Page:Europe in China.djvu/404

light the city with gas through a Company formed in London. Next year, however, a hitch occurred in the negotiations between the local promoters of the Gas Company and the directors in London, and doubts were entertained of an understanding being arrived at. The Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) subsequently stated that interested individuals had misled the community and caused opposition but that he set the community right on the subject and removed all obstacles. The city was for the first time lighted with gas on November 12, 1864. There remained, however, a general complaint that the directors in London had allotted an unduly small number of shares (70 only) to local applicants, and this emphazised the regret felt by the public that the gas works had not been started by a purely local Company. In January, 1863, the first strong timber pier in Hongkong was erected, at Spring Gardens, for the godowns of McGregor & Co. All former piers had been built of bamboo. This timber pier, jutting out into Wantsai Bay to a distance of 250 feet, gave at low water a depth of 26 feet. The Aberdeen Docks, which were commenced under the preceding administration, were kept fully at work from 1860 to 1863. A new Dock for the use of H.M. Navy having been approved by the Admiralty (January 22, 1863), a site was purchased (November 16, 1864) at Hunghom, on the Kowloon Peninsula, for the nominal sum of $50, by a Union Dock Company which was formed to work the existing and projected docks and proved the beginning of a large establishment, growing in importance from year to year. But there is yet another institution, of equal importance, to be mentioned which likewise originated during this fruitful period. In July, 1864, the firm of Dent & Co. issued the prospectus of the newly formed Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Company (to be incorporated by charter) with a capital of five million dollars in 20,000 shares of $250 each. The fact that this new venture was undertaken when there were already six Banking Institutions in the Colony, viz. the Agra and United Service Bank (Henry Noble), the Central Bank of Western India (W. M. Davidson),