James Chan: Town Island (伙頭墳洲 Fo Tau Fan Chau), also known as Dawn Island is an island located south of the former High Island in Sai Kung District. A drug rehabilitation centre was established on the island in 1976 which is run by Operation Dawn. “Located off Sai Kung and without connection to the power grid, the Island used to rely […]
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HF: Initial notes on Charles Herbert Arnhold. I have been unable to find an image of the gentleman, whose connection to Arnhold & Company Ltd, is the subject of this article, and would be grateful to any reader who can send me one. Further up Hong Kong’s Peak, an event of vast importance for the future of the firm took […]
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Tymon Mellor: With the memory of severe water shortages fresh in the minds of the Hong Kong residents and with the political will to address, once and for all the limited water supply to the city of Victoria, in 1902 the Public Works Department embarked on the Tai Tam Tuk Scheme. Unlike all the previous reservoir schemes, this proposal included […]
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IDJ: To obtain an electricity supply in Hong Kong customers have to sign up with either China Light & Power Co Ltd or the Hong Kong Electric Co Ltd. However, in the years before 1984 the residents of Cheung Chau Island were supplied from their own independent power station operated by the Cheung Chau Electric Company Co Ltd which had […]
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Tymon Mellor: The Shek Pik reservoir is part of a larger scheme to supply Hong Kong Island with a water supply through submarine pipeline from Lantau Island. The reservoir has a capacity of 24.5 million m3 with a direct catchment of 7.8 km2but with the completed catch waters the catchment area is expanded to 53 km2 or 40% of the […]
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Tymon Mellor: With continued water shortages on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, pressure was on the Shek Pik construction team to complete the reservoir as fast as possible. The situation was so bad that during a particularly bad drought in the summer of 1963, the Government hired 13 tankers to ferry water from the Pearl River to a new terminal […]
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Tymon Mellor: With the growing population in both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon there was a growing demand for drinking water, the existing supplies, primarily the Tai Tam reservoirs and Kowloon Reservoir were insufficient to meet such needs. With the failure of the spring rains, water famine became a common occurrence, and a quick fix was required. Water Shortages Following […]
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James Chan: Ten years ago any shop in Hong Kong would have had a landline which you could use, and for free… then quite quickly the number decreased. As one of the few people in Hong Kong without a mobile phone I came to rely on any MTR station to be able to phone on the odd occasion when something was […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the summer of 1963, with severe water restrictions of only four hours every fourth day in urban Hong Kong, the Colonial Government was searching for new water supplies that could be expeditiously developed. A number of schemes had been explored and these were presented to the Executive Council in October, 1963. In addition to the Plover Cover […]
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James Chan, Rico Lee and Elizabeth Ride: High Island Reservoir is the largest in Hong Kong by volume, [273 (3) /281 (1) (4) million cubic metres]. Plover Cove Reservoir has a larger area. Government Department: Water Supplies Consultants: The reservoir was designed by Binnie & Partners as a part of the High Island Water Scheme which included pipeworks and other supporting infrastructure […]
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