Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 879

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HONGKONG

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 shops 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 large dock, and erection. of various workshops was completed in 1908.

THE PEAK DISTRICT

A well-made but rather badly-graded mountain road leads up from the centre of the city to the summit of Victoria Peak, with numerous other paths branching off from it at Victoria Gap along the adjoining hills. A tramway, on the wire rope system, runs to the Victoria Gap, 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 accommodation. The Military acquired the commodious Mount Austin Hotel at Victoria Gap for the purpose of a sanatorium in 1897. The Peak Club is domiciled in a neat building at Plunkett Gap near the point of junction with Chamber- lain Road and Mount Kellett road. 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. Extensive accom- modation for visitors is afforded at the Peak Hotel. The Peak Hospital is situated at Victoria Gap, just above the Peak Hotel. The Victoria (Jubilee) Hospital occupying a breezy site on Barker Road, was opened by Sir Henry Blake on November 7th, 1903, partly as the result of public subscription. A new block was added to it in 1923. 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. The 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.

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.É. the Governor, which was erected in 1901. Another road westward from Victoria Gap and known as Lugard Road was completed in 1920, and, with Harlech Road, encircles Victoria Peak From there a road leads down to the West end of the City. Another road in a directly opposite direction leads from Victoria Gap to Magazine Gap, where 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. There is also a path from Victoria Gap down to Pokfolum and Aberdeen, 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 lighted by incandescent gas lamps.

A second road to the Peak district was completed in 1922. Starting from Morrison Hill Road, it runs behind the Cemetery at Happy Valley and traverses the face of the hills to Wanchai Gap and Magazine Gap. From Wanchai Gap, also, it has been continued, along the southern face of the hills, to the Peak. It has an easy gradient and was constructed for motor traffic. A branch of it runs in an opposite direction to Wong-nai-Chung Gap. Houses are springing up rapidly along the road, and adjacent to it, on a site granted by the Government, a model Nursing Home is to be erected in the near future from funds partly subscribed by the public for a War Memorial, partly contributed by the Government, and partly obtained from the surplus accumulated on the investment of the late Granville Sharp's bequest, referred to above.

Magazine Gap is also approached from the lower levels by an excellent and well-graded road, commencing on the Bowen Road.