Cart

If you look at the front of the rivetted tank, there is some sort of label in white paint on the forward upper, left side. I wonder whether the resolution of the orginal is good enough to see what it says? It looks like two letters (like HK or RN for example) over something longer (fond imagining says 'workshop'). The look of the cart is faintly military (to me!) - reminiscent of some artillery limbers. It's clear from the detail that the tank and cart are a semi-permanent unit - I think the detail shows what looks like a clamp going over the top edge of the lower rivet flange and down to a cross member going under the cart's flatbed presumably to the matching clamp on the other side. The curved pipe certainly suggests a spray for laying dust. Is the white object on the right the valve handle? Iteresting that the curved pipe is radiused to water what looks like a quarter circle on the pavement side (assuming left hand drive, as it were), with the end furthest from the viewer turning at right angles to the supply from the tank.

From the disposition of the hauling team, it looks as though they are at the beginning of a left turn - maybe to their depot?

StephenD

Stephen, thanks for the extra ideas. I didn't crop it very well, but the curved pipe is the same on both sides:

I tried zooming in more on the notice, but it still isn't very clear:

Regards, David

The same photo appears on Page 54 of "The Hong Kong Album", a 1982 publication of the Urban Council containing photos from the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of History (ISBN 962-7039-02-0). The caption accompanying the pic says, "A Chinese wooden cart serving as a hearse on Queen's Road (P68.101)." I'm not sure what the reference number represents. No specific date is given, but the pic is in the section of the book covering the period from 1860 to 1898. On the same page is another photo showing a coffin being removed from another cart, with the caption, "Removing the body of a victim of the Great Bubonic Plague which broke out in 1894 and lasted until 1896, killing more than 2,500 persons (P65.88)."