ENG-1960 — Page 22

REVIEW

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time that such a false prophecy had been made and this renewed optimism was very soon shown to be unfounded. The growing demand for yet more water, despite the addition of the two Kowloon reservoirs, gave rise to the Shing Mun scheme, in a valley in the New Territories behind Tsuen Wan, where work began in 1923 with the aim of adding to the city's supplies by means of a cross-harbour pipeline. As a first step, an intake was installed in the Shing Mun river, linked by a conduit to a re- ception reservoir which was able to augment supplies in Kowloon from 1926. Meanwhile, work was going ahead on the Shing Mun dam and subsidiary works which would later form the Jubilee reservoir, and on the cross-harbour pipeline. These were not ready in time to alleviate another period of severe shortage in 1929.

Early in June that year brick and metal tanks were being erected on the praya, and Government was converting railway wagons into tanks to carry water from Tai Po and elsewhere along the line. By the 7th of the month, five of the six island reservoirs were almost empty and the Governor formed a large committee to advise him on the need for emergency measures. The principal source of relief was the West River near Macau from which unfiltered water was brought in by lighters; some ocean-going ships were used to bring supplies from as far away as Shanghai. By the 19th June Tai Tam Tuk had dried up and on that day a rain making experiment by Royal Air Force aircraft failed. Almost every day during the second half of June the South China Morning Post carried leaders exhorting Govern- ment and the committee to further efforts, for quarrelling and fighting around the tanks were bringing people before the courts almost daily. Although the worst of the crisis was over by the end of June, during the following month only 3 million gallons a day were allowed from the waterworks, boats bringing in an additional one million, a total of 6.6 gallons a head each day. It was with no sense of complacency, therefore, that in 1930 the people of Hong Kong first received water from the Shing Mun river through the cross-harbour pipeline. Indeed, work on the dam had been accelerated and the two Aberdeen reservoirs started. These came into use in 1931, adding 280 million gallons storage, along with the bye-wash dam in Kowloon, and extensive