Sessional_Paper_1908 — Page 642

9266/1907.

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COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

HONGKONG, 6th August, 1908.

GENTLEMEN, I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant protesting against the resolution to be considered today by the Legislative Council to raise the Light Dues from 1 cent to 2 cents per net register ton for the purpose of defraying half the cost of the proposed Typhoon Shelter at Mongkoktsui.

Your letter of the 23rd of June to which reference is made was received under cover of a letter from the Chamber of Commerce dated the 3rd ultimo.

A reply was sent to the Chamber on the 25th ultimo and in the circumstances the Government did not conceive that a separate answer to your letter of the 23rd of June was

necessary.

2. With regard to the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of your letter ander reply, I am to point out that you have misunderstood the nature of the reference made to the Typhoon Relief Committee in my letter of the 18th of December, 1906. That letter covered a report by Mr. J. F. BOULTON in which several schemes for a second boat shelter were discussed and the opinion the Typhoon Relief Committee on the merits of the several proposals was invited. The Committee pronounced in favour of Mongkoktsui.

3. Your contention now is that so large and costly a shelter is not necessary, and you aver that on the night of the typhoon of the 27th July the shelter at Causeway Bay was by no means full and that on the afternoon of the same day there was congestion owing to the inability of the craft already in the refuge to get further in and make room for others.

It is possible that on the afternoon in question owing to low tide some congestion did occur, but with the rising tide the shelter was filled with boats; and that it was not adequate to accommodate all the craft that would have sought shelter if shelter had been available is proved by the fact that in the Harbour no less than 6 steam-launches, 1 motor- boat, 10 European lighters, and 66 junks, cargo-boats and sampans were wrecked, with a loss of 45 lives, on the night in question. Large numbers of craft of various descriptions took shelter behind Stonecutters' Island and along the Yaumati shore and it was solely due to the fact that at no time did the typhoon blow from the westward that these did not suffer great loss and damage.

4. It is within your knowledge that steps are being taken to deepen that portion of Causeway Bay which becomes exposed at low tide for which Shipping will not be charged. There is no present intention to fill in Causeway Bay on the provision of a second shelter. The Causeway Bay shelter is regarded as a useful harbour of refuge especially for the numerous boats that frequent the eastern portion of the Harbour. But it has its limita- tions, one of which is its inadequate size and the other its inaccessibility for lighters and other craft using the western and north-western portions of the Harbour.

I am to remind you that the question of the provision of a second Typhoon Shelter has now been under consideration for 4 years during which period the Government has been urged in the Public Press and in the Legislative Council to prosecute the, work with expedition in response to the loudly declared desire of the community. The location of the shelter at Mongkoktsui has been approved by various representative Committees and procrastination now on the part of the Government would justly merit censure.

5. For these and other reasons fully set out in the printed correspondence of which a copy is enclosed, His Excellency is not prepared to re-open the question of the provision of a second shelter, of its location or of the method of financing its construction, matters which have received the very earnest consideration of the Government, its expert advisers and the Public Works Committee of the Legislative Council for many months past.

The Acting Superintendent,

I am, &c.,

(Signed) F. H. MAY,

Colonial Secretary.

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and others.