for Girls, in Gough Street, is the chief centre of female education. Extensive new buildings for St. Stephen's Girls' College, however, have been erected on a site between Park Road and Lyttleton Road at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars. The foundation-stone was laid by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales during his visit to the Colony in April, 1922, and the building was opened by Lady Stubbs in January, 1924. The Tung Wa Hospital, a Chinese institution, which has been of great utility in the Colony, considerably enlarged in 1903, and new plague wards were added in 1909. A new

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