ENG-1959 — Page 292

244

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

Northcote Teachers' Training College at Pok Fu Lam, have been finished.

During his visit to the Colony in March, H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation stone of the new Kowloon Hospital which will bear the name of Her Majesty the Queen and which, with its 1,320 beds and many specialist departments, will be amongst the largest and best equipped hospitals in the Common- wealth. Piling for the hospital foundations neared completion while the construction of the large block of sisters' and nurses' quarters were well advanced.

At Kowloon General Hospital a new maternity ward was built and the construction of a new operating theatre and ward block neared completion. In the New Territories the work on Castle Peak Mental Hospital proceeded satisfactorily although this build- ing project, like many others, was hampered by the exceptionally heavy rains experienced during the earlier part of the summer. The buildings are designed to provide accommodation for 1,000 patients and quarters for the medical staff. Construction of the Clinic at Sai Ying Pun neared completion; and work on the Sha Tau Kok Dispensary in the New Territories started.

The final stage of the Central Government Offices, the West Wing, was completed and occupied by Government Departments. The construction of three new Magistracies is in hand: these buildings when finished, will provide space on the upper floors for more Government offices.

A district Post Office which includes sorting facilities and some staff quarters was built in the New Territories and two branch Post Offices were equipped in Kowloon.

The new nine-storey building at North Point for the Stores Department was completed early in the year. This provides offices on the top floor with a roof level canteen, furniture workshops in the two lowest floors and storage space served by heavy duty goods lifts in the remaining floors.

Heavy rains caused a landslip at the site of the former Buxey Lodge Hostel and retarded the erection of sixty flats for Govern- ment servants, but work continued under difficult conditions. A Storm Warning Radar Station for the Royal Observatory was constructed at the top of the Kowloon hills though weather condi- tions again hampered the work.