Rope Works, Kennedy Town [1884-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Rope Works, Kennedy Town [1884-????]

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Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2013-10-27 15:24
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1884-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)
Tags: 
factory
ropeworks
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Photos that show this place

1889
1904
1908
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Submitted by Klaus on Thu, 2021-05-20 16:40.

Entry to the Hongkong Government Gazette, 30th April, 1892.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.—No. 196.

Notice is hereby given that an application has been received from Messrs. SHEWAN & Co., of Hongkong, General Managers of the Hongkong Rope Manufacturing Company, Limited, for the introduction in the Legislative Council of an Ordinance to provide for the construction of a single line of Tramway in Davis Street from the Rope Manufactory to the Praya.

Owners of property in the neighbourhood and other interested parties are requested to lodge in the Colonial Secretary's Office any objections that they may wish to offer to the proposal within a period of thirty days from this date.

G. T. M. O'BRIEN, Colonial Secretary

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 26th April, 1892

Submitted by rioscac on Mon, 2022-05-16 15:06.

The tramway might have ended up being built with 2 tracks on Smithfield instead of Davis Street, as shown in the 1922.1 Survey Map on hkmaps.hk
https://www.hkmaps.hk/viewer.html

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2022-05-23 17:20.

That's a good find, thank you. It'll be great to see what it looked like - something to watch out for on any old photos of the area.

Submitted by Klaus on Thu, 2022-05-26 00:44.

From

Cordage and Twine Trade in Foreign Countries, Special Consular Reports 45, Washington, 1911

HONGKONG ROPE FACTORY.

There is a large and flourishing rope factory in Hongkong owned by the Hongkong Rope Manufacturing Co. (Ltd.). It has been established for 27 years and is one of the standard industries of the colony. It is equipped with the latest and most improved American machinery, and as it saves freight on raw material to the extent represented by the difference between freight from the Philippines to Hongkong and from the Philippines to New York and also employs cheap and efficient Chinese labor, it has an immense advantage in this market. On the whole, it may be said to dominate the rope market of the Far East. The management of this firm states that for many years it has endeavored to provide a rope that would attract the trade of Chinese junk men, but in spite of the low cost of the product it manufactured and in spite of the fact that the flimsy nature of most Chinese rope makes its use in no sense economical, the efforts were without success.

Nevertheless, if foreign rope can be sold to the Chinese at a price which represents an actual saving to them in the long run, persistent effort will doubtless lead to a satisfactory trade.