ENG-1962 — Page 48

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and wharf companies were also engaged in rehabilitating their premises and the Taikoo Dockyard docked their first ship, HMS Adamant, on 8th February 1946. Reconversion work on merchant ships released from war service kept both the Hong Kong and Whampoa and the Taikoo dockyards fully engaged for the next two years, for such facilities were at a premium throughout the world.

In 1948 the post of harbour master became that of Director of Marine, while the harbour office was renamed the Marine Department and re-organized into two sections-port control and ship surveys. By the end of that year the harbour had returned to normal and its future development was again under considera- tion. The eastern quarantine anchorage was established in Kowloon Bay and a light sited on top of the Marine Department signal tower so that it could be more easily distinguished at night against the background of bright lights and neon signs which were begin- ning to appear. In 1949 the P&O resumed their monthly passenger service to Europe.

As salvage operations continued in the harbour many firms entered the shipbreaking business and subsequently began manu- facturing steel reinforcing rods for the building industry. Later the shipbreaking industry developed to a stage where it regularly purchased old ships from all over the world; it became a thriving industry, although affected at periods by the low price of scrap metal.

Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 large numbers of vessels of all types and sizes came to Hong Kong from Chinese ports and were laid up in the harbour. These vessels caused so much congestion that it was necessary early in 1950 to introduce a new port levy, called an anchorage due, to discourage the laying up of further vessels and to encour- age the owners to move them to less crowded parts of the port.

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Before the Pacific War, Hong Kong's economy had gradually become more diverse and less dependent on China; post-war events encouraged this process. To the older industries, such as ship- building and repairing, cement and rope-making and the tobacco industry, was added a fast-growing textile industry. By 1954 it