Tymon Mellor: Introduction The mine workings on the south-west slopes of Ma On Shan mountain are now no more than mere scars in the hillside, but in the middle of the last century, the mine provided employment for up to 6,000 people and supplied high grade iron ore and other minerals to the Japanese steel industry. This article describes the […]
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Tymon Mellor: When you look at aerial images of Hong Kong, there are always interesting features to note. The 1963 aerial image of Tolo Harbour reveals a number of grounded vessels – what is their story? On the 1st September, 1962 Typhoon Wanda, one of the most severe storms to hit the territory, made landfall. With maximum wind speeds of […]
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Tymon Mellor: Galena ore, the main source of lead was first discovered at Lin Ma Hang in around 1914. As described in Part 1, a number of attempts were made to commercially exploit the lead ore, but they all failed. That was until Mr Morrison Brown Yung took an interest in the site and introduced modern mining methods to extract […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the early days of flying, there were no paved runways, just large flat areas allowing take-off and landing to suit the prevailing wind conditions. Initially there was little interest from the Hong Kong Government to identify a suitable site within the territory for an aerodrome as flying was seen as a niche interest with little practical use. […]
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Tymon Mellor: Directly after the Pacific War, like many other places, Hong Kong was struggling to recuperate. There was limited capital available and the Government had few resources. Mining was seen by many as a low cost investment, creating employment, generating hard currency and providing revenue to the Government. Unfortunately, this vision was not shared by the Government’s Interim Mining […]
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Tymon Mellor: The supply of fresh drinking water to the residents of Hong Kong has always been a challenge, not because the territory is particularly short of water, but because the continuously fast-growing demand has always out stripped supply. The first attempts to address this conundrum were taken in the 1860’s with the construction of the first water supply reservoir […]
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Tymon Mellor: Introduction The Ma On Shan Mine was developed using open cast excavation as the primary means to extract the iron ore following the initial find in 1905 to the early 1950’s. As part of the Japanese managed mine modernisation, mineral extraction went underground with the use of mining techniques. This had a twofold effect, reducing labour requirements, and […]
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Tymon Mellor: There are three things we can rely upon; prices will rise, politicians will disappoint and there will always be a train on East Rail. The latter was not always the case though, as up until 1974, there were only 17 passenger trains a day, but this was all about to change with the modernisation of the line. During […]
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Tymon Mellor: Since the early days of the British colony, residential and commercial development have driven much of the economy. The initial land sales provided sites for merchants to build godowns to store their wares, generating revenue for the new administration and providing confidence in the stability in the colony. Construction of elegant buildings and urban infrastructure created the first […]
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Tymon Mellor: If Government documents are to be believed, the inspiration for the Plover Cove Scheme came from the Director of Water Supplies, Mr T O Morgan while swimming in the sea at Plover Cove[i]. His idea was to convert the sea inlet into a fresh water reservoir by damming the inlet, pumping out the sea water and impounding fresh […]
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