ENG-1957 — Page 293

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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established in 1861. A completely modern plant has been erected at Ma Tau Kok and is already in operation.

Work has commenced on the laying of an underwater main across the harbour to connect the Kowloon and Island areas of supply. Plans are also in hand for expansion of the plant at Ma Tau Kok to take over the load of the West Point Works which will ultimately be shut down.

Total quantity of gas sold in 1957 was 675,964,900 cu. ft. compared with 608,067,700 cu. ft. in 1956. The number of consumers rose from 9,380 to 10,311.

Tramways. An electric tramway service is operated by Hongkong Tramways Ltd. on the Island of Hong Kong. The track, the gauge of which is 3 feet, is about 19 miles in length when calculated on a single track basis. It extends from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan with a branch line encircling the Race Course in Happy Valley. All routes pass through the City of Victoria. The tramcars are of the double-deck, single-staircase type and are intended for single-ended working, the termini having turning circles. The operating voltage is 500 volts direct current.

The average daily service of cars run in 1957 was 138. This provided a car every two minutes in each direction on all routes. Through the city area, which is in the centre of the system, the minimum service frequency was a car every 35 seconds in each direction. The number of passengers carried during the year was over 167,000,000, while the total mileage run was slightly under 7,500,000.

Fares are charged at a flat rate for any distance over any route (the maximum route length is 63 miles) of 20 cents (3d.) 1st class, and 10 cents (1d.) 3rd class. The Company also issues monthly tickets, and concession fares are given to children, students and Service personnel.

During 1957 the Company's housing scheme at North Point, comprising 265 flats, was completed. The scheme houses approximately 22% of the employees.