Sessional_Paper_1924 — Page 165

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It is by no means clear that there will ever be sufficient trade in this vicinity requir- ing railway transport to warrant the construction of the proposed line. In consequence, I am not in agreement with the Town Planning Committee's recommendation, and con- sider that the proposal for the construction of a railway line from the North-east corner of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co.'s property (Cosmopolitan Dock) to Jordan Road should be abandoned. In this connection the expenditure now being incurred to provide railway bridges over the nullah at Taikoktsui should be curtailed as far as possible.

It is considered that ample space will be provided for the handling of materials and for the better police control of this frontage of the Harbour of Refuge by the construction of the 100 feet road indicated by pink colour cross-hatched by pink lines on Drawing No. 3 and extending from Argyle Street at the north to Tung Kun Street at the south. To continue the road father south would be to the detriment of the Harbour of Refuge and would involve the loss of the reinforced concrete pier constructed recently at the end of Public Square Street and which cost about $50,000, the loss of the pier and slipway at the Government launch-repairing and coaling yard and the cost of resuming a portion of K.M.L. No. 49 and a considerable area of the land now occupied by the Admiralty and Military Authorities. In any case, having regard to the scheine now recommended for the development of Kowloon Point, it will not be practicable to extend the proposed road across the Military Lands. It would seem, therefore, that no useful purpose will be served by building that portion of the road on Admiralty property.

Whilst a road crossing K.M.L. No. 49 on or about the line of the road proposed by the Town Planning Committee will assist to some extent in regulating traffic when the vehicular and passenger ferry service connecting at Jordan Road is brought into opera- tion, it is not quite clear that an increase in width over the width of 40 feet necessary to develop the lot will be required if the proposal to construct that portion of the frontage road from Tung Kun Street to K.M.L. No. 49 is abandoned.

Fuk Tsun Heung to Lai Chi Kok.

Nos. 2 and

The final line of reclamation of Cheung Sha Wan (Bay) shewn on both Drawings Drawings Nos. 2 and 3 is that fixed by the Town Planning Committee in 1922 on my recommenda tion.

It is recommended that an ordinary type sea wall founded on a pell-mell rubble mound deposited in a dredged trench and brought to the level of about L.W.O.S.T. should be provided to protect the land reclaimed. From this wall,--if required,-piers of open work construction may be projected in a southerly direction for a distance of about 350 feet.

A scheme has been submitted by Messrs. W. S. Bailey & Co., for the development of an area on the western frontage of this reclamation as an engineering, ship-building and ship-repairing yard. Their proposals are illustrated on Drawing No. 3 and include the provision of a basin and three graving docks. It is considered that the site is well suit- ed for this purpose.

Areas to the eastward of the proposed new site for Messrs. W. S. Bailey & Co.'s shipyard should be reserved for the purpose of accommodating the firms now engaged in a somewhat similar industry at Fuk Tsun Heung and Ma Tau Kok and whose present accommodation will become useless for this purpose when the portions of reclamations in front of their properties are carried out.

General.

HARBOURS OF REFUGE.

In regard to typhoon shelter for junks and other small craft, it must be borne in mind that the tonnage of junks engaged in foreign trade has been practically constant be- tween the years 1867 and 1923; that, in 1923 there was actually a decrease of 4.2 per cent. in their number and 9.2 per cent. in their tonnage as compared with the records for the year 1913: Also, that the immediate effect of the provision of wharfage for steamers will be to reduce the number of small craft engaged in transporting goods be- tween the shore and ships anchored in the stream.

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