1933

HONGKONG
979
•crating station being at Hunghoxn. Three regiments of Indian infantry are
.usua,lly stationed at Tsim-tsa Tsui, where barracks and officers’ quarters are
located , and a Mahommedan mosque has been erected. At Tsim-tsa Tsui, too,
a large number of European houses and flats have been erected, and this
portion of the peninsula, which faces Victoria, has gradually developed into
a populous residential settlement. It is approached • by iNathan Road, a fine
wide thoroughfare running atj right angles to the water-front. A fine bund,
with a massive granite weEll, has been constructed here, ajnd an extensive range
of godowns built and several fine wharves made for discharging cargo and
coaling. Here, also, is situated the handsome terminal station of the Canton-
Kowlcpn Railway. During I905 and 1906 extensive reclamation . works were
carried out extending eastward from the godown company’s . property to
Hunghom. Messrs., Butterfield & Swire have erected extensive godown ac¬
commodation on the reclamation. The same period will also be remembered
by the building of two churches at Kowloon—St. Andrew’s, in Robinson Road,
being, the gift of the Hon. Sir Paul Chater, c.m.g., and the Roman Catholic
Church in Chatham Road, the gift of iDr. S. A. Gomes, Sir Paul Chater also
donated the funds for erecting a third place of worship on the Peninsula—a
branch of the Union Church, Hongkong.. There are four hotels, the largest
and newest being the Peninsula, The Central British School was erected in
1901 on Nathan Road at the expense of Mr. (now Sir) Robert Ho Tung. The
Navy maintains a; small naval yard, subsidiary tvb the ’ principal establishment
on the Hongkong side. The Royal Observatory is' situated on Motiiit Elgin;
and a large and handsome Police Station'fbr the Witter' Police occupies an
eminence1 just above the Pr&ya. A fine' building for 'a European Y.M.C.A.
was opened in-November, 1925. A steam ferry plies regularly between • Tsim-
tsa Tsui and Victoria; ferry boats also run between Victoria and iSham Shui
Po, Mongkok, Yau-ma-ti and Hunghom, where the principal docks of the
Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co. are situated. The Cosmopolitan (Dock
and works, also belonging to the same Company, are situated at Sham Shui
Po. At Hok-iin are also situated the extensive works of the Green Island
Cement Co., Ltd., and the patent slip and shipbuilding yard of Messrs. W.
S. Bailey & Co., (Ltd. At Kowloon Tong a very extensive area has been
levelled and a charming garden city has sprung up.
In 1898 an agreement was entered into whereby China ceded to Great Bri¬
tain for ninety-nine years the territory behind Kowloon Peninsula up to a line
drawn from Mirs Bay to Deep Water Bay and the adjacent islands, including
Lantao, the extent of the New Territory being about ST'G square miles, namely,
286 square miles on the mainland and 90 square miles on the islands. The
ceremony of formally taking over the territory was fixed for the 17th April,
1899, when the British flag was to have been hoisted at Taipohu, and the day
was declared a general holiday. Attacks, however-,, having been made on the
parties engaged on the preliminary arrangements, the mat-sheds erected for
the accommodation of the police having been burnt, and other evidences of
organised opposition having been given, it was deemed advisable to assume
full jurisdiction on the 16th April, on which date the flag was hoisted by the
Hon. Mr. (now Sir) J. H. Stewart Lockhart, . C.M.G., Colonial Secretary,
Military operations were found necessary to overcome the opposition, and on
the 18th April the rebels were completely routed in an action fought at Sheung
Tsun, their force numbering some 2,600 men. On the British side there were
no fatalities and only one or two slight casualties; a number of Chinese were
killed and wounded, but the exact figures were not ascertained, those who fell
being carried away by their friends. In the Convention it was provided that
Kowloon City was to remain Chinese, but, owing to the difficulties in admini¬
stration and in respfect of the disturbances which occurred on the taking over
of the leased area, the Home Government determined to take over this area
and orders were issued to the military authorities to seize Kowloon walled
city and Shamchun. This Was dbne on the 16th May, 1899, no opposition being
encountered at either place. The Hongkong Volunteer Corps took part in the
expedition to Kowloon City. Shamchun, the other place seized, is an important