New Kowloon boundary stone, Jat's Incline [????- ]
Primary tabs
Jat's Incline has become one of our regular walks, and I'd noticed it has a marker stone a short distance uphill from the temple. The stone is down at bottom left in this view, and the yellow-coloured rock in the distance is part of the temple.
I've stopped to take a closer look a few times, but never been able to make out the writing:
So last week I went armed with my daughter's box of chalks:
There are three lines of text. I wasn't able to make out anything clear in the top line but the middle name has DINANC clear enough to say it read ORDINANCE.
The bottom line looks like a mix of numbers and letters. You'll see I chalked the number at the right as a 6, but looking at this photo I think the loop is the top of the nine not the bottom of the six. I think I can see the letters in the middle too, so it looks like:
???????
ORDINANCE
?? 25 SE 9?
I don't remember seeing an ORDINANCE marker stone before - has anyone else seen any examples?
And any guesses about the rest of the text, or what this stone was used for? It could refer to an Ordinance - a law that was passed? Or maybe I've imagined an "I" and it should be "ORDNANCE", connected with mapping the area?
Suggestions welcome!
Photos that show this place
 2020 |
 2020 |
 2020 |
Comments
Re: Jat's Incline markers
Hi David,
Suggest to bring along a pack of flour with a paint brush on your next visit and sprinkle them onto the words. Flour are would probably be cleared away by ants or other insects in notime. One of my friends learning Fung Shui told me they are using this method to 'read' old engravings on stones\graves on site visits. Might have to bring along some latex gloves for the application as your hands would be a mess if you do it bare handed and could make a bigger mess with your camera.
T
Re: Jat's Incline markers
I google'd how to read old gravestones and it turns out chalk is a bad approach and so is flour: http://www.ncgenweb.us/newhanover/cem1.html
According to that page I'll have to head up there with some tin foil instead!
Re: how to read older engravings
Hi David,
I did not consider the micro-organism's damage to those. The site also mentioned the matter of shadows and light. Maybe I will switch on the LED light of my phone next time and see if that is sufficient. If not, there are other portable LED lighting panels (for photography) which may do the trick. If that works it would be less troublesome then using aluminium foils.
On the other hand, I believe I have also read some photography tutorials saying using ND filters and a tripod for longer exposture may do the same trick.
T
Re: JAT INCLINE ordinance stone
Hi, David.
A closer look of the stone.
????????
ORDINANCE
26 of 1937
There are letters from the side as well.
Re: JAT INCLINE ordinance stone
Thanks Herman, that is much easier to read. Please can I ask how you made it clearer?
Then the next question is what the ordinance 26 was about. I checked the online copies at https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/exhibits/show/oelawhk/browse, but unfortunately the later sections of the 1937 edition that cover years 1932-37 have been lost. Does anyone know another way to look it up?
Re: Numbers
I think the stone is dated 26 SE 1937.
New Territories/New Kowloon boundary stone at JATS INCLINE
I went to the site with my two sons at night. There was a lamp-post nearby. I thought the smartphone captured better shadow contrast image. In addition, Kevin and Justin used the aluminum foil to do the engraving of the writing as well.
Ordinance No. 26 of 1937
David:
The ordinance is the Interpretation Amendment Ordinance 1937. It contains miscellaneous changes to official titles and definitions (the current equivalent is the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance, or Cap. 1).
Section 2 of the 1937 ordinance defines 'New Kowloon' by reference to a map marked 'New Kowloon' dated 8 December 1937, signed by the Director of Public Works and countersigned by the Governor, and deposited in the Land Office.
Could it be that the stone is a boundary stone for New Kowloon, with a reference to the ordinance as the authority?
A copy of the ordinance can be found in the Hong Kong Government Gazette, 24 December 1937 on the HKUL Digital Initiatives >> Government Reports site. The Gazette (much more than the Historical Laws site) is the best place to go for ordinances as they were actually enacted.
Hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Chris
Mystery solved
Thanks Chris, that's a great help, and also good to know for future searches. (Tip for those future searches: Though the summary of entries listed at https://lib.hku.hk/hkgro/browseGa.jsp?the_year=1937 only mentions ordinance #24, Ordinances passed and assented to:- Sterling Salaries Conversion-No. 24 of 1937, the PDF for that entry shows it actually covers ordinances #24 - 28, and gives the details of each one.)
Back to the marker stone, and a boundary stone for New Kowloon is a very likely explanation. Unfortunately the map mentioned in the ordinance isn't included in the PDF file, but a bit of good luck helped out. I remembered seeing a map of New Kowloon in Empson's Mapping Hong Kong, and dug that out. It's Plate 4-6, and shows a map dated 8th Dec. 1937 that defines the extent of New Kowloon, so it's the missing map.
The map defines the northern boundary of New Kowloon as the 500 feet contour on the hills at the back of Kowloon. Now 500 feet is 152.4 metres, and looking at the location of the marker stone on the map, it is between the 150m and 160m contour lines, so I'll take that as confirmation.
I haven't read any mention of this before, so it's a good find, a Kowloon version of the Victoria City boundary stones on Hong Kong island. Maybe the local council would like to erect one of those Welcome To ... / You Are Now Leaving ... signs here, for New Kowloon!
I wonder if any more still exist? They'd likely have been erected wherever a road crossed the boundary.
Regards, David
Boundary STONE Engraving 2020-08-28
The missing map 1937 New Kowloon
Google "Plan of new kowloon"
https://images.app.goo.gl/cxSBfHQYxBF8FgFJ6
The tin foil worked well,
The tin foil worked well, thanks for posting that.
We walked along there again this morning, and the combination of the lower winter sun, and being a bit earlier in the morning meant the shadows were clearer than our first visit.
I can see there's also a "No." at the start of the third line of text, but I'm still not sure what the top line says.
The missing puzzle
I find the missing puzzle of New Kowloon boundary
New Territories/New Kowloon boundary at JATS INCLINE
Further evidence of the boundary stone at JAT INCLINE. The NT/NK boundary intersect with the JAT INCLINE approximately at the current location of the granite stone with inscription.
"........"
"Ordinance"
"No. 26 of 1937".
have a look for more clear NK/NT boundary
it show a clear cut at JAT’S INCLINE road, maybe more boundary stone at boundary / road / foot path cutoff point!
Re: ??N.T./N.K. boundary stone near Beacon Hill
The N.T./N.K. boundary is clearly seen in the Kowloon Street Map.
Accordingly, I have tried to search for possible boundary stone from the accessible footpath, starting from the western bound from Lai Chi Kok, walking uphill towards the N.T./N.K. boundary.
There is a footpath walking uphill from Lung Cheung Road towards Beacon Hill. I notice threre is a granite stone on the side of the footpath, with possbile engraving on it while near the 'boundary'.
??N.T./N.K boundary stone
Coordinates in the Map (Kowloon Street Plan)
Entrance of the footpath: 088 738
Granite stone: 088 741
Jat v Jat's
Herman
It appears you have located the source of the name change from the original "Jat" to Jat's. It's not clear if the change was deliberate or just a misunderstanding.
Phil
New stone(s)
James, thank you for the map - lots more possibillities! I'm sure there would have been a stone on the road from Wong Tai Sin up to Shatin Pass. I walk that way quite often, and will keep a look out.
Herman, please could you make a Place (https://gwulo.com/node/17628) for the new stone you've found, so we can see it on the map and have a page to gather any more information about it.
Regards, David