Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/176

168 TWENTIETH CENTUKY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.

VIEW OP THE WORKS - EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR.

to 1889 electric light was unknown to the Colony, but in that year the Hongkong Electric Company, Ltd., was formed, and, although the progress made at the commencement of their undertaking was slow, there have been rapid developments of recent years.

The history of the inception of the Company is an interesting one. Mr. W. H. Wickham, who had completed his articles and served several years with Messrs. Johnson & Phillips, telegraph engineers and electricians, of Charlton, accepted a travelling commission to superintend, on behalf of his firm, the completion of certain contracts. While in Hongkong he obtained the order for supplyng the machinery to the Electric Company, which was then in process of formation. He returned to England to see the order executed, and everything was carried out in so satisfactory a manner that the directors offered him the position of manager of the Company. He accepted it, and still holds the post at the present time. A site, 150 feet square, was purchased at Wanchai, near what was then a small English cemetery; and a power house and generating station were erected upon it, and live horizontal compound engines of 100 horse-power each were installed. For some time the operations of the Company were on rather a limited scale. They supplied current to fifty electric arc lamps for public lighting purposes, but private residents were slow in introducing the new illuminant into their houses. Upon the Company's capital of $300,000 no dividend was paid for the first six years, and only four Europeans and between twenty and thirty Chinese were employed. In 1896, however, the Company paid a dividend of 5 per cent. Between 1898-99 the capital was increased to $600,000, and during the last three or four years a dividend of 10 per cent, has been declared. The works at Wanchai now cover a site 350 to 450 feet in length. Practically all the old plant has been superseded by high-speed forced lubrication compound engines, developing 1,200 horse-power, and at the present time two new 300 horse-power Deisel oil engines are being laid down. A network of underground mains throughout the centre of the city has just been completed. The Company now supply the current for about 90 arc lamps and some 50,000 smaller lamps. The extensive use of lifts in the Colony has necessitated the establishment of a small sub-station, which is situated near the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. Here there are two motor- generators, each of about 40 horse-power, and two storage batteries. Mr. Wickham now has a staff of six Europeans and about 150 Chinese, and there is every likelihood that these numbers will have to be increased in the near future.

Mr. A. G. Wood is chairman of directors, and his colleagues on the board are the Hon. Sir C, P. Chater, C.M.G., the Hon. Mr. H. Keswick, and Mr. G. H. Medhurst.