In the past, he believes, colony industries just took orders as they came. Now, in his opinion, the industries must develop their own marketing facilities to discover what products are needed, and then work to meet these needs. He feels that there must be greater diversification if Hong Kong is to hold its place in the industrial world. These three men, like practically every leader in its industrial and political community, are acutely conscious of the many hazards that Hong Kong faces. And not one of them acts or speaks as though he were not solidly confident that Hong Kong will overcome its handicaps and external dangers and go on to greater prosperity. CHAPTER FIVE High Land, Low Water “It is unfortunate that the space between the foot of the mountains and the edge of the sea is so very limited.”—HALL & BERNARD, _The Nemesis in China_, 1847 Hong Kong has always had more land and water than it could use, because most of the land is a hilly waste and most of the water is salty. From the first years of the colony until today, the persisting shortage of usable land and fresh water has confronted every governor with a problem that he could neither solve nor ignore. They have all wrestled with it, none more vigorously than the governors of the last fifteen years, and the problem has become more costly, complex and acute than ever. In any community, land and water problems are related to each other; in the peculiar circumstances of Hong Kong’s climate, geography and population, they intersect at more points than Laocoön and the serpents. Consider the governor’s alternatives: If he stores the entire run-off of the summer rainy season in the reservoirs it will barely meet the minimum needs of the urban millions on Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and it will cause the withering of the crops of farmers in the New Territories during the winter dry season. If he cuts the city supply, how can he meet the ever-increasing needs of the new industrial centers, like Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong, that the government is building on land reclaimed from the sea? The if’s are endless: If he stops the reclamation program to reduce the demand for more water, real estate costs will climb so fast that local industries will price themselves out of the export market. If he builds all the reservoirs the colony needs, who will pay for them? If he doesn’t, how can the fast-growing population of the colony survive? If the reservoirs displace more farmers, who will raise the food?