Government to accept a premium of $8,000 payable in five equal annual instalments for the ground.
What arrangement was finally arrived at is not disclosed, but it is known that this building was the property of the Hongkong Ice Co. until it was sold to the Dairy Farm, Ice & Cold Storage Co. some years ago.
In a recent note on the subject of street names (see 3-11-33) mention was made of Mr. William Thomas Mercer, former Officer Administering the Government (1861 and 1865). It is disclosed that he wrote a volume of poems.
Mention is made of this in a chronicle of April, 1870, which refers to "Under the Peak; or Jottings in Verse" written during a lengthened residence in the Colony of Hongkong by William T. Mercer, M.A., Oxon. London, 1869. It was sold in Hongkong by Lane, Crawford & Co. Of the 300 pages of which the work consisted, some eighty were specially distinguished by local colouring of one kind or another, although the lines connected with Hongkong itself were said to be extremely limited in number. Mr. Mercer's residence in the Colony went back to 1844.
A further section is published to-day of the old map of Hongkong drawn in the early Seventies. There are several features in this plan worthy of comment, and it is intended to deal with some of these below, leaving others to be dealt with later.
Working from east to west, along the seafront, we get Jervois Street and Bonham Strand, already dealt with (see 3-11-33), with Bonham Road running across the map some distance inland. Cutting through Jervois Street is Cleverly Street, and other roadways noticed as we move westward bear names such as Morrison, and, to the far end, Sutherland. Other names not yet dealt with are found attached to the roadways a little inland, such as Bridges Street, and, above the whole area, Robinson Road. Names of special significance are also Lascar Row, Ladder Street and Water Lane. In connexion with the above we might note the series of tanks marked on this plan, and bear in mind that a further section to the westward (not yet published here) has another large tank shown on the hillside. They mark the early water supply arrangements of that area, when the reservoirs such as we know them to-day had not come into existence. These tanks are not now in use.
To take such places as Lascar Row and Ladder Street he first recalls the fact that in the early days of the Colony there was a large seafaring element who stayed ashore for fairly lengthy periods. It was a time when sailing ships stopped over for quite long spells, when crews were paid off here to find another ship, and vessels engaged fresh hands from the many seamen's boarding houses (see 14-8-33 et seq.) which existed. The Lascars evidently occupied a whole row of dwellings here, hence the name. Ladder Street, of course, is so called in reference to its steepness and the arrangement of steps all the way up; it is one of those places well-known to tourists, and much photographed.
Let us now consider the personalities commemorated in our list of streets.
In further reference to the map published yesterday and dated approximately 1873, it is interesting to note that several old buildings shown therein are no longer standing to-day, though some of them are being used in the same way as they were sixty years ago.
18.
Government to accept a premium of $8,000 payable in five equal annual instalments for the ground."
What arrangement was finally arrived at is not dis- closed, but it is known that this building was the property of the Hongkong Ice Co. until it was sold to the Dairy Farm, Ice & Cold Storage Co. some years ago.
:
In a recent note on the subject of street names (see 3-11-33) mention was made of Mr. William Thomas Mercer, former Officer Administering the Government (1861 and 1365). It is disclosed that he wrote a volume of poems.
ention is made of this in a chronicle of April, 1870, aich refers to "Under the Peak; or Jottings in Verse" written during a lengthened residence in the Colony of Hongkong by William T. Mercer, M.A., Oxon. London, 1869. it was sold in Hongkong by Lane, Crawford & Co. Of the 300 pages of which the work consisted, some eighty were specially distinguished by local colouring of one kind or another, withough the lines connected with Hongkong itself, were said to be extremely limited in number. Mr. Mercer's residence in the Colony went back to 1844.
A further section is published, to-day of the old map of hongkong drawn in the early Seventies. There are several features in this plan worthy of comment, and it is intended to deal with some of these below, leaving others to be dealt with later.
Working from east to west, along the seafront, we get Tervois Street and Bonham Strand, already dealt with (see 3-11-33), with Bonham Road running across the map some distance inland. Cutting through Jervois Street is Cleverly Street, and other roadways noticed as we move westward bear names such as Morrison, and, to the far end, Sutherland. Other names not yet dealt with are found attached to the roadways a little inland, such as Bridges Street, and, above the whole area, Robinson Road. Names of special significance are also Lascar Row, Ladder Street and Water Lane. In connexion With the above we might note the series of tanks marked on his plan, and bear in mind that a further section to the westward (not yet published here) has another large tank shown on the hillside. They mark the early water supply arrangements of that area, when the reservoirs such as we know them to-day had not come into existence, These tanks are not now in use.
To take such places as Lascar Row and Ladder Street he first recalls the fact that in the early days of the Colony here was a large seafaring element who stayed ashore for fairly lengthy periods. It was a time when sailing ships stopped over for quite long spells, when crews were paid off here to find another ship, and vessels engaged fresh hands from the many seamen's boarding houses (see 14-8-33. et seq.) which existed. The Lascars evidently occupied a whole row of dwellings
ere, hence the name Ladder Street, of course is so called in reference to its steepness and the arrangement of steps all the way up it is one of those places well-known to tourists, and much photographed.
Let us now consider the personalities commemorated in our list of streets.
In further reference to the map published yesterday and dated approximately 1873, it is interesting to note that several old buildings shown therein are no longer standing to-day, though some of them are being used in the same way as they were sixty years ago.
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