YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG
31
On 13th September, 1906 it again became time for His Excellency to speak on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the coming year. In the course of that speech he said—
One of the items which I wished to appear on the Estimates for this year but which does not appear is the typhoon shelter. So long as we have those waterworks on hand to which I have referred there is very little chance of doing anything in connection with the shelter; unless the Chamber of Commerce would suggest raising the light dues to provide funds for its construction, in which case such a reasonable suggestion might be adopted.
Events were then to take a tragic turn. A week later on 20th September, 1906, His Excellency returned to the Legislative Council and informed the members that (as they well knew)—
Hong Kong had just suffered from catastrophe as calamitous, if not more so, than any which had previously befallen the Colony, the loss of life and property between the hours at 9 and 11 on Tuesday morning were as far as can at present be judged greater than those incurred in the great typhoon of 1874.
He went on to say--
None of us are likely to forget the scenes of that morning, first of all we saw when the typhoon gun was fired about 9 o'clock crowds of helpless shipping drifting to the east before the wind, then the whole scene was wiped out by the blowing sheets of rain, and an hour later the atmosphere being again clear, we saw that the junks and small craft had disappeared and that many of the larger ships were aground or in distress. What had happened to the Chinese boats was evidenced by the appalling scenes of desolation along the prayas or the Kowloon shore. I need not, however, dwell on those scenes nor account the losses which were witnessed and known to all of you.
He went on to detail and pay tribute to various acts of heroism which had occurred during the course of the storm.
This typhoon had occurred just after the budget for 1907 had been presented and before the Council had had an opportunity to comment on the proposed expenditure at its next sitting. Now the Governor had suggested the construction of a typhoon shelter could not be started unless perhaps it were financed out of increased light dues. Despite the typhoon in which an estimated 10,000 people
YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG
31
On 13th September, 1906 it again became time for His Excel- lency to speak on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the coming year. In the course of that speech he said—
One of the items which I wished to appear on the Estimates for this year but which does not appear is the typhoon shelter. So long as we have those waterworks on hand to which I have re- ferred there is very little chance of doing anything in connection with the shelter; unless the Chamber of Commerce would suggest raising the light dues to provide funds for its construction, in which case such a reasonable suggestion might be adopted.
Events were then to take a tragic turn. A week later on 20th September, 1906, His Excellency returned to the Legislative Council and informed the members that (as they well knew)—
Hong Kong had just suffered from catastrophy as calamitous, if not more so, than any which had previously befallen the Colony, the loss of life and property between the hours at 9 and 11 on Tuesday morning were as far as can at present be judged greater than those incurred in the great typhoon of 1874.
He went on to say--
None of us are likely to forget the scenes of that morning, first of all we saw when the typhoon gun was fired about 9 o'clock crowds of helpless shipping drifting to the east before the wind, then the whole scene was wiped out by the blowing sheets of rain, and an hour later the atmosphere being again clear, we saw that the junks and small craft had disappeared and that many of the larger ships were aground or in distress. What had happened to the Chinese boats was evidenced by the appalling scenes of desolation along the prayas or the Kowloon shore. I need not, however, dwell on those scenes nor account the losses which were witnessed and known to all of you.
He went on to detail and pay tribute to various acts of heroism which had occurred during the course of the storm.
This typhoon had occurred just after the budget for 1907 had been presented and before the Council had had an opportunity to comment on the proposed expenditure at its next sitting. Now the Governor had suggested the construction of a typhoon shelter could not be started unless perhaps it were financed out of increased light dues. Despite the typhoon in which an estimated 10,000 people
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