No_3_March_and_April__1950 — Page 37

THE ENGINEERING SOCIETY OF HONG KONG

The third annual general meeting of the Engineering Society was held in the Jacobean Room of Hong Kong Hotel on Wednesday, May 3rd, 1950. Twenty-nine members were present with Mr. W. L. E. Miller as Chairman.

The President delivered the Report of the Council on the state of the Society as at the close of the Session. The Council's report stated that the Membership of the Society at the close of the Session totalled 242 which included 128 Members, 84 Associate Members. 11 Associates. 1 absent Member. 2 Visiting Members and 16 Students. This repre- sented an increase in the total Membership of 61 during the Session.

The President stated that the Council were pleased to note the increase in Students from 1 to 16 during the Session and it was hoped that these Students would continue to take full advantage of the activities of the Society.

The report then gave details of the activities of the Society during the Session.

At the conclusion of the report the President made an appeal for Papers for the next Session.

The President then presented the Hon. Treasurer's Financial Statement of the Society. The Financial Statement showed a Working Profit for the Session of $781:69, whilst cash in hand at the close of the Session Totalled $4.760:22 Members Subscriptions Outstanding amounted to $635:00.

At the conclusion of these reports Mr. A. W. Black pro- posed and Mr. R. P. Dunlop seconded that they be adopted and this was carried unanimously,

The President informed the Meeting that no further nominations for the Council had been received and proposed that the new Officers of the Society and Council Members as nominated by the outgoing Council be elected en bloc. Mr. A. Storrar seconded this proposal and the following were elected unanimously:—-

Officers of the Society

Mr. A. W. Black. President

Mr. W. L. E. Miller. Immediate Past President

Mr. F. C. Clemo, Vice President

Mr. J. C. L. Wong, Vice President

Mr. R. V. Lederhofer, Hon. Treasurer Mr. M. R. Snell. Hon. Secretary

Members of Council

Mr. S. E. Faber

Mr. A. Storrar

Mr. P. V. Reveley

Mr. D. S. Hill

Dr. S. Y. King

Mr. W. S. Yeh

Mr. H. Braga

Mr. E. S. Crosbie Mr. E. A. Boyce Mr. W. G. Long Mr. A. W. Wood

At the Society's annual dinner on the Roof Garden of the Hongkong Hotel on 6th May, 1950. the retiring President in a comprehensive review of the past year referred to the great progress which had been made during the year in all the four chief fields of engineering in the Colony, namely:— Civil. Mechanical, Electrical and Naval Architecture. has also been a considerable amount of engineering work in what is probably the oldest branch of engineering-Military Engineering, but whether this can be called progress or not is a matter I do not propose to touch on here.

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In the Civil Engineering field there has been a great deal of important work completed during the season. The Telephone Building in Kowloon is now completed and forms one of the most prominent landmarks on the Peninsula. Edinburgh House is now complete and a start has been made in the demolition of Alexandra Building. The large blocks

of Government apartments have been completed in King's Park and Queen's Gardens and the number of new blocks of private residential quarters completed during the year run into many hundreds. Unfortunately no adequate scheme of low cost permanent housing has shown any satisfactory progress and the key money racket on newly built residential premises is still with us.

Our port facilities continue to improve and the new No. 4 wharf of the Hongkong & Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co. Ltd. has just been completed as part of the company's development programme,

Steady progress has been made by our Public Works Department in many schemes of rehabilitation of a Civil Engineering nature and the new rapid filtration plant on Stubbs Road has been completed during the year.

Unfortunately one of the most urgently needed Civil Engineering projects in the colony has made apparently no progress at all. I refer to the provision of new ferry piers for the Star Ferry cross harbour service.

Regarding the importance of our water supply system I understand that all are agreed, engineers and administrators alike, on the desirability of the Tai Lam Chung scheme, but that this is held up on the rock of finance. not that of foundations.

On the Mechanical Engineering side there has been much progress, especially in the fields of public transportation, Double decker buses in considerable numbers are now operat- ing in Kowloon and new streamlined rehabilitated tram cars are now appearing in Hongkong. The Peak Tramway has almost completed a new lightweight car which is a great improvement over present cars.

The rehabilitation of our two large dockyards is almost complete and the installation of new large boilers in our two electric companies' generating stations is now well under way. We are also pleased to see that a start has been made in rehabilitating our local sugar refinery, a mechanical engineering feat of no mean proportion in view of the fact that the plant was completely dismantled during enemy occupation for shipment to Japan.

On the Electrical side, new turbo alternators have gone into service on both sides of the harbour, and although there is still some shortage of power on the island, this position will shortly be rectified when further plants, now under con- struction. are completed.

In Naval Architecture, it is pleasing to see that the keel has been laid in a local yard for a large vessel of some 7,000 tons and much progress has already been made on the hull.

Civil. Mechanical and Electrical Engineering have also been combined in a number of local factories that were also completed during the year. Special mention here might be made of the new aerated water factory in Kowloon which, from all standards, is a model of which any country could be proud.

Considerable industrial expansion has taken place since the war which serves to offset our entire dependence on mere transit trade. This, and the large ship repairing industry, form very important factors in our ability to pay our way.

Turning from the commercial aspect of engineering. I would like to refer to the great progress that has been made during the past year in the rehabilitation of the engineering side of the Hongkong University. The ability to give first- class academic training in engineering subjects locally is very important, especially now that the home universities are so crowded and that the present uncertain political position makes it extremely difficult for many, otherwise very worthy students, to obtain the necessary travelling permits.

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