IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article about the Hong Kong (or sometimes Hongkong) Rope Manufacturing Company planning a rope producing factory in Singapore. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. That work is now going ahead with the establishment of a rope works in Singapore was disclosed by Mr G.E. Marden, MC, in his statement to shareholders […]
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Tymon Mellor: The development of the Shing Mun Valley for its water resources was first proposed back in 1924, and this led to the development of the Shing Mun reservoir. The 1924 study identified the opportunity to build a smaller reservoir down-stream from the main reservoir, but this was not progressed. It took the post-war water crisis for the Government […]
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York Lo: Tai On Machinery Works (泰安機器廠) Tai On Machinery Works ad in the 1958 HKBCA Yearbook showcasing its “Three Stars” brand construction machinery The construction boom in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s created significant demand for construction machinery and while many of the equipment were imported by the likes of China Engineers, a number of domestic equipment manufacturers […]
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HF: Lime-making in Hong Kong has an extremely long history, at least 1,000 years, probably longer. This article by Wong Tak-yan appeared in the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Journal of 1984. The article begins: And is divided into the following sections: *Uses of Lime *Raw Materials used in the making of lime *The process of making lime -burning […]
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HF: Sir Robert Ho Tung Bosman (22nd December 1862 – 26th April 1956), also known as Sir Robert Ho Tung, was a businessman and philanthropist in British Hong Kong. Known as ”the grand old man of Hong Kong” he was knighted in 1915. Ho Tung was Eurasian. His father, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman (1839-1892) was of Dutch Jewish ancestry, while […]
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James Chan: The following appears in the Hong Kong Museum of History. It would be very interesting to hear more about this traditional industry that has died out. “Traditional New Territories markets had speciality cotton padded quilt shops but many “mountain” goods” and firewood shops also had a sideline in the quilt business. Essentially a seasonal trade a quilt shop […]
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HF: The first tunnel connecting Hong Kong Island and Kowloon opened for traffic on the 2nd August 1972. However, and I think remarkably, there were at least two proposals to construct a bridge across the harbour, the first more than 70 years before the road tunnel. Tymon Mellor’s article, The Development of the Hong Kong Road Network 1841 to 1940 – […]
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Tymon Mellor: In 1961 the Plover Cove scheme had developed from a simple water supply reservoir into an integrated water management scheme, linking local sources with the new Mainland water supply. The scheme would also go on to provide the first road tunnel through Beacon Hill as a by-product of the new supply pipeline. This one scheme was about to […]
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HF: Our article, 1924 Report on the Commerial Development of the Port of Hong Kong, begins by mentioning the visit of Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice to Hong Kong in 1920. Fitzmaurice, as a partner in a firm of Consulting Engineers, had been invited to offer advice on general improvements to Hong Kong’s harbour and also specific areas within that subject. The […]
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Stephen Davies: My favourite early, short-lived, Hong Kong shipyard is the German Ulderup and Schlüter, which only seems to have operated from c.1900-1914. It had the actual shipyard in Shamshuipo and an office at 21 Connaught Rd, Central. They became the local agents for the Swedish Bolinder marine diesels (Bolinder Rohölmotoren – strictly semi-diesels) – two strokes that for the first […]
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