2nd August
HONG KONG BUILDING INDUSTRY DIARY
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING EVENTS
DURING AUGUST, SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 1949
The requisitioning of the entire site. yards buildings, sheds and covered platforms of the Kowloon Canion Railway from the Star Ferry to the existing Chatham Road Camp should meet the pressing requirements of the incoming garrison with- out seriously disrupting civilian and trade activity and would obviate the taking over the isolated blocks of flats and houses. This is suggested by a correspondent to the Editor of the South China Morning Post.
4th August
In a prompt reply to the suggestion that the Railway Station be converted into Military Quarters, the Deputy Assistant of Public Relations said, in effect, that the Railway is of more strategic importance as a Railway than as a Military Camp.
13th August
Speakers at the meeting of the Chinese Reform Associa- tion Housing Sub-Committee aired their grievances over Government's requisitioning of houses which they said was detrimentally effecting building programmes. Another snag brought out at the meeting was the continued absence of any official pronouncement of policy in regard to Crown Leases which are about to expire.
18th August
The NAAFI have plans in hand for the building of a luxury club for "Other Ranks" in Kowloon. The site has not yet been decided upon but other details of the scheme are being worked out.
The case in which the demand for $33.000.00 key money was allegedly made for giving up possession of the ground floor of 32 Blue Pool Road, the hearing of which has been going on for the past 12 months, concluded before Mr. Hin- Shing Lo at Central yesterday when he dismissed a summons against the Defendant as he held the Defendant had no case
to answer.
The reasons for Government's action in requisitioning the C.N.A.C. sheds at Kai Tak were given in to-day's newspaper. The space was needed for the R.A.F.
25th August
Part of the Clearwater Bay Peninsula is now being used by the Military Authorities for storage purposes and in order to safeguard the stores the area concerned is about to be declared a closed area, it was announced yesterday. A curfew is also to be imposed. The area includes the village of Hang Hau and the whole of the peninsula to the south and east of that village.
29th August
The project of erecting several large blocks of one-storey houses to take the place of the recently requisitioned La Salle College is in full swing near the junction of Argyll Street and Waterloo Road. There will be six blocks, each of which will be divided into six airy classrooms,
31st August
Further accommodation for troop reinforcements in the Colony will be shortly available at Causeway Bay, where once stood a public football ground and a Polo Ground.
The large area, which is now enclosed by a 10-foot high barbed wire fence, is filled with labourers working hard to Anish 33 Nissen huts as soon as possible.
The huts, which are estimated to be completed within a month or so, will be like those standing at the newly-made barracks at Chatham Road, Kowloon, where Royal Marine Commandos are being quartered.
Several Nissen huts at Causeway Bay have already been put into place. The terrain within the perimeter, which generally tends to turn soggy and soft during the rainy weather is being reinforced with granite.
Old-timers in Hong Kong will remember that that area as well as the adjacent land was reclaimed from the sea at the time the causeway was formed.
2nd September
An appeal brought by I. H. Watt, of 64 Pokfulam Road, second floor, against the decision of Mr. Charles Loseby, sitting as a Tenancy Tribunal, was dismissed with $250 costs by Mi. Justice Gould in the Supreme Court.
The Tribunal, in June, made an order for possession of Watt's flat in favour of his landlord, Lee Foo, of 64 Pokfulam Road, third floor. The order was to take effect within 30 days subject to Watt being given alternative accommodation offered by the landlord, which consisted of the portion of the third Hoor Lee Foo occupied plus storage space on the roof and a storage room on the landing.
What constitutes the floor space of a room? This question was decided by the Full Court of Appeal yesterday when they held that the floor space of a built-in cupboard was clearly. for the purpose of the Second Schedule of the Price Control
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(Hotel Services) Regulations, 1949, to be included in the floor space of a room. This ruling was made following an appeal brought by the Waldorf Hotel, 6 Causeway Road, against the judgment of Mr. Justice Scholes in an action in which the Hotel claimed arrears of rent from J. J. Holland, occupant of a room in the Hotel, at the rate of $14 per day.
6th September
Room No. 408, Bank of China Building, Queen's Road Central, formed the subject of a tenancy action before the Chief Justice, Sir Leslie Gibson, in the Supreme Court.
Woo Hang-kam, solicitor, of Messrs. Woo and Woo, was the plaintiff and he sought a declaration from the Court that defendant held the tenancy in trust for the plaintiff and that the plaintiff was entitled to refuse to pay rent in excess of the sum paid by the defendant to the landlord. He was represented by Mr. Brook A. Bernacchi, instructed by Messrs. Woo and Woo. 12th September
The foundation stone of the Industrial and Domestic Training Wing, to be built on the left of Po Leung Kuk, was laid by the Acting Secretary for Chinese affairs, the Hon. Mr. B. C. K. Hawkins, O.B.E. The estimated cost of this new building is $60,000, $50,000 for construction and $10,000 for equipment.
15th September
The South China Morning Post editorial to-day was devoted to a description of the amount of traffic that is being handled at Kai Tak aerodrome and commending the efforts of the entire department of the Civil Aviation, headed by Mr. A. J. R. Moss, who are to a great extent responsible for the very gratifying results of the rehabilitation of Hong Kong as air centre, "Statistics are tedious," states the editorial. “bu' facts point the story, and possibly a moral. There are two facts to-day about Kai Tak civil aerodrome which speak volumes for the unceasing work which has been put into its restoration. One is that Kai Tak is the only civil airport in the world which pays; another, that during peak periods of activity, a plane is either landing or taking off every two minutes and 40 seconds.
18th September
Announcement is made to-day that the Public Works Department will shortly call for tender for the construction of a new three-storey Kowloon City Divisional Police Station. with a separate block of 12 flats as married quarters. 22nd September
Property in 4C Elgin Road, held on a 999 years' lease, found no buyer when put up for auction by Messrs. Lammert Bros. yesterday. The property, known as Inland Lot 1290, consists of 916 sq. ft. of land on which there is a building. No. 46. Elgin Street. It is held from the Crown for the unexpired term of 999 years from January 22, 1844. The auctioneer asked the few persons present at the auction for a $1,000 bid above the opening price of $44,000. No bid was forth-coming and the lot was withdrawn.
23rd September
Hong Kong will have one of the largest, finest and most up-to-date amusement parks in the Far East, when Luna Park, at North Point, is opened to the public. Situated on the five- acre plot of ground next to the Hong Kong Electric Company on King's Road. the promoters have spent more than HK$3,000,000 on the preject. The promoters are the Gray Brothers of Paramount and China Emporium Ballrooms, the Ching Siong Investment Company Limited, and Mr. Al J. Richardson and Mr. Monroe Paulsen, both of San Francisco.
23rd September
To-day's editorials in most of Hong Kong newspapers were devoted to comments on Abercrombie report which has been just published. All editors agreed that the report is a very comprehensive one and that it would be a very good thing for Hong Kong if its recommendations could be carried out. The China Mail also points out that the distinguished planning expert is most restrained when he mentions that "Hong Kong is perhaps more deficient in public buildings than any other town of comparable size in the world," adding that there is no town hall, art gallery, museum, public library or opera house.
He left it to the conscience of those concerned that our wealthy prefer to erect mansion houses to their memory rather than civic edifices.
24th September
All reservoirs in the Colony have been declared closed areas by orders of the Governor. They are: Tytam Tuk. Tytam, Tytam Bywash, Tytam Intermediate, Wong Nei Chang, Aberdeen Upper. Aberdeen Lower, Pokfulam, Breamar, Jubilee, Kowloon, Kowloon Bywash, Shek Li Pui, and Recep- tion Reservoirs.
27th September
It is learned that considerable progress has already been made in the rehabilitation of one of the oldest industries in the Colony, the Tai Koo Sugar Refining Co., Ltd. It is expected that the Refinery, re-modelled and re-equipped with the latest machinery, will be in operation next June.
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