ISA HK/China --- A genuine Tree Murder in Sheung Shui

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

It was shocking for the Station Manager to see what are attached in this e-mail of those trees apparently 'murdered' for convenience in Kam Tsin Road, Sheung Shui when he went to work on Dec, 4, 2007.

The trees appeared to belong to the species of Ficus benjamina, which is a common ornamental species used in landscape. The trunk diameters ranged from 150 - 200 mm & these trees would be classified as semi-mature. They were apparently growing & developing well before being pulled out. Why they were displaced & dumped at this spot has been a mystery, & could be a matter of conflict with development or were replaced by another species. Any speculation would be as good as the evidence showed.

Since the Station Manager would pass through the same spot for work everyday, he did not see the trees being there in the evening of Dec 3 when he departed after work the same way. Therefore, it is likely that the trees were placed there during darkness of Dec 3 without too much public notice because this is a rather quiet spot at night. The whole operation appeared to be deliberate & well planned.

The Station Manager did hunt around to look for suspect but every door was closed in the surrounding with securities or guard dogs. For ornamental trees of these sizes, it might be only upper grade development would prefer to use & there are not that many of them nearby. It would be a shame if the rich would do something so degrading without a sense of social responsibility.

So, we have a genuine 'Tree Murder' here, well planned & well executed, apparently for the sake of convenience by somebody to save money & effort for the disposal. If nobody would remove them at the end, then it will be a Govt Dept eventually taking them away by spending the taxpayer's money. We may then ask why we should let someone take advantage of others by breaking the littering laws to get away for personal benefit?

Yet how can we catch the culprit?

The trees were still on the same spot at the time this Station Mail was issued at 8.50am on Dec 6, 2007.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager