Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and Its People 1953-87

Chapter 2: The Shek Pik Reservoir

Chapter 1wo TheShekPikReservoir It was no small feat to acquire thIS land by negotiatIOn, and I was particularly surprised and gratified to observe that you were able to arrange it without incident or adverse publiCIty for government. To me thIS indicates that, In spite of the hostile elements at work In the area, the Government IS gaining or regaining the confidence of the people there, in that they were prepared to confine their efforts to argument and discussIOn wIth their DIstnct Officer rather than seek outsIde support 1 U ndoubtedly the most important and time-consuming part of my responsibilities as District Officer South was the work connected with the construction of the Shek Pik Reservoir and its ancillary projects. Since it was my main single responsibility and so much hung on a successful outcome, affairs at Shek Pik had usually to take priority over other matters. Viewed in a long perspective, the Shek Pik negotiation exemplified the Hong Kong government's desire to achieve its aims by negotiation. It did not always negotiate, but usually sought to do so in the New Territories, when taking back village homes and requiring the people to move elsewhere into new accommodation prepared for them as part of the deal. This was especially the case with villagers having to be resited for the construction of reservoirs, because practically everything they owned was affected by these large scale schemes. Shek Pik was no exception, and in many ways was, as it now seems to me, a classic of its kind. All requirements - and they were legion - were negotiated from start to finish, never letting up and never allowing the villagers to get away from the negotiating table. IN THIS REMOTE PART OF THE COLONY, I had found a rather disgruntled set of people. Since late 1955, their usually tranquil lives had been 32 Friends and Teachers. Hong Kong and Its People 1953-87 disrupted by Western engineers and Chinese workmen, both living in specially erected accommodation on sIte. A probably more unwelcome feature of the intrusion from the VIllage viewpomt - because of the scrutiny of their activities that came with it - was the 'round the clock' presence of the small number of Marine Policemen who manned the post next to the engineers' office and soil-testing laboratory; albeit the main reason for their presence was the work force rather than the villagers. ThiS was owing to the likelihood of quarrels and fights, and the inevitable opium smoking and heroin taking. While the engineers got on with their investigations, the villagers continued with all the normal activities of a largely self-sufficient rural life. Assisted by a small number of land staff, my job was to keep an eye on them, facilitate the work of the engineers, and help ease the relationship between the two parties. ThIS involved us in a number of ways: such as gaining access to land needed for the engineers' test borings and excavations ; in making compensatory payments for any damage or disturbance of crops and cultivation in the course of the work; and in investigating and dealing with complaints from either side. Almost a year after taking up my post, the tests were completed and a favourable report was submitted to the Public Warks Department. The government was then able to announce that constructIOn of the new reservoir at Shek Pik would begin without delay, in view of the continuing very serious water supply situation.2 A historical account of the Shek Pik villages is given in Chapter 4 of my Hong Kong Region.3 Here, my aim is different, since the intention is to describe my dealings with the people of the valley as a government official for a number of years, over matters that were of great lmportance to those on each side. However, some introduction to the villages and their inhabitants is needed here, in order to provide enough background for what follows. There were two main settlements in the valley. At Shek Pik, the older and larger of the two, some family histories went back into the fifteenth century, and the VIllage was probably older still. The other, Fan Pui by name, was settled by a family from Kowloon about] 660. It remained a single clan settlement, whereas people of many different surnames came to settle in Shek Pik over the centuries.4 The village families were Punti, that is Cantonese speakers, though the local brogue was fa r from the standard Cantonese taught at the...