Directory_and_Chronicle_1935 — Page 907

HONGKONG

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the Colony on August 18th, 1923, when the wind attained the record velocity of 130 miles an hour. Considerable damage was done to shipping and to property on shore, especially at the Peak, but the loss of life was, fortunately, small. But for the fact that the typhoon was travelling very rapidly the results must have been much more serious. In the Spring of 1918 some 600 lives were lost in a fire which occurred during the race meeting at Happy Valley. The matsheds accommodating thousands of Chinese spectators col- lapsed and flames spread so rapidly that the people were burned to death before the eyes of their friends, who were powerless to render assistance.

Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Lugard, K.C.M.G., arrived on July 28th, 1907, and his chief monument in the Colony may be said to be the University. Mr. H. N. Mody generously offered to provide buildings at an estimated cost of $280,000, and Sir Frederick Lugard worked indefatigably to secure an endowment fund of a million and a quarter dollars. When this fund was in sight, in 1909, building operations were commenced on a site in Bonham Road. Sir Frederick Lugard had the felicity of seeing the build- ing opened in March, 1912, just before he left on promotion to become Governor of Nigeria. Mr. Mody received a knighthood in recognition of his benefac- tions to the Colony.

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The third decade of the century was marked by immense development of the Colony and also by many striking public events. As elsewhere, there has been in Hong Kong a surprising increase in the facilities for public enter- tainment and recreation. In 1921 no fewer than 500 motor vehicles were licensed in 1931 the number was well over 3,000. Rickshas and chairs are accordingly reduced in number. Moving picture theatres of modern type have also in- creased, and considerably extended hotel accommodation (including provision for music and dancing) attracts many more people into the centres of popula- tion than was, formerly the case. Wireless developments have advanced the science of meteorology and increased the valuable services of the Hong Kong Observatory to navigation; the public also has now the advantage of radio broadcasting. In the period under review the Chinese first developed a keen interest in football and bathing. Chinese football teams now frequently defeat such practised exponents of the game as members of the garrison. New motor roads have developed extensive building areas on which innumerable single residences and streets of houses have been built. A motor road to the Peak was the largest of these enterprises subsequent to the road round the Island and the New Territories. Building development has occurred especially in Kowloon where town-planning schemes have attracted a population shown by the 1931 census to be more than double that of 1921. Numerous services of motor buses serve the transport needs of the population, leading to the con- struction of the first reinforced concrete roads in the Colony. Development has been accelerated by pressure of arrivals from China where disturbed con- ditions have prevailed practically throughout the decade. The Chinese realised that the Colony afforded a safe refuge for person and property they came in such numbers as to cause a considerable advance in the cost of living and a land boom from 1921 to 1924 (33 million dollars worth of land was sold by the Government on long lease in 1923 alone, and 9 millions in four years). In times of drought there have been acute water shortages, notably in 1929 when water had to be imported by steamer and supplied to the public from tanks on the water-front. Waterworks extension, referred to elsewhere, should make shortages a thing of the past. On the island the most notable achievement was the

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area oon of the Praya East Reclamation Scheme, which doubles the

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area of Wanchai, while in Kowloon the construction of what will be a model jeity of vast dimensions progressed year by year as hill after hill was cut down and used to level up insanitary depressions and extend the deep sea frontage. Private enterprise has also added to the reclaimed area at North Point, Hong Kong. Another private reclamation was resumed by the Government in 1927. For an Air Port (Kai Tak Aerodrome).

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