454
tion, but I would recommend an increased allowance for ammunition in the next estimates to allow for this,; as both gun practice and rifle shooting are of the utmost importance.
A
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
greater rapidity than in previous years, The field day showed that the Corps had made a distinct advance, and he was glad to see that points which he had noticed on former occasions at drill and in the state of the camp had been | corrected. His Excellency the General Officer Commanding made the following comments on the above Camp Report: This is a satisfac- : tory report, for it shows progress all round and the attainment of greater proficiency. The good attendance is the outward and visible sign, of the determination of all ranks to improve themselves,"
TREE FELLING.
REMINISCENCES OF A USEFUL DISCUSSION,
The following is from the report on the Botanical and Forestry Department published in the Gautte :-
[June 25, 1906.
the necessary quantity for re-sowing had pre viously been bought by plantation owners from Canton at about $6 per lb. as far as could be ascertaine!. A good many applicants have, as a resnit, been provided with Government seed. at 70 cents per ii. This reduces the cost of seed sufficient for one acre to three cents, when in the Chinese w.y. The Chinese sown plautations in the Shatin Valley, from the Government Forest Nursery at Kanghau south- westwards to the gap, have been purchased by This block is more or less the Government. under the eye of the Government workmen at Kanghan and will require little extra pro- tection. It is fairly well stocked with trees and these will be useful as shelter for the regular plantations when formed.
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS,
were
EXPEDITION TO CENTRAL FOKIEN, It will be remembered that the questions
The following are extracts from a Govern- asked by the Hon. Mr. Shewan in Legislative
ment Gazette report:-At the end of April a Council on September 14th, 1904, led to a useful
sent by the discussion (Legislative Council Paper No. 36 of well equipped expedition was 1905) upon the best method of managing the Government in charge of the Superintendent Pine plantations on the Island. Eventually the to investigate the botanical resources of the Province of Fokien. Four trained Chinese help of the Indian Forestry Department was sought and the Inspector General of Forests collectors were taken. Foochow was reached on the 25th of April and a houseboat taken at advised that the trees should be allowed to grow
once for the exploration of the more easily for 50 years (or in exceptional cases 35) before being felled. This rotation was adopted by navigable parts of the Yuen Fu and Min Rivers. As the Hongkong Herbarium was the Hongkong Government with the slightest devoid of specimens from Fokien and as change that 35
our knowledge of the flors of that provincë is very meagre it was necessary to collect specimens of every species, even down to the weeds of the cultivated fields. This collecting was at once begun on the plains and foothills of the ranges surrounding Foochow, and in 3 days 300 collected. The houseboat species formed a convenient base for drying and On the 29th of sorting the specimens. April the first rapids were reached, about There is a 35 miles up the Yuen Fu. good deal of virgin forest above 700 feet on the mountains which at this point begin to alpsa in on the river. The finest forest that was seer was that surrounding the Monastery of Fong Kong Tse. The enormous trees of Liquidambar, Maple, Oak and Pine which grow there sheltered a rich flors, and a large number of additional species were collected on the damp rocks and along the mossy rivulets. On the 3th a return was commenced downstream and Foochow was reached again on May 2nd. The chief cultivations on the banks of the Yuen Fa are Lichee, Water Plum (Myrica rubra), Opium, Wheat, Oats, Paddi and Kape. In the steep gorges bamboo is extensively grown. Fall notes were made on the cultivation and mani- pulation of these crops, especially on the or- traordinarily ingenious methods of transporting the bamboos from the mountains.
Out of the total number of 19 officers and 219 N.C.O.'s and men, 13 officers and 169 N.C.O.'s aud men attended the camp, 6 officers | and 3) N.C.O.'s and men were away ou leave of absence, or bad leave from camp owing to the exigencies of their business. This total does not include the Hongkong Volunteer Troop, who did not attend the Camp. The average daily attendance Was 1275.
is It
very satisfactory to note that in spite of the period of the camp having been extended from 10, to 16 days, the attendance works out a belter proportion than in any previous years. result which is far better than I expected. A marked improvement was noticeable at all drills this year; in previous years the gun drill has been too slow and I therefore took every 10 correct this opportunity
fault with good results. 23 gun layers were trained and took part in the gun practice. The Engineer Company attended the camp better than in any previous year and were put through a very thorough course by the R.E. mechanists; they also undertook the lighting of the whole camp by electricity with great success. Preliminary instructional practice with the Maxim guns was carried out on three occasions on the range, and the men ware practised in quickly getting the gun again into action after a jam. Practice was carried out from four 15-pr. B.L. Guus frota Stone cutters' Island, North Shore, on October 28th. Targets were placed on the slopes of Chang Hue. The practice was carried out by sectione instead of as a battery as in the case of previous years, this being a better training for the officers for the actual duties they would be required to carry out on mobilisation. On the 23rd October, the practice was elment ry for the special instruction of the section officers and layers and was therefore slowly carried ont, guu four series were fired, the target for each series being three screens and 12 dummies represent ing three field guns, six men standing and six kneeling, the ranges varied from 3,050 to 3,350 yards. 64 rounds were fired and the results were good, altogether 16 dummies out of 48 and 10 screens out of 12 were put out of action-total number of actual bullet boles 90. The best series being the last under Captain Skinner at a range of 3,300, in which 14 rounds were fired and 6 of the targets were bit. On 28th October, the positions of the targets were changed, four series were again fired, 10 gan detachments were present and all took part, There was a very marked improvement in the rapid service of the guns in most cases, and the range officer reported that there was a much larger percentage of effective rounds and the ground all about the targets was ploughed up by shell and bullet boles although in many cases the dummies were not actually hit, 71 rounds were fired, and 16 dummies and five screens were put out of action. The best and quickest series was fired by the Right Half No. 2 Com. pany under Captain Armstrong, they tired 16 rounds in 93 minutes and killed eight dummies out of 12 and all the screens. All the squads were changed on to the Mazim guns and fired at barrel targets, with good results, One Maxim gun jammed frequently; this been found with fault had
this gua instructional at preliminary
practice on the range and the gua had b en thoroughly overhauled by the Armourer-Sergeant who The replaced the old barrel with a new one. fault was due to the connecting rod, new ones had been ordered for some time for all the guns but have not yet arrived in the Colony. Colonel Kent. C.R.A., inspected the men at this practice. and His Excellency the Governor and His Excellency the GO.C. were The Chinese licensed pine planta present. The C.R.A. reported favourably on tions in the New Territory have been regularly visited during the year. No cases of overcut- the practice. Musketry class firing was carried out more throughly than in previous years, and ting hare been detected. A few licences bare 186 officers and men fired the course; a good been cancelled because of the unauthorized In order average was obtained. The officers and staff cutting of wild trees by their holders. sergeants carried out revolver practice, showing to facilitate the re-sowing of felled areas in the His Chinese Forest Lots a notice was issued in Nov. a marked improvement on last year. Excellency the General Officer Commanding ember reminding licence holders of their obliga. inspected the camp and the Corps on October|tion to re-sow and offering seed from the 29th. He informed the officers and men on Government plantations at cost price for the parade that he saw a distinct improvement, the purpose. Owing to the scarcity of mature gun drill was well carried out and with far seed-bearing trees in the Chinese plantation
C.
:
WAH to be normal, 30 or It was further less the exceptional term.
to cut down blooks of trees decided not except in the part of the Island remote from Victoria, viz., the Tytam and Stanley divisions; the "shelterwood strip system was to be adopted in the Shaukiwan, Aberdeen and Pok. fulam divisions, while the two divisions reaching from Belcher's Bay to the Happy Valley are, His Excellency the Governor has since d'cided, to be preserved for artistic effect only. The principal localities planted with pine during the year were Aberdeen (96,000 trees), this was the block cut down in 1904; Yaumati (50,000); Pokfulam (10,000); and Tytamtuk (10,000). | Very little felling took place during the year in consequence of the uncertainty which existed concerning the best means of conducting it. Unfortunately, however, the number of trees removed was swelled by an unusually large quantity of dead timber. As this depart ment pointed out in 1904, the greater part of the plantations in the Island consist of trees which fall off in growth after 20 years and, no doubt, a considerable percentage die at that age or during the subsequent decade. One of the of afforestation is the great advantages improvement of the soil. Pines will grow on very poor soil, but after one or two generations make the ground rich enough to support more This result valuable and more beautiful trees. will never be realized, however, in Hongkong, nor will the pines themselves flourish until the Chinese have been taught not to scrape the rich pine needle hamus from the up
In some old plant plantations for fuel. ations the ground is kept as bare and sandy as when the trees were planted. In consideration of these facts it is satisfactory that the hands greatly of the forest guards have been strengthened during the year for dealing with this difficulty and a large number of marauders have been arrested and punished. The only serious cases of organized stealing of timber occurred at Aberdeen Brick Works and at Moog Kok. In the former case one man was caught after great difficulty and heavily case three partners punished. In the latter
the Government timber contractor of were arrested and convicted, receiving various terms of imprisonment and banish-
ment.
|
A start was made ou May 2nd up the Min River, and by the 7th Bhai Kau, the highest point navigable for houseboats, was reached. The flora of the banks and neighbouring hills though very beautiful presented little that was De*. Tea-oil cultivation was seen for the first time covering the dry hills at Sbui Kaa.. As an experiment is being made with a view to introducing this industry into the New Terri- tory, the conditions were carefully noted. A transfer had now to be made to a rapid-boat and interesting though slow progress was made up the almost continuous series of rapids to Yenping. About 200 species from the were added to the 500 banks of the Min collected on the Yuen Fu, and the opportunity was taken of sorting and writing a key to the species as a guide to further collecting. › Yen- plug lies at the junction of the Kienning River with the Min nearly in the centre of the province and is ent off from the north by a bigh range of mountains. These mountains are intersected by numerous forest-clad valleyu, and it was determined to make a thorough exploration of one of these and of the summits with one collector, sendin› two further up the Min and leaving one at Yeaping to dry the collections. The important work of drying-the plants already collected and of those now-con- stantly seat down from the mountains was greatly facilitated by the kindness of some missionaries in Yenping who lent a room for the purpose. The "Superintendent with one
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