Directory_and_Chronicle_1939 — Page 875

HONGKONG

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The Government is administered by a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of six officials and three unofficials. The Legislative Council is presided over by the Governor, and is composed of the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Director of Public Works, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services the Harbour Master, and eight unofficial members, one of whom is elect- ed by the Chamber of Commerce and another by the Justices of the Peace. The remaining six, three of whom are of Chinese race but British nationality, are appointed by the Government. Demands for a greater measure of popular representation were made by the British residents to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1916 and again in 1919, both times unsuccessfully. In 1922 a numerously-signed petition on the subject was presented to the House of Commons.

DESCRIPTION

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The island of Hongkong is about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad; its circumference is about 27 miles. It consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills, with few valleys of any extent and scarcely any ground available for cultivation. only valleys worthy of the name are those of Wong Nei Cheong, Tytam, and Little Hongkong, all of which are remarkably beautiful and well wooded, being in fact the only parts where any considerable arborescent vegetation was formerly to be found. The island is well watered by numerous streams, many of which are perennial. city of Victoria and suburbs are supplied with water from the Pokfolum, Tytam, and Wong-Nei-Cheong reservoirs. The first-named, constructed in 1866-69, has a storage capacity of sixty-six million gallons, while the Tytam reservoir, constructed in 1883-1888, and extended in 1896, has an area of about 31 acres and a storage capacity of about three hundred and 84 million gallons. From the Tytam reservoir the water is conveyed into town by means of a tunnel a mile and one-third in length and a conduit along the hillside some 400 feet above the sea level and nearly four miles in length, on which a fine road-called the Bowen Road — has been formed, which commands the most charming views of the city and the eastern district, and is a favourite resort of pedestrians. In many parts the conduit is carried over the ravines and rocks by ornamental stone bridges, one of which, above Wanchai, has twenty-three arches. The Wong-Nei-Cheong reservoir, completed in 1899, has a capacity of 30 million gallons. A bye-wash reservoir of about 22 million gallons capacity, situated immediately below the overflow of the Tytam reservoir, was completed in 1903, and a dam at Tytam Tuk to impound 194 million gallons was completed in 1909. A further extension of these waterworks was completed in 1917 at a cost of about $2,400,000, making provision for impounding an additional 1,419 million gallons of water. This was expected to meet the needs of the Colony for another fifteen years but experience in dry seasons shewed that it was barely adequate and a project was started to dam the Shing Mun river and to tap practically the whole of the Eastern and Southern slopes of Tai Mo Shan. This scheme was sanctioned by the Secretary of State in June, 1924, and the work slowly progressed. The newly developed catchment area includes 8,500 acres, or 13 square miles. It was proposed originally to build nine storage reservoirs, varying in size from 55 million to 1,700 million gallons and having an aggregate capacity of 4,500 million gallons, of which 2,400 million gallons, or rather more than the whole storage capacity in the Island of Hongkong, would be stored in gravity, and the remainder would be in pumping reservoir. The water will be conveyed through the Kowloon hills by open conduit and two tunnels, the latter being 2,400 and 4,350 feet in length, respectively. It was intended that the water should be brought down from the Filtered Water Reservoir by 24-inch trunk mains, which were to be laid in the bed of the harbour from Kowloon Point and discharge into a Service Re- servoir, probably under the Public Gardens. The scheme was somewhat modi- fied but no very great difficulties were experienced until the question arose as to the best method of conveying the water across the harbour. Early in 1929 Mr. Henderson, the assistant director of Public Works, went Home to consult engineering authorities as to the best method of doing this, with a result that his own scheme was approved and he hurried back to put the work in hand. The water is conveyed across to Hongkong in a pipe line laid on the bed of the harbour. The total length of this pipe is nearly 1 miles. The