Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/174

166 TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC. and offices. The engine-room, which is lofty and well liflhted, contains two Dick-Kerr continuous current, direct-connected generators, of the multipolar type, comixiund wound, giving a potential of 550 volts, and running at 100 revolutions a minute. They arc designed to run either sepanitely or in panillel. The generators are keyed direct on to the main sh.ift of the engines, which are of the horizont;il cross coinp<^und type, each engine tieing equal to a maximum Iroid of 428 B.H.P. The engines, built by Yates and Thom, are each provided with a Wheeler surface-condenser, of the Admiralty pattern, and may be worked either condensing or non-condensing. The condensers are fixed in the b;»sement below the engine-room, as also are all the steam and other pipes, thus leaving the engine-r<x)m free and open. In addition to the two traction sets, there are two smaller plants for lighting the depot, one set being driven by a small, high-speed engine, and the other by a motor running from the 500-volt circuit. The lighting circuit is supplied at 100 volts pressure. The Company owns 36 cars and employs upon an average nearly 300 men — 120 on the traftic staff, 112 on the engineering staff, and about 60 as outside staff. In 1906, 8,084,901 passengers were carried, and the cats covered a distance of 1,137,727 miles. In 1907 the ligures were respectively 8,572.055 and 1,122.342. The earnings per car mile amounted in 1906 to 866 pence, ami the expenses to 5-21 pence, the average fare per passenger being 121 pence. The year's working resulted in a profit of £^16,350, and, after paying debenture interest amounting to ^^9,783, the sum of £6,000 was put to reserve for depreciation and renewals and the balance carried forward. The directors of the Company are Messrs. E. C. Morgan (chairman), K. Miller, and W. J. C. Cutbill. Mr. H. W. C. Dernier is the secretary, and Mr. J. Gray Scott the general manager and chief engineer. Mr. G. F. Maiden is chief assistant and Mr. C. C. Hill second assistant engineer; Mr. A. Course the traftic superintendent, and Mi'. W. Glendinning the chief inspector. Mr. J. Gray Scott, upon whom, of course, depends the responsibility for the general el'liciency and smooth working of the whole system, has had a thorough technical training and a great deal of experience in various iniporlanl positions of a similar cliaracler in Kngland. The son of the late Mr. John L. Scott, of Hamilton, Scotland, and Bombay, he was born in Hamilton, in 1875, and was educated at Glasgow. As a student at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College he had quite a distinguished career, and, in 1899, was appointed Engineer in Cliarge of the new generating-station for the municipal ligliting and tramway supply of the Corporation of Bradford. Subsequently he was Chief Engineer to the Corporations of Whitehaven, Leith, and Croydon, resigning the last-mentioned post in 1904 in order to come abroad. Mr. Scott is a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers ; a Fellow of the koyal Society of Arts ; Fellow of the Koyal Scottish Society of Arts, and a former member of the Municipal Electrical Association.

THE PEAK TRAMWAY.

PEAK TRAM STATION.

In 1885 a company was incorporated under the style of the Hongkong High-level Tramways Company, Ltd., with the object of constructing a cable tramway to the Victoria Gap. The cars commenced running in i888, but the great rain storm of 1889 was responsible for a heavy landslip, which did great damage to the permanent way, and very nearly put the concern into liquidation. In 1891, the tramway was taken over by Messrs. John D. Humplueys & Co., and a small dividend was paid. From that date the returns gradually increased, the climax being reached in 1904, when a dividend of $20 per share was declared. In 1905 the concern was liquidated and the Peak Tramways Company, Ltd., was formed to acquire the undertaking of the old Company, and also a concession which had been granted by the Govermnent to Mr. Findlay Smith for an opposition line. The capital of the new Company was §750,000, of which 8250,000 went to the shareholders of the old Company, while the remainder was used for the purpose of actjuiring Mr. Findlay Smith's concession and constructing the new line. The lower terminus of the old route is situated near St. John's Cathedral, the upper lying just alongside the Peak Hotel. The proposed new tramway will run from the Queen's Road end of Battery Path, viá Glenealy Valley, to the Peak.

THE HONGKONG AND CHINA GAS COMPANY, LIMITED.

AlioiTT 130,000,000 cubic feet of gas are manufactured and sold by this Company to over 3.000 consumers. The public lighting is mainly in the Company's hands and is almost exclusively on the incandescent system, some 1,100 burners being used. Coal gas is principally manufactured from Japanese coal, but recently a carburetted water gas system has been installed as an auxiliary to the manufacturing plant. The price of gas to the public is at present $275 per 1.000 cubic feet. Discounts are given to large consumers and to those who use gas for heating or power purposes.

The Company's principal works, offices, and showrooms are situated at West Point, Hongkong. In addition, there is a storage station at East Point and a small works at Kowloon. The staff consists of Mr. George Curry, local secretary ; Mr. J. McCubbin, resident engineer ; Mr. E. W. Tcrrey, fittings superintendent ; Mr. L. J. Blackburn, manager, Kowloon works ; and European assistants. Some two hundred Chinese fitters, stokers, &c., are employed.

The Company was incorporated in 1862, and its registered offices arc at 148, Gresham House, E.C. The board of directors is composed of Messrs. A. F. Phillips, A.M.I.C.E. (chairman), S. Kostron, K. Morton, E. H. Woods, and Sir J. Grinlinton, with Mr. F. G. Barrett as secretary. The total capital expended amounts to £l30,000. Dividends of 10 per cent, are paid on the share capital, and of 5 and 41 per cent, on debentures.