Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-14
THE CITY OF HONG KONG
WHAT IT Is AND WHAT IT REP
REsENTs.
A Place Where There Are Neither
Horses Nor Frosts and Hence
Fine Roads.

Hong Kong Correspondence Boston Transcript.
"A strange, strange place-monotonous,
unused a little five-year-old American girl
as her mother led the way into a room at
the Peak Hotel. The child had overheard
the word 'monotonous'' short time be-
fore, and attracted by its resonant charac-
ter, If only half familiar with its meaning,
had applied 1t to Hong Kong. as the great
banks of fog surrounded the hotel so COM
pleteiy that her mother, on entering the
room, had supposed the windows to be of
ground glass. But the description as a
whole is not bad; certainly Hong Kong is
strange place. and monotony Is the one
thing of which all its white European ele-
ment most necessarily complains.
The natural beauty of Hong Kong can
hardly be exaggerated, whether the city be
seen from the harbor or from the Peak
which looks down upon the town and
majestic piece of waterway where the ship
ping of all nations is gathered. The city
proper occupies a narrow fringe along the
water front, wide enough for about three
long parallel streets, although much of even
this space has been reclaimed from the sea,
and between the Queens road, the middle
or the three, and the next line of streets
that many Of the cross streets are simply
flights of broad stone steps.
No Horses.
There are no horses in Hong Kong and
they have no frosts two facts which SIM
plify greatly the bodybuilding problem. Its
streets resemble the walks on a worlds
fair ground; they are smooth and reason
ably hard. and were laid out by the British.
In founding the city, at a reasonable width.
Kipling says that he saw one horse in Hong
Kong. I am informed that there is one
stable. but in three days visit 1 did not
chance to see such an animal. "Rickshas,"
the little two-wheeled vehicles in which
most of the population ride drawn by
chinese coolie. with one or more pushing
behind, II the occupant be willing to pay for
nigh speed. do most of the passenger
business. The rest is done in chairs sup
ported on long poles, borne on the backs of
and difficulties Of the trip. One physician
here keeps seven coolies to convey him
ABOUT, four for the chair and three for the
rlcksha. He uses the latter on the low
level but In reaching residences on the side
OF the mountain. often involving climbs
over steep stairs. he is compelled to have a
chair. This mans business has been SO
good that he has nearly killed his coolies
with overwork, SO his neighbors say as
complacently as they would speak of a
morse that had been seriously overdriven.
Medical Practice.
The system Of practicing medicine in this
city Is singular combination of Chinese
and British institutions. Two medical con-
Germs do nearly all the business. on annual
contract. Each head of a family, or of a
business house. contracts for medical at
tendance at so much a year, and the
amount collected is just the same whether
every member of the family dies of plague
or II no member has a single sick day
Heads OF business houses explain to me
III ma toy Of
have their clerical force. feel that medical
ADVICE and attendance are free; the war
fare against tropical diseases must be SO
constant that any symptoms. no matter
now snght should receive early attention.
In the same way the young doctors who
serve these firms come out here under term
contracts, each signing an agreement not
to practice within twenty miles of the
firms headquarters on the expiration of the
contract period. This prevents the young
man with an acquaintance from starting
into private practice on his own hook.
Young dentists come out here often from
America, to serve the same way, and SINH
larly many families have annual dental
contracts. American dentists in all this re-
gion are reaping handsome financial re-
turns, for this Is profession in which
Americans are regarded as especially well
equipped. This contract system, in vogue
among the Europeans. smacks of China
There the physician is literally paid to keep
a man well, rather than for extraordinary
services in time Of illness.
Projected improvements.
Rails are already laying in Hong Kong
for an electric tramway system along the
water front for several miles in each d.
rection from the center of the city The
Peak has for some years been connected
with the lowlanders by a cable road. the
same In general design as that which as
cends Mt. Tom, near Holyoke, Mass. The
beautiful residences are at its upper termi-
nus. If one could picture the mansions of
Bar Harbor lifted up to the top of Green
Mountain, and its entire area finished in
lawns and gardens with asphalt walks on
heavy masonry foundations, one would get
a fairly good idea OF the settlement on the
Peak at Hong Kong. except that fancy
its 800 feet of elevation above sea level is
considerably more than that of Green
Mountain on Mt. Desert Island. The view
OF the ocean, Its coves and rocks and
islands. Is much the same in the two cases,
except that here shipping throngs the har-
bor
Another improvement under discussion is
bridge. or a tunnel. across the harbor to
Kowloon. and the new territory back of it.
The future growth Of this port must, it is
predicted. be on the tolerably level ground
at Kowloon. and hence the necessity of bet
ter communication than the present ferry
affords.
The harbor measures only three-quarters
Of a mile between these points, and is like
a river in appearance. An occasional ty-
phoon rocks 1t SO badly that special emer-
gency coves have been provided. one known
as Typhoon Bay. and the other as Junk
Bay. whose uses are explained by their
names. If the harbor were to be brtdeed
there would be no more passing through as
now. Ships would come in at either ap-
proach and go out by the same one, an in
convenience which the harbormaster
thinks of slight moment, but which to an
outsider would seem FATHERS serious.
Old Home Week.
From the Boston Transcript.
The old home idea is not only spreading