Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 862

A472

HONGKONG

and the usually busy Queen's Road appeared almost deserted. As the disease waned the population returned, business was gradually resumed, and with the withdrawal of the quarantine imposed at the other ports, vessels resumed their regular calls at Hongkong. In 1896 the disease again made its appearance, but was much less virulent than in 1894, and in 1898 there was another visitation. In every succeeding year there was a recurrence of the epidemic notwithstanding the expenditure of millions of dollars and the prosecution of a vigorous policy of sanitation carried out on the advice of special com- missioners (Mr. Osbert Chadwick and Dr. Simpson) sent out from England to advise on the best means of improving the health of the city of Victoria. An outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis occurred early in 1918, 1,232 cases being recorded. In consequence of the popular alarm that was felt, the Rockefeller Institute of New York was asked to send an expert in the disease to advise on the best methods of prevention and treatment. Dr. Olitsky, Lieutenant, U.S.A. Army, arrived in the Colony on the 5th, May and he strongly condemned the con- gestion prevailing in the western part of Victoria. On his advice the systematic, manufacture of anti-meningococcic serum was undertaken.

In 1900, in the despatch of the Chinese Expeditionary Force from India, Hongkong became the base from which troops and supplies were sent forward. Prior to the arrival of these troops, a force drawn from the Garrison was des- patched to the front, and the Hongkong Regiment were retained for service in North China during the whole of the campaign, only returning to the Colony in December, 1901. In October, 1902, the Hongkong Regiment were paraded for the last time in the Colony, handed over their colours to be placed in St. John's Cathedral, and embarked a few days later for India, where they were disbanded. Owing to a very short rainfall in 1901, and a prolonged drought lasting until May, 1902, a serious water famine occurred, reducing the. inhabitants to great straits, and forcibly bringing home to the Administration the urgent need for increased water storage. Large reservoirs have since been built on the island and a big scheme for securing water from the Shing Mun valley on the mainland first mooted in 1922 has now been completed.

Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G., reached the Colony on the 29th, July, 1904, and his régime was distinguished by the commencement of the long- projected railway from Kowloon to Canton. The British section, from Kow- loon to the frontier, a distance of 22 miles, was opened on the 1st, October, 1910, by Sir Henry May, who was then administering the Government in the absence on leave of H.E. Sir Frederick Lugard. The Chinese section, 89 miles in length, was completed at the end of September, 1911, when through railway communication was established. The year 1906 will be remembered in the history of the Colony by the typhoon which struck the Colony on the 18th, September with terrific force and with such disastrous results as to give it rank as the worst typhoon that the Colony had ever experienced. The Observatory was able to give but very short notice of its approach. The typhoon lasted only two hours, and it was roughly estimated that in that short space of time 10,000 persons lost their lives in the vicinity of the Colony, while the damage done to shipping and property ashore ran into many millions of dollars. A list, admittedly incomplete, compiled by the Harbour Authorities, showed sunk or damaged 67 large vessels, 652 junks, 54 lighters, and 70 launches. No account is taken in this list of the hundreds of sampans which were sunk or battered to pieces against the sea walls. The Colony was visited by another typhoon of greater force on the night of July 27-28, 1908, but the Observatory gave timely warning of the approach, and shipping consequently did not suffer so badly as in the 1906 typhoon, but much more extensive damage was done to property ashore. The most serious shipping casualty was

casualty was the foundering of the Yingking with a loss of some 424 lives. Arising out of these catastrophes there was

an agitation for the provision of more adequate protection_for small shipping than was afforded by the typhoon shelter at Causeway Bay, and, as a consequence, a new refuge was constructed at Mongkoktsui.

This