港史文本 - HK In Texts: Hong Kong Yearbook - Annual Report for the Year 1949

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HONG KONG HNNUAL REPORT

1949

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Hong Kong Harbour Lights, 1949.

Professor Francis Stock.

EORGE VI BY THE GRACE · OF·GOD·∞

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· DEFENDER OF THE·!

KONG

ANNUAL REPORT ON

HONG KONG FOR THE YEAR

1949

PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG

PRINTED BY THE LOCAL PRINTING PRESS, LTD., HONG KONG

MARCH, 1950.

市政局公共圖書館 UCPL

3 3288 00675245 7

The thanks of the Government of Hong Kong are due to Mr. W. E. Jones for designing and executing new headings for some of the chapters. Chapter headings which have already appeared in previous reports were executed by Mr. R. A. Bates.

A competition was held to choose photographs for the Report. First prize of $100 was awarded to Professor Francis Stock for his photograph Hong Kong Harbour Lights 1949, second prize of $50 to Mr. E. S. Franks for his photograph After a Day's Fishing and third prize of $25 to Mr. David Cohen for his photograph New Cotton Mill Industry. competitors whose photographs appear in the Report receive

Other copy of the Report. Photographs under which no photographer's name a free appears were provided by Government Departments and were not entered for the Competition.

The thanks of the Government are due to Mr. Francis Wu and Mr. K. A. Watson for their assistance in acting as judges in the Competition, and also to Mr. K. A. Watson for providing the photograph for the cover.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing Page

Hong Kong Harbour Lights, 1949

Frontispiece

Sewing Co-operative at North Point Relief Camp

•

Boats at Shatin

Hairdressing at a Street Corner

The Hong Kong Stand at the British Industries Fair

After a day's fishing

Horticultural Co-operative in a Relief Camp

The Opening of the Exhibition of Chinese Products

Cotton Mill Industry

57.

Morrison Hill Community Camp School

59.

Almoner's Office, Queen Mary Hospital

Aerial View of Sheung Wan District

Interviewing applicants for a free meal at Yaumati

Welfare Centre

Vehicular Ferry

Dry-docks

Horse Racing

105

109

133

Aerial View of New Territories-North of Ping Shan 139

Botanic Gardens

Repulse Bay

153

157

CONTENTS

Review of 1949

PART I.

PART II.

Page

Chapter

1 Population

2004 1.0 CO

Occupations, Wages and Labour Organization

3 Public Finance and Taxation

Currency and Banking

Commerce

Production:

Fisheries

Agriculture

Forestry

Mining and Mineral Resources

Industrial Production

7 Social Services:

Education

Health

Housing

Social Welfare

Legislation

9 Justice, Police and Prisons

Public Utilities

Communications

109

Research

122

Religion

125

The Arts

128

Sport

132

PART III.

Geography and Climate

137

Flora and Fauna

141

149

History

Administration

152

Weights and Measures

156

The Press

157

Bibliography

160

Appendix I

Colonial Development

and Welfare

Schemes

165

Appendix II

Appendix III

Selected Indices of Economic Significance 167

Summary of Total Figures for the years

1947, 1948 and 1949

174

PART I GENERAL

REVIEW OF 1949.

Relations with neighbouring territories.

Hong Kong has had a difficult year in maintaining relations with China owing to the disruption caused by the civil war.

The policy of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, which has governed Hong Kong's attitude, has been one of continuing neutrality in the Chinese Civil War and in pursuance of this Hong Kong has sought to maintain impartiality and friendliness in its dealings with China as a whole.

During the year the Chinese Communist armies advanced from the Yangtze down to Canton. Nanking itself fell on April 23rd and the Nationalist capital was transferred to Canton. On October 1st the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China in Peking was announced by Mao Tze-Tung. At the same time Chou En-Lai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the new Government, officially informed foreign governments that the Peking Government was willing to establish diplomatic relations with any foreign government which was willing to observe the principles of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty. A number of foreign governments led by the Soviet Union and followed by countries of eastern Europe speedily recognised the Peking Government, but, by the end of the year, no firm decision had yet been taken by His Majesty's Government. British recognition was however expected at an early date, since by the end of December Nationalist armies had been driven from nearly all the mainland of China. Only Hainan, Formosa and a few islands off the coast of Fukien remained under Nationalist control. Canton itself fell on October 15th and the Nationalist Government transferred itself to Chung- king. On October 16th irregular Communist forces appeared at Shataukok on the Hong Kong/China border, and a few days later they had taken over control of the whole of the Chinese side of the frontier. There were no incidents, and relations between the British and Chinese authorities on the frontier have 'been formal and correct.

The civil war reaching Hong Kong's own frontier has naturally had disturbing effects, although the Colony has

}

managed to remain a relative oasis of peace and prosperity in the Far East. The main effect has been to bring to the Colony a vast number of Chinese seeking refuge from war and disturbance. A time of change is a time of potential His danger and, as an insurance against such danger, Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom decided early in the year to augment the reduced garrison of the Colony. considerably. On July 2nd Lt. General F. W. Festing, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O. arrived to assume the post of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief. On his departure owing to illness he was succeeded on October 20th by Lt. General Sir E. C. Robert Mansergh, K.B.E., C.B., M.C.

The influx of Chinese into Hong Kong, which still;

as it has caused continues, is a matter of some concern serious over-crowding. Large squatter settlements have mushroomed all over the Colony. The flimsy and insanitary structures in which they dwell constitute a serious menace to health and a grave risk of fire. Several squatter colonies were in fact destroyed by fire during the year. At the time of the fall of Shanghai in May and later in October when . the Communist capture of Canton was imminent the number of Chinese flocking into the Colony reached at times over 10,000 in one week. These have been absorbed, but with increasing difficulty. It is doubtful whether many more can be received without imposing an intolerable strain on the Colony's water supply and accommodation facilities.

The civil war has also dislocated normal trade and At the end communications between Hong Kong and China. of May the Nationalists began a blockade (described as a "closure of ports") which effectively closed Shanghai to shipping, except for a small number of blockade runners which have broken through. This had its effect on commer- China, cial relations between Hong Kong and Central although later in the year cargoes destined for Shanghai began to find their way through via Tientsin and other northern ports to which shipping has again become normal. After the fall of Canton through railway services on the Kowloon/Canton railway were suspended. They have not yet been resumed, despite the readiness of the authorities of the British Section to agree to through services to Canton.

were

As an inevitable concomitant of civil war, numbers of political refugees have sought and been accorded refuge in Hong Kong. Whereas previously many of these persons out of sympathy with the Kuomintang Nationalist Government, present political refugees in Hong Kong now With the popula- comprise mainly Kuomintang personages. tion of Hong Kong consisting as it does predominantly of persons of Chinese origin it is inevitable that some of their political quarrels have been fought out again in the Colony.

The policy of the Hong Kong Government has been to keep Hong Kong free of external political faction. Certain action has therefore been taken against those elements which have sought to make the Colony an arena for propagating their own political ideas. This has at times brought criticism, especially from the new government in Peking, which has objected to what it has chosen to describe as persecution and denial of democratic rights to Chinese in Hong Kong. It is . nevertheless true that the cherished democratic freedoms which pertain to the British system of Government have been jealously guarded by the Hong Kong authorities. The only limitations on them have been those imposed through necessity of maintaining public order and preserving the security of the Colony. It has also been necessary to take measures to prevent interference with the educational system in the Colony in order to ensure that education remains what it should be, namely, training in good citizenship rather than indoctrination with one particular set of ideas. The activities of Chinese political dissidents have fortunately resulted in only one act of murder. General Yang Chieh, a Chinese official who had served as Chinese Ambassador in Moscow, and had later fallen out of sympathy with the Kuomintang regime was shot, presumably for political reasons. On account of the above activities, and their possibly dangerous effect on law and order in the Colony, an Ordinance was passed in May entitled the Societies Ordinance, declaring illegal all societies or organisations which had affiliations with political parties outside the Colony.

A further cause of difficulty and embarrassment to the Hong Kong Government arising out of the Chinese civil war had been the disposition of Chinese State-owned assets located in the Colony, which are now claimed by both the Nationalist and the Central People's Government. The case which has attracted most attention has been that of the Chinese airlines, the China National Aviation Corporation and the Central Air Transport Corporation. On the 9th November eleven aircraft belonging to these two companies defected and flew from Kai Tak airfield into Communist China, carrying the Managing Directors of both companies. At the same time

the majority of the staff of the two companies in Hong Kong also declared themselves in favour of the Peking regime. The Nationalist authorities have since tried to establish their claim to obtain physical possession of the some 70 aircraft belonging to the two companies still remaining in the Colony. A further complication was added by the claim of two American citizens, Major-General Claire Chennault and Mr. Whiting Willauer to have purchased on December 12th the aircraft and assets of the two companies from the Chinese Nationalist Government. The case at the end of 1949 was still before the Courts, with Messrs. Chennault and Willauer

on the one hand seeking to obtain possession of the aircraft and assets, and the Peking Government on the other strongly asserting its claim to the same property. In this dispute the attitude of the Hong Kong Government remained one of non- interference with a matter which was one for the Law Courts to decide.

The traditional friendly relations with Macao prevailed throughout the year. Macao was faced with many of the same problems which have confronted Hong Kong. During the year the Governor of Hong Kong visited Macao, and the Governor of Macao visited Hong Kong, and mutual problems were discussed. Liaison and exchange of informa- tion on matters of mutual concern is maintained, and on the Police level the Commissioners of Police of the two places have co-operated closely.

Re-inforcement of the Garrison

The welcome arrival of reinforcements for the garrison during the summer, which brought the army strength up to a division plus a brigade and increased the strength of the naval and air forces, affected the Colony in a number of ways. There was naturally a considerable increase in confidence in the colony generally, but inevitably there were difficulties in fitting the new arrivals into an already crowded territory with limited vacant land for expansion. Most of the additional units were accommodated on the mainland and temporary camps were erected by the Army pending the construction of more suitable accommodation. It became necessary to requisition private land and buildings and to make available crown land and government buildings to suit such varied requirements as barracks, hospitals, workshops, stores, artillery ranges and airstrips. Every effort was made to cause the minimum of dislocation to the normal life of the colony and to minimise the difficulties of property owners, most of whom appreciated the importance and urgency of the matter and were most co-operative. The Service authorities also leased accommodation of various kinds and new construction, especially of unit accommodation, pro- ceeded with all possible speed.

The process of reinforcement was carried out rapidly and after the manner of a military operation. As a result the arrangements for the accommodation of the reinforcing units necessarily fell below the standard usual for garrison troops. Many units were throughout the year under canvas or in hurriedly improvised quarters and at the end of the year much remained to be done in providing adequate accom- modation and recreational facilities. The civilian community's main contribution in the latter field was the establishment of two large clubs in the urban area-the Nine Dragons Club

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Sewing Co-operative at North Point Relief Camp.

in Kowloon and the new Cheero Club in Hong Kong; these were organised and run by the Forces Civilian Entertainment and Welfare Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. D. Benson. This Committee, appointed by the Governor in July, 1949, was responsible also for organizing concert parties and private entertainment as well as a wide variety of miscellaneous activities such as the provision of wireless sets for unit billets and the arrangement of special broadcasts for the forces. The Committee's funds were drawn partly from public subscription and partly from Government grants. Government in addition contributed $250,000 to the General Officer Commanding in Chief's fund established for the improvement of recreational facilities. The St. John Ambulance Brigade collected books and magazines for distribution to camps and hospitals and the British Red Cross Committee arranged outings by car and launch for con- valescent troops and assisted with hospital libraries.

The increase in military traffic has added to the conges- tion of the already crowded roads and has imposed a further strain on the surfaces which has entailed an increase in maintenance work. Construction of new roads has been undertaken as a joint enterprise between the civil and military authorities. While the increased number of troops has affected the whole colony, their presence has been most noticeable in the New Territories. The good relations which have been maintained between the troops and the local inhabitants of all classes say much for the high standard of conduct and discipline of the troops and the cooperation and good sense of the residents and the authorities con- cerned. The employment given directly by the Army and indirectly on the major and minor works arising out of the increase in the garrison has been especially welcomed by the inhabitants of the New Territories, and Government has of course been most scrupulous in the payment of fair compensation for any loss or damage to property.

One of the most pressing problems was that of water supply. During the summer months this presented no difficulty and camps were supplied from the nearest stream source, but looking to the future when heavy consumption by the Army might endanger local irrigation supplies, a big scheme was put into operation for supplying almost all major camps from one or two points where there was ample water, for example the Tai Lam river.

Hong Kong Defence Force

The new Defence Force came into being on 1st March, 1949 and recruitment started at once. Under the command of a volunteer Commandant, Colonel L. T. Ride, C.B.E. E.D., the Force has an inter-Service headquarters staff and

originally comprised five main components, namely, the naval, army and air force elements, the Women's Volunteer Force, and an Essential Services Wing. This last was detached from the Force at the end of the year with the formation of the Essential Services Corps.

Volunteers are attested into the unit of their choice, the Regiment, the Naval Force or the Auxiliary Air Force, and undergo basic training in the Depot before being posted to their units. The duration of depot training, which consists mainly of elementary drill and rifle instruction, varies accord- ing to the previous experience of the volunteer, the maximum period being 13 weeks for those with no previous experience.

Recruitment proceeded steadily throughout the year. Attendance at training parades and at the Regiment's first annual camp was excellent, and considerable keenness and enthusiasm were shown by all volunteers. The progress made would have been impossible without the assistance and support of the regular services. The Admiralty made available on loan an Algerine class minesweeper, formerly H.M.S. "Lysander", for use as a depot ship by the Naval Force; this ship, renamed H.M.S. "Cornflower" was formally taken over by the Naval Force on 29th December, 1949; the Auxiliary Air Force was equipped with five Auster aircraft at the expense of the Air Ministry; and all three Services gave all possible assistance in supervising training, providing instructors and assisting with the arrangements for camps, cruises, etc. During the year the units of the Force were able to take part with the regular Services in various exercises and acquitted themselves well.

At the end of the year the strength of the Force was just under 900 all ranks and recruits were coming forward steadily. Training was progressing well and all units were already in a position to give valuable support to the regular forces in an emergency.

Registration of the Population

Part of the machinery for control and security in conditions of emergency is the registration of persons and the issue of identity cards. Plans had been made for a census to be taken in 1948, but developments outside the Colony led to a decision to defer the census and instead to enact the Registration of Persons Ordinance 1949 which provides for the registration of persons in the Colony and for the issue of identity cards free of charge containing the particulars of the holder, his photograph and his thumb print. The primary object of the legislation is to aid any measures which may from time to time be found necessary for the maintenance of law and order and the distribution of supplies of food and other commodities.

Plans for the registration were prepared by the Govern- ment Statistician early in the year, but owing to unavoidable delays in the procurement of equipment it was not possible for him, as Commissioner of Registration, to begin the operation until the Autumn. The Ordinance provides for the phasing of the registration, for administrative convenience, to cover persons in employment in Government Departments, persons in the employment of commercial companies, the New Territories population, the fishing population, and other persons. It was decided to concentrate at first upon completion of the registration of the population in the New Territories, some 19,000 persons in that area having already received identity cards from the Police during the summer. Over 75,000 persons in the New Territories were accordingly registered and photographed by mobile teams in 25 working days. Before the end of the year well over 120,000 persons had been registered in the Colony, and the organisation, designed to deal with a maximum of 250,000 registrations per mensem, was functioning effectively, target speeds of 400 persons registered per hour being attained and often sur- passed as the staff gained experience. Seven "Graphlex" cameras designed for such work were procured through Messrs. Eastman Kodak, Ltd., whose local staff have acted as the technical advisers in the operation. The films are developed and printed in a Government laboratory specially equipped with modern machinery for the purpose and a daily output of 10 reels of films developed (each consisting of 800 photographs), with the prints in duplicate, has been attained. A most satisfactory feature of the operation has been the excellent cooperation received from employers and from members of the public generally.

Constitution Reform

Sir Mark Young's proposals for the revision of the Constitution, now commonly known as the Young Plan, envisaged the establishment of a Municipal Council, to which would be delegated certain of the functions at present dis- charged by the Government of Hong Kong, and later the reconstitution of the Legislative Council in such a manner that an unofficial majority would be created instead of the official majority which exists at present. On 3rd June 1949 the Municipal Council Bill was published in the Gazette for information.

During 1949 public interest in constitutional amendments increased, two clubs, the Reform Club and the Chinese Reform Association, were formed, many persons expressed their views in the local Press, and finally a debate was held in the Legislative Council on the 22nd June, where a motion by an Unofficial Member was carried, all the Official Members abstaining.

The motion proposed the reversal of the timing of the Young Plan by advocating that a new Legislative Council be first established and that this new Legislative Council, with its unofficial majority should develop the Urban Council towards a Municipal Council somewhat on the lines proposed by Sir Mark Young. As regards the composition of the Legislative Council, the Young Plan recommended eight Unofficial and seven Official Members, excluding the Governor. All the eight Unofficial Members would be nominated, some by the Municipal Council, others by public bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce and some by the Governor. There were to be no elected members and therefore the question of franchise did not arise. The Councillors would have to be British subjects because they would have to take the oath of allegiance.

The new proposals of the Unofficial Members envisage eleven Unofficial Members and five Official Members, exclud- ing the Governor, but the most radical departure from the proposals of Sir Mark Young is the introduction of elected members in the Legislative Council. The motion advocates four Chinese elected members and two non-Chinese elected members, two Chinese nominated members, one Portuguese and two other non-Chinese nominated members; so that the team of eleven Unofficials would be made up of six Chinese members, at least one Portuguese member and not more than four other non-Chinese members. The franchise would be restricted to British subjects.

At the close of the debate the Governor undertook to forward to the Secretary of State a copy of the debate together with other proposals which had been made in the columns of the Press or had reached him through other channels and his own comments and recommendations.

Development and Welfare

Under the terms of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, 1945, the sum of £1,000,000 was allocated by His Majesty's Government for the development of the Colony's resources and a separate sum was set aside to enable individual Colonies to participate in approved central schemes such as research projects. A Committee composed of official and unofficial members was appointed in June, 1946, to produce a comprehensive and detailed plan for the development and welfare of the Colony during the period. 1946-1956 bearing in mind the principle that the cost of such a plan should be borne partly from the £1,000,000 grant and partly from such funds as the Colony might be able to set aside for this purpose. In general the con- tribution of Hong Kong has been the provision of staff to plan, supervise and operate the various approved projects.

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Boats at Shatin

Professor Francis Stock.

As a first step in the drawing up of this plan, Sir Patrick Abercrombie was invited to make a survey of the needs of Hong Kong in the matter of town planning and to prepare an outline plan for the development of the urban

area.

This survey, complete with maps of the recommended developments, was published in September, 1949, and envisages far-reaching alterations in the construction and lay-out of the urban area of Victoria and Kowloon. Detailed projects, based on such portions of the Survey as are capable of immediate implementation in the light of the present economic position of the Colony, are now being prepared.

Preparation and implementation of plans for the rural areas are more advanced since in these areas the planners are not confronted with the same problems of what to do with existing structures, such as confront the replanners of the urban areas. It has been accepted in principle that £500,000, or half the sum allocated to Hong Kong, should be devoted to projects for the development of the fishing and agricultural areas and the New Territories, on the economy of which the Japanese occupation had a disastrous effect. By means of these projects it is sought to amplify beyond the means of the Colony's present finances the plans of the Fisheries and Vegetable Wholesale Marketing Schemes for the development of the natural resources of the New Territories. Under one scheme approximately 46,000 square feet of land has been reclaimed on the western side of Aberdeen harbour; the approved total for this scheme is £10,000. At Kennedy Town Market the construction of four landing piers costing £6,848 was completed in November in order to facilitate the landing of fish brought for sale in the Fisheries Wholesale Market. Under a further scheme, whereby £9,375 were granted and a similar amount lent under the Fund, sixteen diesel lorries were purchased for the Vegetable Marketing organisation and are now in full use.

Several other schemes are in various stages of prepara- tion and implementation. A grant of £18,375 and a loan of £9,375 will be made available for the establishment of village depots in the New Territories under the supervision of the Vegetable Marketing Organisation. Plans are in hand for de-centralizing the Organisation and breaking it up into small operating groups of producers who in turn will form the basis for the establishment of Co-operatives. Sixty such small groups, known as Village Depots, will be erected during the next two years, each depot costing about $3,000. The depots, which will

will be operated by the farmers, will operate as village units to which farmers will bring their produce for weighing and will receive their supplies of baskets and fertilizer.

Grants totalling about £17,000 have been approved in respect of various scholarships tenable in the United Kingdom, and several scholars who benefited under these schemes have already returned to the Colony.

An upper air reporting station by which meteorological data are collected by means of radar-wind and radio-sonde has been established with the aid of a grant of £25,780 and is already in regular daily operation. Plans are in hand for extending this project. Other projects being planned include the construction of roads and piers and the extension of irrigation facilities in the New Territories, the establish- ment of a factory for the conversion of nightsoil and the making of topographical and land utilization surveys.

Appendix I at the end of this Report shows in tabular form details regarding the various approved schemes. Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East.

Hong Kong has continued to be an Associate Member of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, the principal regional organisation of the United Nations in this part of the world. Three delegates from Hong Kong took part in the meetings of the Fifth Session of ECAFE at Singapore in October and it was largely on the delegation's initiative that ECAFE undertook to examine and, if possible, improve their statistical service. The occasional visits of personnel of ECAFE have been of assistance to the Govern- ment in dealing with the considerable amount of documents, questionnaires, etc. which associate membership of the Commission involves, and every effort has been made to make Hong Kong's cooperation more positive than it has been hitherto. The part which ECAFE can play in improving conditions in Asia and the Far East still remains doubtful, but it is hoped that before long its existence will prove of benefit to the peoples of its Member countries.

Statistics

Statistics relating to economic and other subjects have been published since June, 1948 in Supplement No. 4 to the Gazette; the statistics for 1949 were summarized in Suplement No. 12 of the 10th February, 1950. One of the tables of this summary, consisting of index figures of economic significance, appears as Appendix II and a summary of total figures for the years 1947, 1948 and 1949 appears as Appendix III.

In addition the figures given below are of general interest.

It is estimated that the population of the Colony increased from 1,800,000 to about 1,860,000 during 1948 and 1949. These figures are in fact no more than estimates but there can be no doubt that the activities of the Colony generally, as shown in the movements of people and in the

consumption of different types of goods, have increased very greatly during the past three years, partly no doubt as a result of the increased population but partly also as a result of the better facilities and the greater quantity of commodities available to the public.

Air traffic, for example has been nearly quadrupled since 1947. The number of aircraft entering and leaving Kai Tak has risen from 5,486 in 1947 and 14,271 in 1948 to 25,000 in 1949. These aircraft carried 320,000 passengers in 1949 (250,000 in 1948 and 81,815 in 1947) and 6.1 million kilograms of freight (1.7 million in 1948 and 845,000 in 1947). A landing or take off at Kai Tak every 5 minutes has become common.

Vessels engaged in foreign trade, including launches and junks, entering and clearing the port during the year totalled 44,206 vessels of 26 million tons, while launches and junks engaged in local trade totalled 25,081 vessels of 863,000 tons. The totals of all vessels, 69,287 vessels of 27 million tons, show an increase over 1948 of 3,527 vessels and 5 million tons.

Passenger traffic on the Railway has increased by about 80% in the last two years to a total of 4.7 million (3.6 million in 1948 and 2.7 million in 1947), the greatest number ever carried on the line.

Similar increases may be seen in the

in the public utility companies. Buses, for example, carried 126 million passen- gers (76 million in 1948) a total distance of 15 million miles (12 million miles in 1948).

About 109 million passengers travelled on the Tramway as compared with 88 million in 1948 and 662 million in 1947. On the Star Ferry 35 million people crossed the harbour, nearly four times the pre-war number, compared with 28 million in 1948.

Consumption of electricity has increased from 91 million units in 1947 and 150 million units in 1948 to 217 million units in 1949.

Gas consumption has increased to 393 million cubic feet in 1949 (220 million cubic feet in 1947 and 287 million cubic feet in 1948).

The average daily consumption of water rose during the year from 30 million gallons to over 32 million gallons; peak consumption reached 44.7 million gallons.

$2,750 million worth of goods were imported compared with $2,077 million in 1948 and $1,549 million in 1947.

$2,318 million worth of goods were exported compared with $1,582 million in 1948 and $1,216 million in 1947.

The Post Office sold $13 million worth of stamps, an increase of about 35% over 1948 and 75% over 1947.

The number of cars on the roads (excluding Service vehicles) has risen from 11,757 in 1948 to 14,551 in 1949.

POPULATION

PART II

Chapter 1

Until a census can be held any estimate of the population of Hong Kong is necessarily tentative. When the last official census was taken in 1931 the total population was found to be 849,751. Since then violent fluctuations have occurred, firstly, on the influx of refugees from Canton when the Japanese attacked that city in 1938, and later in the Japanese occupation of the Colony and after its subsequent liberation in 1945. In 1941 an unofficial census carried out by Air Raid Wardens gave a figure of over 1,600,000, a total which is believed to have been reached again in 1946, after an estimated reduction by one million during the Japanese occupation. Even after the end of 1946 the population continued to grow. So far as it is possible to estimate, the population at the close of the year 1947 may have been about 1,800,000. During the years 1948 and 1949 the sum of the total number of births (102,219) and the total number of immigrants (3,765,748) was exceeded by the sum of the total number of deaths (29,721) and the total number of emigrants (3,962,460) by a margin of 124,214, but these statistics are not comprehensive, in that they do not cover all movements by land and by junk. In June, 1949, the population was estimated, on the basis of detailed statistics of numbers of persons recorded as resident in Health Districts in the Urban Area, and of estimates by the District Commissioner, New Territories, to be 1,857,000, or 1,860,000 in round figures, and the latter figure may be accepted as the estimate for the end of the year.

Of the total population the majority are of Chinese race. During the year the number of Europeans and Americans permanently resident, excluding Service personnel and their dependents, increased to about 14,600. This total includes some 9,500 British subjects from the United Kingdom and the Dominions, about 3,000 British subjects of Portuguese race and 1,920 aliens permanently resident. In addition there were some 2,200 aliens temporarily resident.

The distribution of the population revealed in the mid- year enquiry was as follows: the population of the City of Victoria and the Peak is estimated at about 887,400, and the villages of Hong Kong, 70,100; while that of Kowloon

and New Kowloon is estimated at 699,500. On the same basis the population of the New Territories is estimated at about 200,000. Included in the above figures is the population afloat, estimated at 114,400.

The population of the New Territories is composed of Cantonese and Hakka, with a sprinkling of Hoklo. The farmers are the Cantonese, mainly settled, some families for several hundred years, in the comparatively fertile western plains, and the Hakka, whose incursion into the more difficult hilly land of the eastern peninsulas is said to have started about two hundred years ago and may not have finished yet. Generally speaking, the Hakka appear to have occupied any potentially arable land disregarded by the Cantonese. Thus long fingers of Hakka penetration have been extended from the eastern peninsulas over passes down into the southwest of the mainland, and out on to the islands. The two sections maintain excellent relations, and although Hakka help Hakka more noticeably than Cantonese help Cantonese, it is remarkable that in their penetration the Hakka have been partly guided by existing Cantonese settlement. Thus, for instance, one of the biggest New Territories villages, Wang Toi Shan, to the north-west of Taimoshan, is populated chiefly by Hakka of the Tang clan, who undoubtedly chose that locality because of the existing prodominant influence of the Cantonese Tang.

There are few exceptions to the rule that Cantonese and Hakka in the New Territories do not intermarry. There are a few recent settlements which include both Cantonese and Hakka, but in such cases the families live distinctly, and normally a village is either clearly Cantonese or Hakka. There are however certain well defined exceptions, notably the villages of Ting Kok and Ping Shan Tsai in the Taipo area, whose inhabitants speak Cantonese and Hakka almost bilingually. These villages are nicknamed "pun kong cham" the half filled pitcher.

Certain occupations are exclusively Cantonese or Hakka; for instance, the oyster fisheries are entirely Cantonese, while the manufacture of bean-curd and the quarrying of stone are the exclusive sphere of the Hakka. Farmers of both sections, when they live on or near the sea, combine fishing with agriculture, though, unlike the boat people, their homes remain in their villages even though they may spend nights away on the water. Their women never go fishing.

In the New Territories sailing and rowing boats, and the people in them, fall into three classes: the genuine Cantonese boat people (the Tanka), the genuine Hoklo boat people, and the farmers' boats and ferry boats. The boat people live entirely by fishing. The types of boats are not difficult to distinguish; Hakka boats, for instance, are

largely used for ferry work in the eastern waters, being stoutly built, with hulls high out of the water along their whole length, and a single mast. The Hoklo are a small but virile minority, sailing and rowing the fastest boats. The men often speak Cantonese and Hakka in addition to their own language. They occur mostly in the eastern New Territories, in Tide Cove, Tolo Harbour, and Starling Inlet. There is also a winter incursion of Hoklo farmer-fishermen from Hoi Luk Fung, without their families, who fish along the west coast of the mainland, returning to Hoi Luk Fung in spring for the first sowing. The biggest fishing port is Cheung Chau, but the only place where the boat people live ashore is at Tai O, where hundreds of hovels on piles cover the shores of the creeks.

Industrial expansion into the New Territories, chiefly at Tsun Wan and further along the south-west coast of the mainland, is introducing a new element of Shanghai labourers. The reopening of the iron mine at Ma On Shan has quickly attracted the picturesque conglomeration of men from many parts of China which seems inseparable from mining here.

General

OCCUPATIONS · WAGES & LABOUR

Chapter 2.

There has been during 1949 a considerable increase in industrialisation, particularly in the textile field. Com- mercial pursuits and employment related to the position of Hong Kong as a great entrepôt still absorb the majority of the population.

With a constantly fluctuating population it is difficult to estimate the proportionate distribution of employment, but it is possible to reach an approximation of the numbers employed in the three main groups of industrial undertakings. Thus it has been estimated, from returns compiled by the managements concerned, that

that in September 1949, in registered concerns in the engineering (including ship- building), metal and chemical industries approximately 25,000 persons were engaged. This represents an increase of about 2,000 on last year's employment figure for this group. Within the group there has been a progressive decline in employment in the shipbuilding industry, where numbers have fallen from approximately 10,000 to about 8,500. This has been counterbalanced by a slight gain in engineering and a large increase in employment in light metal industries. In the same month there were approximately 3,600 employed in public utilities and in other industries approximately 46,000, of which about 19,000 were engaged in textiles.

The Labour Department and Its Work

The department which is principally concerned with the working conditions in industry in the Colony is the Labour Department, the head of department being the Commissioner of Labour. In addition to the registration and inspection of factories, the department is constantly engaged in the conciliation and settlement of trade disputes and minor arguments about wages (the latter averaging about 32 a month); the investigation of working conditions

URBAN COUNCIL PUBLIC LIBRARIES

of, for instance, women and children; enquiries regarding wages; advising trade unions on matters of organisation and finance; and, in co-operation with the legal department, the constant review of labour legislation to meet local needs and to attain accepted international standards.

Labour Advisory Board

In labour matters generally and particularly with regard to legislative proposals affecting labour, the Government is assisted by a Labour Advisory Board. The Board is con- stituted on a tripartite basis. The Commissioner of Labour is ex-officio Chairman and there are nine members represent- ing the interests of European Employers, Chinese Employers. and Chinese Labour respectively.

Seamen's Recruitment Committee

A Seamen's Recruitment Committee was appointed in June 1949, to consider all aspects of recruitment and supply of seamen of Chinese race and to report to Govern- ment thereon. The Committee is constituted on a tripartite basis in the same way as the Labour Advisory Board. The Commissioner of Labour is the Chairman and there are nine members: one member is the Director of Marine or his representative and the other eight represent the interests. of European and Chinese Shipping Companies, and Chinese Seamen's organisations. The investigation has not yet been completed.

Legislation

The aim of labour legislation in Hong Kong is to implement as far as practicable the standards of the International Labour Code and to give effect to ad hoc measures which are necessary to meet specific local needs. There is thus legislation to give effect to international labour conventions on the minimum age of employment in industry and at sea, on the night work of women and young persons, on underground work for women, on medical examinations of young persons before employment at sea, on minimum- wage fixing machinery, on seamen's articles of agreement, and on unemployment indemnity in case of shipwreck. Legislative measures which affect labour directly or indirectly are contained in the Factories and Workshops Ordinance, 1937; the Employers and Servants Ordinance, 1902; the Asiatic Emigration Ordinance, 1915; the Female Domestic Service Ordinance, 1923; the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Ordinance, 1932; the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance, 1948; and the Illegal Strikes and Lock- outs Ordinance, 1949.

Labour Organisation

During 1949 applications from various organisations for registration as trade unions continued to pour in and 89 labour unions, 52 employers' associations and four mixed unions of employers and workers were registered under the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance, 1948. There was one voluntary cancellation of registration during the year, the union concerned having failed to retain the support of its members. The grand total of trade unions registered at the end of 1949 was 259-masters' associations 69, mixed unions 4, workers' unions 186 (of which 15 have a membership of over 1,000)-with a total declared member- ship of 146,761.

From a survey made of the trade union position during the year, it was found that many of the officials of the different unions were not aware of the various clauses of their rules. In an endeavour to correct this tendency, many meetings were held with officials to explain the necessity of making application to the Registrar of Trade Unions if any alteration to rules was desired.

Under the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance every registered union is required to submit an

an annual return of membership, officials, funds, etc. Over 100 unions failed to submit the return and of those submitted the majority were unsatisfactory. An explanatory leaflet with a model balance sheet and a general statement of income and expenditure, was drawn up and circulated to all unions, while meetings were held with representatives of the two trade union councils who agreed to help their member bodies to formulate satisfactory annual returns. As a result of these various measures, returns were eventually fairly complete.

During the year the Illegal Strikes and Lock-outs Ordinance 1949 was passed. This ordinance, which is mainly designed to protect the general public from strikes and lock- outs having an object other than the furtherance of a trade dispute within the industry in which the disputants are engaged,__created a considerable stir among the labour unions. Every effort was made to correct misapprehensions, and meetings were held with representative bodies to explain the reasons and objects of the new ordinance.

Trade union education has been carried out on a small scale during the year, by the medium of films and lectures. A scheme is now afoot to introduce a planned system of trade union classes, and provision has been made in the estimates for this purpose.

Joint consultative machinery has not yet been accepted in local industrial relations, except in one instance, the Naval

Dockyard, where a Joint Consultative Committee has been set up representing the Dockyard authorities and the unions of Naval Dockyard workers. Steps are being taken to explain the principles of collective bargaining and the advantage of introducing consultative machinery wherever possible.

While the trade union movement generally is increasing, progress is particularly evident in those unions organising women workers and, by the middle of 1949, close on 10,000 women workers were organised. Since that date many more women workers have joined trade unions.

Labour Disputes

Until the end of the year there had been no disputes of any magnitude, with two exceptions, the strikes in the Mayar Silk Mill and the Hong Kong Match Factory. The outlook at the close of the year was, however, rather darker, since there was a concerted move amongst the employees of nearly all the big utility companies to obtain a "special" high cost of living allowance in addition to the Rehabilitation Allowance, which has been the principal means since the war of meeting the additional cost of living of artisans and manual workers.

A certain amount of trouble occurred during the year in the cotton spinning mills which had recently moved from Shanghai, bringing with them a considerable number of skilled operatives, to set up business in Hong Kong. The difficulty was usually the amount of bonus to be paid at Chinese New Year. In Hong Kong it is customary to pay a bonus equal to one month's wages, whereas in Shanghai the custom is apparently to pay considerably more. When, towards Chinese New Year, it became apparent that the managements intended to follow the current practice in Hong Kong, this was resisted by the Shanghai operatives, and one or two strikes occurred. In a number of other cases, strikes were avoided through the intervention of the Labour Department.

One of the two strikes previously referred to, that at the Mayar Silk Mill, lasted for a considerable time. The workers, under their potential chairman, a recent employee of the Mill, were in process of organising a trade union. The chairman absented himself for three months, ostensibly engaged on union matters, but without prior notice to the management. During this protracted

protracted period the management made repeated attempts to contact him and persuade him to return, but in vain. When he was finally contacted the management informed him that he was dismissed for being absent without leave. Representatives of the workers, together with the chairman, applied to. the Labour Depart- ment seeking, primarily, the chairman's reinstatement. When this was not conceded they were persuaded by him not to

discuss other points which they had originally intended to put forward, and, on the 24th May (two or three days after their visit to the Department), the workers went on strike. For more than two months neither side again approached the Labour Department, but picketing at the Mill was carried out in a very thorough manner. On 22nd July about 150 of the 400 strikers staged a march from the Mill, seven miles out on the mainland, and arrived at the head office on the island, where they caused considerable obstruction. After this incident, representatives of the workers called at the Department and were persuaded to withdraw the demand for the reinstatement of the dis- missed worker, but they still insisted on other demands which the manager was not in a position to concede.

He stated that further increase in production costs would involve operating at a loss and he was therefore prepared to close the Mill until the workers made demands he was more capable of meeting. On 4th August a clash occurred at the Mill in which one worker was injured. As a result seven workers were charged with assault and sentenced to six weeks' hard labour. Meanwhile negotiations continued and by the 15th August the workers had returned uncon- ditionally to work. The men dropped or modified their demands and were granted an allowance for waiting time while the machine was being loaded and a half hour reduc- tion in working time which had been previously offered. The strike lasted 83 days and approximately 33,200 man- days were lost.

In November workers of the Hong Kong Match Factory made various complaints of which the main one was that their pay had not increased in proportion to the rising cost of living. At a meeting with the management the workers demanded a 50% increase. The manager stated that he had been enquiring closely into the trend of recent increases and had come to the conclusion that the overall cost of living appeared to have risen by some 10%. He was therefore prepared to grant an immediate increase of 10% on wages and piece rates. The workers would accept nothing less than a 50% increase and on the 22nd November they went on strike. The factory was picketed and nothing untoward happened there. But on the 29th December a large number of workers invaded the head office, establishing themselves firmly on the floor whence they were removed only by police action. They were charged with obstruction and subsequently released on signing bonds in the amount of $50 each to be of good behaviour. No new development had arisen by the end of the year, but a request was made by the workers on 9th January 1950 for a resumption of negotiations with the management.

A number of other smaller strikes occurred, but these do not merit individual mention.

In the latter half of the year the Department had to deal with a number of Shanghai seamen from ships which were laid up owing to lack of business consequent upon the civil war in China and the Nationalist blockade. In two cases the owners made offers of a month's wages, food allowance and repatriation to Shanghai or free food, quarters on board, and half wages. Both offers were refused, the men making demands for much greater benefits. Later as a result of pressure brought to bear in Shanghai, which included threats of kidnapping, the directors of one Chinese shipping company were compelled to pay a sum equivalent to four months' wages, maintenance for the seamen in Hong Kong and repatriation to Shanghai. Other cases, where the men were prepared to accept a reasonable offer, were settled more equitably.

As previously stated, demands for a 'special' cost of living allowance had by the end of the year brought about a state of considerable unrest in the utility companies. The allowance demanded was in most cases equivalent to about $3 a day, which is approximately equal to the present cost of living allowance and to the basic pay of a large number of workers. Payment of the 'special' allowance, if granted in full, would therefore result in a 50% increase in earnings for a large section of the workers in these companies. Negotiations on this demand, in the case of the Tramway Company and in all other cases, were inconclusive with regard to the 'special' allowance. Workers in the Tramway Company were the first to take direct action and on 24th December staged what amounted to a 'go-slow' strike- that is, they continued to run their cars, but at a reduced speed and without collecting any fares from passengers. This state of affairs continued over the Christmas holidays, the populace (apart from season ticket holders) enjoying it to the full. On the morning of the 28th December the management refused to allow any of the cars to leave the depôt and, at the same time, dismissed the conductors con- cerned but not other members of the traffic staff. The latter, however, refused work in sympathy with the conduc- tors. Since that date the trams have not been running, causing grave inconvenience to a very large section of the community. The management of the Tramway Company, before the breakdown of negotiations, offered to submit the demand for the special allowance to arbitration, but by the end of the year this had not been accepted by their employees. Other utility companies in which demands had been made or were pending by the end of the year included the Telephone Company, the Dairy Farm, the China Motor Bus Company, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company, and the

Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Company, whilst in Govern- ment service, the Post Office employees were putting forward an equivalent demand. It is probable that if a settlement can be obtained in any one of these concerns, by arbitration or other means, a general settlement will ensue as a matter of course.

Cost of Living

During the earlier part of the year the level of prices of staple commodities, the main factor affecting the cost of living of the bulk of the population, was lower than for other post-war years. This state of affairs continued till the middle of the summer when the effect of the political situation in China began to be felt, and the supply of food from the interior became more difficult. By the end of December there had been a considerable rise in food prices. The Rehabilitation Allowance, which for the majority of workers in European employment takes the place of a cost of living allowance and which during the post-war period had, for monthly-paid workers, averaged $84 per month, was steady at $81 for the first five months of the year, but by the end of December it had risen to $102. Since this allowance is based on the cost of certain food and fuel items it is clear that for workers, who expend a large proportion of their pay on food, the general cost of living had appreciated. Undoubtedly the political situation and the uncertainty as to the supply position, together with the very acute housing shortage, has resulted in a general rise in the cost of living which has affected all classes of the community. A diagram showing the average weekly food and fuel costs is given at the end of this Chapter.

Wages

Wages for Chinese artisan and unskilled labour in European-owned industries and in transport concerns are to a large extent uniform and have been determined through a number of negotiated agreements. These rates have also been applied by the Government to its own labour of similar grades. The rates are based on an 8-hour day for 26 days per month and include the Rehabilitation Allowance, which remained steady for the first five months of the year at $2.90 and $2.35 per day for artisans and labourers respectively, but which by December had risen to $3.60 and $2.85. Average daily earnings, including the allowance, in the foregoing concerns are approximately as follows:-

Skilled tradesmen and Skilled workmen $5.80

Semi-skilled workmen

Unskilled workmen

$8.20

$5.00

$6.50

$3.50

$5.00

Since, basic wages have been more or less static for two years it is felt now in some quarters that the time is

approaching when there should be a degree of consolidation of some of the present cost of living allowance or its equiva- lent, the Rehabilitation Allowance, in the basic wage. This would leave a smaller variable factor and give a feeling of greater security to the worker.

Chinese firms generally do not pay Rehabilitation Allowance, but a consolidated wage. As a rule they do not have as high operating costs as the large European concerns, but at the same time they cannot offer the same security of employment and their male employees are on a comparatively higher scale. In a great many Chinese industrial establishments, although a nucleus of permanent employees may be on a monthly basis, a large number of men and women are on piece rates which vary considerably from industry to industry. Average daily earnings, for nine hours' work, of men and women on a daily or piece-rate basis in a few representative industries are as follow:

Electric Torch Manufacture and

Hardware Industry

Garment and Shirtmaking

Rubber-shoe Making

Cotton Spinning

Cotton Weaving

Men

Women

$2.00-$10.00*

$1.20-$3.00

$2.50-$10.00*

$1.20-$7.20

$2.30 $ 9.00*

$1.50-$7.00

$2.00-$10.00*

$2.00-$7.00

$3.30-$6.50† $1.00-$4.00

* The highest figure applies either to mechanics or to men very highly

skilled in their own processes.

Very few; most men on a monthly basis.

Working Hours

In the European concerns and in an increasing number of Chinese concerns, the 48-hour week is standard. The usual rest day is Sunday, though other days are allotted where work must be continuous.

The majority of Chinese-owned concerns work a 7-day week, with a longer working day, 9 hours being the most common, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (with an hour break at midday). Overtime is common, in some cases almost regular: this is usually worked from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. occasionally later for men-at the same piece rates, but at increased rates for daily-paid and in a few cases for monthly- paid workers. Some industries work more than 9 hours, e.g. the textile industry has usually a 10 to 12 hour day, though the majority of the spinning mills close one day a week.

Factories and Workshops.

During the year 503 applications for registration of factories and workshops were received. 280 registration

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BLA

Hair dressing at the street corner.

Choi Ching.

香港公共圖書及

HONG KO

G KONG PUBLIC LIBRAR

certificates were issued and 215 were cancelled, 60 applica- tions were refused and, in addition, 17 unregistered factories were found operating in unsuitable premises and were closed down. There were, at the end of the year, 991 registered factories and workshops and 284 applications under consideration.

The field of inspection now embraces 140 different types of industry, the most notable addition being the manufacture of woollen yarn. There are two woollen yarn mills in modern buildings, equipped and run on modern lines and employing a total of 350 workers.

Two egg-preserving factories-one, a factory designed for the purpose and the other a reconstructed factory building-have not been able to commence business as it was found impossible to obtain sufficient eggs from China. Egg-preserving would have been an industry new to Hong Kong and an estimated daily output of one ton of albumen and four tons of yolk was intended for United Kingdom markets.

Employment returns for registered factories and work- shops have not yet been received for the last quarter, but those for the third quarter show a total labour force of approximately 75,000 and include the following changes. during the year: Cotton spinning from 7 mills with 2,400 workers, to 12 mills with 5,500 workers; enamelled hollow ware from 5 factories with 1,400 workers, to 13 factories with 2,500 workers; weaving from 147 factories with 5,200 workers, to 125 factories with 6,000 workers: 30 small weaving establishments, formerly operating in domestic- type premises, are known to have closed down but the industry has gained by the establishment of 5 modern factory-type buildings, 3 of which are equipped with auto- matic looms.

Out of a total of 11,600 visits made by the inspectorate, 2,390 were in connection with industrial injuries and compensation, 506 were night visits in connection with the employment of women and young persons and the remainder were routine inspections for the checking of safety, health and welfare provisions.

A total of 803 accidents (41 fatal), involving 821 persons, were reported during the year; 514 (23 fatal), involving 522 persons, were in factories and workshops. The remainder were in industries not within the scope of the Factories and Workshops Ordinance, 1937, but investigations were made for purposes of workmen's compensation.

In spite of the shortage of experienced staff, the necessity of training junior staff and the constant increase in routine work following the influx of Chinese manufacturers,

many of whom are ignorant of Hong Kong laws and standards, a certain amount of general improvement of industrial conditions has been accomplished. Inter alia, better lighting in the printing and weaving trades has been attained and the guards to power-presses and woodworking machinery are being re-designed.

Women and Young Persons in Industry

Numbers of women in more or less regular employment in registered factories and workshops had in September 1949 reached a total of approximately 29,000. These women are employed in a wide variety of industries-textiles (cotton and silk weaving, knitted piece goods and cotton spinning); the manufacture of electric torch cases, batteries and bulbs; miscellaneous metalware, from watch bracelets to tin cans and sauce-pans; matches; joss sticks; cigarettes; ginger, fruit and vegetable preserving, to name only a few.

With very few exceptions the women are on a daily or piece rate basis and can be taken on or laid off according to the dictates of the business. As was anticipated, fairly large numbers have been recruited for the cotton spinning industry, so that now the women engaged in textiles form well over a third of the total number employed.

In addition to the foregoing, many are employed by contractors on a purely casual basis as earth-carriers in the building trade and in road making, and as stone-breakers in quarries. Here, as numbers and personnel fluctuate continually, returns are extremely difficult to obtain.

At the end of the year 2,046 young persons between the ages of 14 years and 18 years working in registered and recorded factories and workshops were registered with the Labour Department. Inspections of all registered juveniles, and also of many employed casually in unregistered industrial undertakings, have continued, in order to see that regulations concerning their working hours are observed.

There has been an increase in the number of factories which provide medical attention and sick benefit for women employees. This has been chiefly in the cotton spinning industry, which also supplies very satisfactory dormitory accommodation for most of its women employees, together with meals free of cost or at a very reasonable charge.

Interest on the part of the women themselves in the promotion of welfare facilities is being maintained and the provision of such things as living accommodation, canteens and a nursery for the small children of their married women members is under active consideration by several unions where women represent a fair proportion of the total membership.

►

AVERAGE WEEKLY FOOD AND FUEL COSTS

January 1930 to December 1949

Jan.-June

July-December

1930

$1.483

$1.485

1931

1.445

1.473

1932

1.407

1.343

1933

1.28

1.183

1934

1.025

.995

1935

.95

.945

1936

1.094

1.194

1937

1.287

1.573

1938

1.393

1.348

1939

1.364

1.487

1945 (Sept. Dec.)

11.81

1946

10.39

12.60

1947

12.41

13.75

1948

13.3905

12.667

1949

13.0844

SLIC LIBRAR

JAN-JUN

म

PORK.

FIREWOOD. BEAN CURD.

AVERAGE WEEKLY FOOD AND FUEL COSTS, JANUARY, 1930 TO DECEMBER, 1949. DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE NO. G.////225.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE COMMODITIES AND THE QUANTITIES THEREOF, THE COST OF WHICH IS GRAPHED

COMMODITIES.

RICE.

VEGETABLES.

SALT CABBAGE.

OIL.

TEA.

SALT FISH

FISH.

CATTIES

7.2

1.9

SEP.-DEC.

JAN.- JUN.

-JUL-DEC.

-JAN-JUN.

·JUL-DEC.

JAN-JUN

-JUL-DEC.

-JAN-JUN

-JUL-DEC.

-20

-15

JUL-DEC

JAN-JUN.

JUL-DEC

JDEC

JAN-JUN

JUL.-DEC.

--JAN-JUN.

JUL.-DEC.

0.01

14 pcs.

-JUL-DEC.

JAN-JUN.

JUL.-DEC.

JAN-JUN.

·JUL.-DEC.

JAN-JUN.

·NOS-NUS

JUL.-DEC.

JAN-JUN.

JUL.-DEC.

-JUL-DEC.

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

RAB

PUBLIC FINANCE AND

TAXATION -

Revenue and Expenditure

Chapter 3.

British Civil Administration was resumed in the Colony as from the 1st May, 1946, and the first post-war budget covered the period of eleven months only, from the 1st May, 1946, to the 31st March, 1947.

The Revenue and Expenditure figures since the 1st May, 1946, are as follows:-

Revenue Expenditure

Surplus

Deficit

1946/47 (11 months)

$ 82,141,556 85,624,391

3,482,835

1947/48

164,298,310 127,701,174 36,597,136

1948/49

194,933,955 159,954,023

1949/50 (Estimates)

180,151,370 179,924,312

34,979,932 227,058

The cumulative surplus at the 31st March, 1949 amounted to $72,143,683.

Present indications are that the surplus for 1949/50 will be considerably higher than the figure of $227,058 originally estimated.

Revenue

The principal revenue items for 1947/48 and 1948/49 in round figures were:-

1947/48.

1948/49.

(a) Duties on Liquor, Hydrocarbon Oils, Tobacco,

Proprietary Medicines, etc.

(b) Rates (Assessed Taxes)

$50,800,000 9,900,000

$41,111,000

14,984,000

(c) Internal Revenue, including Entertainment Tax, Estate Duty, Stamp Duties, Meals & Liquor Tax, Betting & Sweeps Tax, Earnings & Profits Tax and Dance Hall Tax

(d) Water Revenue

(e) Postal Revenue

38,600,000

70,513,000

5,600,000

6,312,000

7,065,000

9,325,000

(f) Kowloon-Canton Railway

6,300,000 7,000,900

(g) Miscellaneous Fees, Payments for Services

9,080,000 14,342,000 7,400,000 13,195,000

6,785,000

and Sales of Government Property (h) Miscellaneous Licences, Fines and Forfeitures (i) Miscellaneous Receipts, including Royalties (j) Grant by Imperial Government

Import and Excise Duties

4,450,000 12,000,000

There is no general customs tariff in Hong Kong, import duties being confined to liquor, tobacco, hydrocarbon oils, toilet preparations, proprietary medicines, and table waters. A special foreign registration fee of 15% of the value of a motor vehicle is payable in respect of any vehicle not pro- duced within the British Commonwealth. The duties on imported liquor range from $1.50 per gallon on beer to a minimum of $4.00 on Chinese liquor and to $44.00 on European sparkling wines. A reduction in duty is allowed in respect of liquors manufactured or produced within the British Commonwealth.

The duties on tobacco range from $3.00 per lb. on the lowest taxed Chinese prepared tobacco to $7.00 per lb. on cigars. A reduction in duty is allowed on tobacco of Empire origin and/or of Empire manufacture. A duty of 80 cents per gallon is payable on all light oils imported into the Colony, 40 cents per gallon on all heavy hydrocarbon oils used as fuel for any heavy oil road vehicle, and 10 cents per gallon on other hydrocarbon oils. Duty is payable on toilet preparations and proprietary medicines at 25% of ex-factory price in the case of locally manufactured goods and 25% of f.o.b. prices in the case of imported goods. A duty of 48 cents per gallon is payable on table waters imported into the Colony. Excise duty is levied at the same rates on the above dutiable commodities manufactured in the Colony. These duties accounted for nearly $68,000,000.

Earnings and Profits Tax

This tax, introduced for the first time in 1947, is based on the normal income tax plan modified in material respects to meet local conditions and is divided into four separate taxes, property tax, profits tax (sub-divided into corporation profits tax and business profits tax), interest tax and salaries and annuities tax. If a person so chooses he may be assessed personally and so enjoy the personal allowances obtaining under the salaries and annuities tax of $7,000 for himself, $5,000 for his wife and a decreasing allowance for children up to the ninth. Tax is chargeable at a ratio of the "standard rate" (10% in 1949/50). The full rate is levied on corporations and on profits of unincorporated businesses earning over $7,000 (with marginal relief). Salaries and annuities tax, after allowances have been

deducted, is levied at rates varying from one-quarter of the standard rate on the first $5,000 of chargeable income to twice the standard rate on chargeable income of over $35,000. Revenue derived from the four taxes in 1948/49 together with amalgamated tax under personal assessment was as follows:-

Property tax Profits tax:

$3,520,195

Corporation profits tax

$21,838,359

Business profits tax

Salaries and annuities tax

Interest tax

Personal assessment

TOTAL:

10,890,102

32,728,461

2,643,601

1,263,316

129,627

$40,285,200

Assessment Tax (Rates)

There is a general rate of 15% plus a water rate of 2% on assessed rateable value. Properties in outlying districts which have unfiltered water pay a water rate of 1% only, and this rate is remitted altogether if no water is available. Nearly $15 million accrued from this tax in 1948/49.

New Measures

There were few important new taxation measures intro- duced during the year. Revenue from stamp duties was increased by providing that instruments affecting land in the New Territories should be liable to duty, having previously been exempt. Of the new licences and permit fees introduced during the financial year 1948/49 the only important measure was the licensing of approved banks which produced an additional $600,000.

Expenditure

The major items of expenditure during the year 1948/49 were, in round figures:-

(a) Miscellaneous Services: (Including high cost of living, rehabilitation and special allowances $24,803,000; occupa- tion period salaries and ex-gratia awards $11,586,000; salary adjustments $9,788,000)

(b) Public Works Department Recurrent & Extraordinary (c) Medical Department

(d) Stores Department

(e) Police Force

(f) Education Department (g) Pensions

$57,386,000

15,995,000

12,924,000

7,874,000

10,715,000

11,703,000

6,499,000

Owing to high prices generally, considerable expenditure was incurred on cost of living and other related allowances for all civil servants, but particularly for those in the lower grades. Payment of occupation period salaries to Govern- ment servants, Volunteers and members of the Civil Defence Services who were not interned during the period 26th December, 1941 to 31st August, 1945 was continued, and in addition the implementation of the recommendations of 1947 Salaries Commission entailed considerable expenditure in salary adjustments.

Public Debt

The public debt of the Colony at the 31st December 1949, totalled $67,984,000 comprising four issues:

4% Conversion Loan raised in 1933, and repayable not later than the 31st August, 1953

The Sinking Fund of this loan is fully invested and amounted to £234,475 on

the 30th September, 1949

$4,838,000

312% Dollar Loan raised in 1934

32% Dollar Loan raised in 1940

$5,600,000

$7,546,000

These two loans are redeemable by 25 annual drawings. During 1949 bonds to the value of $1,032,000 redeemed

32% Rehabilitation Loan 1973/78

were

$50,000,000

The first $50 million of the authorized Rehabilitation Loan of $150 million was raised in January, 1948, and the first contribution to the sinking fund in respect of this loan was made on the 15th July, 1948. The sinking fund is fully invested and amounted to £48,146 on the 30th September, 1949.

The $50,000,000 had been fully expended before the end of 1947/48 and additional expenditure totally $45,619,315 had been incurred by the 30th September, 1949 from the Colony's surplus balances pending the raising of a further portion of the full $150,000,000 authorized.

88888888

CURRENCY & BANKING-

The Currency

Chapter 4.

The unit of currency in the Colony is the Hong Kong dollar, the value of which in terms of sterling fluctuated considerably until the silver standard was abandoned in December, 1935. The Currency Ordinance, 1935, set up an Exchange Fund, and provided that the note-issuing banks should surrender to the fund all silver previously deposited against note issues, and should deposit full sterling cover for all note issues thereafter. Since 1935 the value of the Hong Kong dollar has been maintained at approximately one shill- ing and three pence, both before and after the Japanese occupation.

Note Issue and Banks

Notes of denominations from five dollars upwards are issued by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and the Mercantile Bank of India. The Government issue comprises notes of one dollar, ten cent, five cent and one cent denomina- tions and coins of ten cent and five cent denominations.

The Colony is included in the sterling area. Exchange control is administered under powers conferred by the Defence (Finance) Regulations 1940. The system of control is based on that in force in the United Kingdom and other parts of the sterling area, with modifications necessitated by the position of Hong Kong as an entrepôt. Twenty five banks, including the three note-issuing banks mentioned above, are authorized to deal in foreign exchange.

In addition to these incorporated banks, there are in the Colony many Chinese banks which handle a considerable volume of remittances from Chinese living overseas to their relatives in China.

Under the provisions of the Banking Ordinance, 1948, no company may carry on banking business without being licensed.

COMMERCE

Chapter 5.

Hong Kong's prosperity has been built up through its development as the commercial clearing house for goods destined for, and exported from, the Canton delta in particular, and South China in general. It produces relatively little within its own borders. Before the normal pattern of trade was disrupted by the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, over 40% of the Colony's total trade was conducted with China, and it is true to say that in the long run, the trade of the Colony must continue to be linked with that of China, whatever temporary shifts in pattern have been brought about by the unsettled conditions prevailing in that country during the past few years. Since the end of the Pacific War, the Colony's trade with China has fallen steadily, and in 1948 amounted to less than 20% of the whole. To compensate for this, the Hong Kong merchant with his traditional adaptability to changing conditions, has developed. new markets in the countries to the south, in particular with Malaya and Siam.

Hong Kong has maintained its traditional position as a free port, in spite of post-war economic developments in other parts of the world. Trade controls in Hong Kong are kept to the minimum, an essential for a port that depends on its entrepôt trade for its prosperity, and such controls are mainly confined to those made necessary either by inter- national obligations in respect of scarce commodities or foreign exchange, or by the need to protect Hong Kong's own supplies of scarce commodities. In so far as is consistent with the Colony's obligations to the sterling area, exchange control makes no attempt to enforce surrender of foreign exchange, where such an attempt might merely cause the exchange to be diverted elsewhere.

The Colony's trade for 1949 showed a great increase over 1948, which had itself been considered a boom year. The total value of imports and exports combined was estimated at £316.8 millions sterling (HK$5,068 million), an increase over the 1948 figures of £228.7 millions sterling (HK$3,659 million), of 38%. Imports of merchandise for

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NG KONG PUBLIC LIBRAR

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The Hong Kong Stand at the British Industries Fair.

Central Office of Information, London.

1949 were valued at £171.9 millions sterling (HK$2,750 million), exports at £144.9 millions (HK$2,318 million). The corresponding figures for 1948 were £129.8 millions (HK$2,077 million) and £98.9 millions (HK$1,582 million). Imports for 1949, therefore, showed an increase of 32% over the previous year, whilst exports showed an increase of more than 46%.

Trade has risen steadily throughout the year. At the time when Shanghai was occupied by the Communists, much cargo originally consigned to that port was off-loaded in Hong Kong, leading to acute shortage of godown space. This situation was aggravated by the subsequent Nationalist blockade, but later on much of the cargo in question was shipped to Tientsin, and goods are once again on the move. One of the most interesting features of the year's trade has been the rapidly mounting volume of trade with North China, which indicates that a brighter future may be in store for the Colony in its trade relations with China, which have been so adversely affected by the past four years of civil war in that country.

The Colony's main imports during the year were textile fabrics, chemical elements and pharmaceutical products, hydrocarbon oils, manufactured articles, and vegetable oils. Main exports were textile fabrics, vegetable oils, cotton yarn, manufactures of base metal, and manufactured articles.

The following countries were the Colony's main sources of imports during the year, the figures quoted being in pounds sterling and Hong Kong dollars to the nearest million: China (£37 millions; $593 millions), United States of America (£36 millions; $575 millions), United Kingdom (£24 millions; $388 millions), Thailand (£7 millions; $110 millions), and Malaya (£7 millions; $108 millions). Exports were directed mainly to the following destinations; China (£37 millions; $585 millions), Macao (£17 millions; $268 millions), Malaya (£15 millions; $240 millions), United States (£15 millions; $234 millions), United Kingdom (£9 millions; $140 millions), and Thailand (£7 millions; $116 millions).

Imports from the British Commonwealth totalled £50 millions ($796 millions), an increase of 38% over 1948. Exports to the Commonwealth totalled £34 millions ($542 millions), an increase of 34%. The Commonwealth's share of the Colony's imports in 1949 was 26%, of exports 23%. Imports from the United Kingdom showed a 29% increase over 1948, and large increases in imports from China, the United States of America, Switzerland, Holland, France, and Korea were also recorded.

The steady decrease in trade with China, which has been the most disturbing feature of the post-war period, was arrested in 1949. Imports from China increased by 38%

over the previous year, whilst exports to China more than doubled. The change of government in China has resulted in a change in the nature of the Colony's exports to that country, raw materials and industrial merchandise having taken the place of consumer goods and general cargo. It is to be hoped that the return of more settled conditions to China will cause a gradual swing back towards the Colony's traditional trade pattern.

Throughout the year there has been a steady flow of capital from China into the Colony, attracted by the advantages of a stable currency and security, and much of this capital has been invested in a wide range of projects, particularly in industrial building construction and new equipment for factories.

At the end of this chapter are a number of graphs, which illustrate in some detail the movements of the Colony's trade, not only in the year under review, but also during the period 1933-1948 (excluding 1941-45, the years of the Japanese occupation).

LIBRA

SUMMARY OF IMPORTS & IMPORTS & EXPORTS

BY MAIN SOURCES & DESTINATIONS

BY MAIN SOURCES &

100 (Shown In Brackets)

With Indices On Base 1947

SOURCES

DESTINATIONS

SOURCES AND

DESTINATIONS

Total 1947

HK$

Total 1943

HK$

Total 1949

HK$

Total 1947

HK$

Total 1948

HK$

Total 1949

HK$

United Kingdom

Malaya

164,450,700 (100.0)

102,403,012 (100.0)

British Commonwealth, Other

106,300,860 (100.0)

Burma

China, North

China, Middle

China, South

17,130,276 (100.0)

63,728,196 (100.0)

31,170,516 (100.0)

287,180,904 (100.0)

Macao

Total China & Macao French Indo-China

Siam

U.S.A.

All Other Countries

82,259,592 (109.0)

464,339,208 (100.0)

20,094,480 (100.0)

59,902,476 (100.0)

298,679,316 (100.0) 262,616,124 (100.0).

TOTAL

1,549,921,452 (100.0

300,928,202 (183.0)

84,654,834 (82.6)

193,605,446 (120.7)

34,241,261 (199.8)

135,618,239 (212.8)

41,372,093 (132.7)

253;610,857 ( 88.3)

89,088,642 (108.3)

519,689,831 (111.9)

30,179,253 (150.1)

96,223,503 (160.6)

387,466,139 (129.7)

430,550,135 (163.9)

2,077,538,604 (134.0)

387,704,877 (235.7)

108,192,216 (105.6)

300,346,139 (187.3)

18,403,904 (107.4)

233,996,191 (367.2)

58,041,805 (186.2)

301,453,817 (104.9)

77,647,732 ( 94.4)

671,139,545 (144.5)

21,508,457 (107.0)

110,189,000 (183.9)

575,453,586 (192.6)

557,264,077 (212.2)

38,208,060 (100.0)

214,242,120 (100.0)

99,350,856 (100.0)

7,175,172 (100.0)

55,024,320 (100.0)

43,096,572 (100.0)

168,757,596 (100.0)

70,868,292 (100.0)

337,746,780 (100.0)

17,815,656 (100.0)

86,555,592 (100.0)

151,763,088 (100.0)

75,092,015 (196.5)

204,748,623 ( 95.5) 131,986,051 (132.8)

12,092,635 (168.5)

118,450,990 (215.2)

58,178,569 (134.9)

103,848,534 ( 61.5)

136,405,610 (192.4)

416,883,703 (123.4)

19,199,533 (107.7)

140,153,461 (161.9)

139,747,813 (365.7)

239,975,148 (112.0)

162,254,254 (163.3)

152,451,940 (100.4)

17,976,756 (250.0)

287,594,271 (522.6)

158,044,820 (366.7)

138,985,325 ( 82.3)

268,542,272 (378.9).

853,166,688 (252.6)

19,710,969 (110.6)

115,840,878 (133.8)

234,456,501 (154.4)

263,976,240 (100.0)

430,131,739 (162.9)

535,773,985 (202.9)

2,750,201,801 (177.4) | 1,216,833,564 (100.0)

1,582,739,700 (130.0)

2,318,902,992 (190.5)

SECTIONS

SUMMARY SUMMARY OF IMPORTS & EXPORTS

BY MAIN SECTIONS

With Indices on Base 1947

100

(Shown in Brackets)

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

Total 1947

Total 1948

Total 1949

Total 1947

Total 1948

Total 1949

HK$

I. Food products, beverages & tobacco

342,604,224 (100.0)

II. Fatty substances & waxes, animal & vegetable

1II. Chemicals & allied products IV. Rubber

V. Wood, cork

VI. Paper

VII. Hides, skins

& leather & manufactures thereof, n.e.s.

VIII. Textiles

176,928,444 (100.0) 105,819,048 (100.0) 53,044,355 (100.0) 35,646,168 (100.0) 56,732,364 (100.0)

15,420,804 (100.0) 221,706,408 (100.0)

483,239,285 (141.0)

133,028,979 (75.1) 209,268,036 (197.7) 36,683,644 ( 69.1) 38,551,490 (108.1) 100,839,751 (177.7)

651,711,098 (190.2)

158,716,912 ( 89.7) 255,650,848 (241.6) 49,857,974 ( 94.0) 50,198,942 (140.8) 96,554,344 (170.2)

17,630,812 (114.3) 379,392,520 (171.1)

29,859,000 (193.6) 445,619,083 (201.0)

182,154,528 (100.0)

112,608,624 (100.0) 119,504,544 (100.0) 38,958,012 (100.0) 4,579,284 (100.0) 38,547,036 (100.0)

15,059,628 (100.0) 173,209,740 (100.0)

245,859,170 (134.9)

143,413,480 (127.3) 131,307,123 (109.8) 32,427,05) (83.2)

397,675,730 (218.3)

8,251,155 (180.2) 66,460,910 (172.4)

188,717,277 (167.6) 196,682,696 (164.6) 47,885,502 (122 9) 12,039,619 (262.9) 96,317,745 (249.8)

20,751,735 (137.7) 325,683,564 (188.0)

29,473,611 (195.7) 459,379,694 (265.2)

IX. Articles

of clothing of all materials & miscellaneous made-up textile goods X. Products for heating, light- ing & power, lubricants & related products, n.e.s. XI. Non-metallic minerals & manufactures thereof, n.e.s. XII. Precious metals & precious stones, pearls & articles made of these materials XIII. Base metals & manufactures thereof n.e.s.

52,945,536 (100.0)

51,755,175 ( 97.7)

87,713,799 (165.7)

95,527,752 (100.0)

143,395,984 (150.1)

189,575,115 (198.4)

102,127,452 (100.0)

118,934,175 (116.4)

24,090,384 (100.0)

41,007,156 (170.2)

156,652,798 (153.4)

47,080,170 (195.4)

80,094,144 (100.0)

17,540,676 (100.0)

71,579,224 (89.3)

78,188,324 ( 97.6)

23,054,524 (131.4)

27,244,202 (155.3)

8,572,236 (100.0)

124,447,368 (100.0)

XIV. Machinery, apparatus & ap- pliances, n.e.s. & vehicles

66,188,460 (100.0)

XV. Miscellaneous commodities,

n.e.s.

71,480,904 (100.0)

11,138,429 (129.9)

170,151,040 (136.7)

120,531,696 (182.1)

165,386,416 (231.3).

39,802,045 (464.3)/

216,599,450 (174.0)

189,338,263 (286.1)

275,847,075 (384.5)

567,720 (100.0)

114,791,148 (100.0)

26,182,620 (100.0)

73,806,204 (100.0)

4,768,155 (839.8)

163,930,850 (142.8)

44,608,080 (170.3)

157,248,696 (213.0)

6,017,676 (1059.9)

241,220,570 (210.1)

66,782,004 (255.0)

281,703,227 (381.6)

TOTAL

1,549,921,452 (100.0) 2,077,538,604 (143.0)

2,750,201,801 (177.4)

1,216,833,564 (100.0)

1,582,739,700 (130.0)

2,318,902,992 (190.5)

HONG KONG IMPORTS AND EXPORTS, 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS,

REFERENCE No. G. 112/226.

IMPORTS

HONG

JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

EXPORTS

MAY

JUNE.

JULY.

AUG.

G PUBLIC

ост.

NOV.

DEC.

LIBRARI

350 300 250 200 150 100 50

100

150 200 250 300 350

MILLION DOLLARS.

VALUE OF THE COLONY'S IMPORTS AND EXPORTS,

1937 TO 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE No. G.1/2/227.

3.200 2800 2400 2000 1600 1200

800

400

400 800 1200

1600 2000 2400

2800 3200

1937

1938

1939

1940

1946

1947

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

1947.

1948

1949

3200 2800 2400

2000 1600

1200

800

400 Q

400

800

1200

1600 2000 2400

2800 3200

MILLION DOLLARS.

COLONY'S PRINCIPAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

DURING 1949-BY VALUE.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE NO. G. 112/228.

VECE GOODS AN

PIECEGOODS AND TEXTILES.

IMPORT.

EXPORT

FOODSTUFFS.

IMPORT

EXPORT.

OILS AND FATS.

IMPORT

EXPORT.

METALS

IMPORT

EXPORT

PAPER AND PAPERWARE

PAPERWARE

IMPORT

EXPORT

DYEING AND TANNING MATERIALS.

IMPORT

EXPORT

CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR.

IMPORT

EXPORT.

100

200

300

400

500

600

MILLION DOLLARS.

BRITISH

COMMON- 5.3

8.6

WEALTH

OTHER.

WEALTH

6.0

OTHER.

1.7

900-

14.1

10:3

800

2.3

3.9

4.9

700-

$MILLION

BRITISH 1,000- COMMON-

PRINCIPAL SOURCES AND DESTINATIONS OF GOODS, 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS REFERENCE NO G 112/229.

I. = IMPORTS. E = EXPORTS.

11.5

600-

I. E.

71-1

NON-COMMON WEALTH COUNTRIES

4.5

500-

10.2

400-

25.2

300

E.-

200-

% OF

TOTAL

IMPORTS.

17.3

ALL OTHER NON

COMMONWEALTH

% OF

TOTAL

EXPORTS.

100·

TOTAL BRITISH COMMON- WEALTH.

CHINA.

UNITED

KINGDOM.

UNITED

STATES.

FEDERATION

MÄLAYA.

SIAM.

E. I.

Aen

МАСАО.

PHILYPPINES.

JAPAN.

AUSTRALIA.

استان

$MILLION 2800

2600

2400

2200

2000

PRINCIPAL DESTINATIONS OF GOODS,

HONG KONG, 19.3.3 TO 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE No. G./12/233.

共圖

UNITED KINGDOM.

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OTHER THAN U.K.)

= CHINA.

U. S. A.

= ALL OTHER COUNTRIES.

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

ICLIBRA

1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1946 1947 1948 1949

$MILLION

1600

1500

1400

COLONY'S PRINCIPAL IMPORTS DURING 1933 TO 1949-BY VALUE.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE NO. G.1/2/230.

1300

1200

= PAPER AND PAPERWARE.

1100

= OILS AND FATS

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

FOODSTUFFS AND PROVISIONS.

PIECEGOODS AND TEXTILES.

M = METALS

1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1946 1947 1948 1949

$MILLION.

1600

1500

1400

₤300

COLONY'S PRINCIPAL EXPORTS DURING 1933 TO 1949. -BY VALUE.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS,

REFERENCE NO.Ct. 112/231.

1200

1100

1000

= PAPER AND PAPERWARE.

OILS AND FATS.

= FOODSTUFFS AND PROVISIONS.

PIECE GOODS AND TEXTILES.

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

་

= METALS.

1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1946 1947 1948 1949

$MILLION

2800

2600

2400

2200

PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF GOODS

HONG KONG, 1933 TO 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS,

REFERENCE NO.G./12/232.

UNITED KINGDOM

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH

(OTHER THAN U. K.)

CHINA.

圖

V. S. A.

ALL OTHER COUNTRIES.

2000

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

LIBRARIE

1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1946 1947 1948

1947 1948 1949.

• PRODUCTION •

Chapter 6.

FISHERIES

The main primary product of Hong Kong is fish and the Colony possesses one of the largest fishing fleets of any fishing port in the Colonial Empire. The industry is carried out by

a sea-faring population of approximately 60,000 persons.

The Fleet

The bulk of the fleet is owner-operated and wind-driven but since the war there has been a great increase in the number of junks which are being mechanised. At present there are 33 long-liner fishing junks and two junk fishing trawlers, all of which are provided with diesel engines. In addition, comparatively modern mechanised vessels are gradually joining the fleet. Such vessels include thirteeen fishing trawlers, a crab and shrimp trawler and a fishing long- liner, all of which are ex-Japanese wooden motor vessels, a fish tender junk and two European M.F.V's. Such mechani- sation is very important to the Colony since the wind-driven fleet is greatly handicapped during the typhoon season, being forced, at times when there is a risk of storms, to fish close to the shore where fish is less abundant. Plans are being made of a mechanically propelled junk which can be constructed in local shipyards by Chinese craftsmen and which will meet the needs of the Chinese fishermen to whom the boat is also a home.

Fish

The majority of fresh fish marketed is for local consump- tion but a large proportion of the catch is salted and dried, and almost 60% of the salt fish marketed in Hong Kong is exported. China takes about 54.3% of the total exported, Macao 35.2%, Manila 6.3%, and other ports 4.2%. This export trade of salt fish is vital to the interest of the fishermen. Very little fresh fish is exported, Macao and Manila taking practically all that is exported. The amount of fresh and salt/dried fish marketed in Hong Kong during the last four years is shown below.

Fresh Fish

Piculs

Value $

Per Picul

1946

31,998

3,120,457

$97.52

1947

44,418

3,355,513

$75.54

1948

121,818

8,651,356

$71.02

1949

181,816

17,689,028

$97.00

Salt/dried Fish

Piculs

Value $

Per Picul

1946

211,559

18,476,431

$87.33

1947

189,272

11,166,576

$59.00

1948

246,368

11,941,515

$48.47

1949

270,625

18,740,370

$69.00

Total

1946

243,557 piculs

$21,596,888

1947

233,690

$14,522,089

1948

368,186

$20,592,871

1949

452,441

$36,429,398

(16.8 piculs

1 ton)

The main types of fish caught off the Colony are mackerel scad, anchovies, lizzard fish, golden thread, croaker, red sea bream, round herring, hair tail, spotted pouter, slip mouth pouter and white herring.

Fish fry

Since 1947 the Fisheries Department has been helping to supply the fish ponds of the Malayan fish farmers with fry of grass and silver carp and "big head" which is a type of fish similar to carp. These fish spawn only in the Yangtse and the West river, a tributary of the Pearl River. The fry are brought to Hong Kong by boat where they are placed in hermetically sealed four gallon petrol tins which The are filled 3/5 with well water and 2/5 with oxygen. fry are then flown to Singapore or Bangkok where they Each consignment arrive in a healthy vigorous condition. consists of 10-20 tins each containing 500-1000 fry according to size which ranges from 1" during the Summer and Autumn to 2"-3" in Winter and Spring. 306,200 fish fry worth $54,620 were exported in this way during 1949 and of this total 219,250 fry worth $40,729 were sent to Singapore and 86,950 worth $13,891 to Bangkok.

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館

After a

day's fishing.

E. S. Franks.

达

香港公共圖

ONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARD

Fish Marketing Organisation

At the end of the War, the fishing industry was in a very critical condition and a great deal of rebuilding had to be done. Before the War the fishermen were very much in the hands of "laans" which were organised as groups of wholesale dealers who handled the fishermen's catches and practically controlled the market and market price. After the War a good opportunity arose to break the control of fish laans and to give the fishermen greater freedom and a larger proportion of the money realised for the sale of their fish. A marketing scheme was therefore devised which placed the sale of marine fish under control. All fish brought into the Colony has now to be sold at one of the three recognised wholesale markets. The main market is at Kennedy Town on the Island and there is a subsidiary market at Tai Po to serve the New Territories. A small market has also been established at Aberdeen where fish for sauce manufacture is handled, and plans are in hand to open a market in Kowloon. Fishermen deliver their fish to collecting depots situated in the various fishing villages and it is thence delivered to the wholesale markets. All fish sent to the markets is sold by auction and from the sum realized, which goes to the fishermen, a deduction of 6% of the sale price is made by the Marketing Organisation. From the fund thus created the scheme is financed. The Organisation also provides facilities for the borrowing of money by fishermen at a reasonable rate of interest. Most of the loans are short term loans for the repair and purchase of gear and boats, but a certain number of large loans for the mechanisation of junks have been given.

At the collecting depots fish hooks, tung oil, lamp mantles and other fishing gear may be purchased at whole- sale prices. The depots also act as distributors of rationed rice to fishermen and provide centres where the various problems confronting the fishing community may be discussed. The Organisation also subsidises certain schools which have been established for the education of the fishermen's children. When the fishermen have mastered the principles upon which the organisation is operated and are capable of running it themselves it is planned to convert it into a Co-operative Organisation.

AGRICULTURE

The Colony's countryside consists mainly of mountains and hills, the more gradual slopes being covered with grass, ferns and sparse pinewood, the rocky ravines with evergreen trees and dense thorny scrub. Very little of the 391 square miles is suitable for cultivation and practically all that is

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The suitable has already been brought into cultivation. main, gentle slopes of the valleys are intensively cultivated and the lower shoulders of the hills have also been terraced where water is available for irrigation. The terraces and On the irrigation channels may date back many years. higher slopes of mountains such as Tai Mo Shan, one may see remains of terraces for tea cultivation which has now been discontinued, probably owing to the high winds in summer and cold experienced during the winter months.

The Chinese farmer of the New Territories is primarily a rice producer and, generally speaking, any other crop grown is subsidiary to rice except in that area in Tsun Wan Practically which is essentially a vegetable growing area. all rent of farmland is paid in terms of rice which makes it an important crop to the farmer. Except for the lands irrigated with brackish water which yield but one crop, most of the paddy fields of the Territories produce two crops The a year, the water supply being the limiting factor. main area for salt water paddy is the district around Mai Po. The rice straw is short and the grains are small, narrow and of excellent quality. It is difficult to estimate the Hamount of milled rice produced annually but the figure of 20,000 short tons is considered about the annual production. This of course represents a very small proportion of the total annual consumption.

Farmers save their own seeds from year to year both for the first and second sowing, as different varieties of seed are used for each crop. Annually they select their best paddy for seed and as a result from district to district, even from farm to farm, the varieties grown differ noticeably from one another. In July, and, again, in October and November, when farmers spread out their paddy to dry on the surface of the roads, the different colours and shades of the varieties can readily be noticed.,

Fertilizers used for rice fields are groundnut cake mixed, perhaps, with ashes from burnt rice husks or from the hull, nightsoil and sulphate of ammonia.

On land unsuited to rice other crops may be grown, such as sugar cane and ground-nuts. Vegetables are grown extensively during the winter, particularly as the price of vegetables has been higher in recent years. A great deal of sweet potatoes is also grown during winter for pig food- an essential product of the New Territories. During the summer, vegetables are cultivated sparingly and Hong Kong has to rely to a large extent on imported vegetables during this season. Before the war, there was a certain amount of fruit grown including olives, but large numbers of trees were cut down during the Japanese occupation and have not been replanted. Guava trees are valuable as their

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Horticultural Co-operative in a Relief Camp.

wood is used for making plough frames. Lungan timber is also valuable being used in junk building. Lemons and grape-fruit do well and it is hoped in due course to be able to extend their cultivation.

As far as livestock are concerned the farmer keeps cattle and buffalo purely for draught purposes. There is hardly any dairy farming except near Kowloon and in Hong Kong. Cattle for slaughter are almost entirely imported except for the occasional beast sold by local farmers due to old age or injury. During the course of the year there has been a rapid increase in poultry farming and pig keeping and there are signs that these two types of farming may assume very much greater importance in future.

Agricultural Department

Before the War there was no Agricultural Department, although plans had been prepared in 1941 for its formation. The department was eventually formed in 1946 and has steadily grown, and to-day consists of two Divisions, the Agricultural Division and the Animal Husbandry Division. Amongst the duties of the Agricultural Division are the making of simple field trials at agricultural stations, the production of paddy seed of certain varieties proved suitable for the Colony, and the examination of possibilities of various economic crops. A survey is being carried out to examine the conditions and methods of agriculture in the Colony. There is also a service for the distribution of nightsoil to farmers, particularly vegetable farmers who use this fertilizer extensively, but the demand is far greater than the supply.

The importance of the Animal Husbandry Division is growing very rapidly and the farmers appreciate the service made available to them. A campaign for the control of rinderpest, an endemic disease in Hong Kong, was started in July and was completed by the end of October. It is estimated that 90% of the cattle and buffalo of the Colony were immunized through the use of lapinised vaccine. This vaccine was produced locally by the Veterinary Officer using a strain of batch No. 827 which was brought from Bangkok with the help of F.A.O. and kept going by passage through rabbits. After a rather shaky start excellent co-operation was received from farmers when they realised that their stock suffered no ill effects as a result of being inoculated. Hog cholera, another very common disease,

disease, has been successfully attacked by the use of crystal violet vaccine. A great deal of work is also being done in

in combating poultry diseases such as new castle disease, fowl disease, fowl cholera, typhoid and laryngo-trachitis.

There is a pig breeding station at Sheung Shui where the Berkshire breed is being used to cross with the local

sow; stock is being imported from Australia. The farmers are most anxious to obtain breeding from this pig station and there is a large waiting list for stock produced. There is also a poultry station at Sheung Shui where various breeds are being tried out, and where day-old chicks and hatchings of eggs are being distributed to farmers, but the main activities of the Poultry Section are being concentrated at present on the control of disease.

In order to establish closer contact with the farmers and obtain their co-operation, extension stations will be formed throughout the New Territories where an Agricultural Officer will live amongst the farming community, demon- strate methods of vegetable culture and strains of rice and will sell Chinese vegetable seed and insecticides. Stud boars, poultry and selected bulls will also be kept at these stations.

Wholesale Vegetable Market

Before the War about four-fifths of the vegetables consumed in the Colony were imported. In order to increase the vegetable production of the Colony, both in quality and in quantity, and to facilitate the collection, marketing and sale of vegetables, the Wholesale Vegetable Marketing Organisation was established in September 1946. All vegetables produced in the New Territories and imported into Kowloon from China have now to pass through the Market where they are sold by public auction. The Organisa- tion has had to grow and expand against strong opposition, in the first place from the farmers who did not appreciate the benefits which it could bring them and secondly from the middlemen who lost the substantial profits which had previously been their lot. The farmers have now come to realize that the scheme has brought them advantages which have more than compensated for any inconvenience which the change may have brought them, but the displaced middlemen remain disgruntled.

During the year the Organisation has doubled the size of its Kowloon market and has opened a small market in Hong Kong. A fleet of sixteen new diesel trucks has been acquired through a Colonial Development and Welfare grant.

Plans are in hand for the de-centralization of the existing Organisation and under the new plan the farmers will take a more active part in operating the scheme and will eventually form a co-operative.

Production of vegetables, which before the war was sufficient only to meet one fifth of the Colony's needs, has increased to such an extent that the requirements of five- eights of the existing much greater population can now be met. Details of the amount of vegetables sold in the market during 1947 to 1949 are as follows:

Average price

1947 Weight

(in piculs)

Local 326,374

Imported Total 128,666 455,040

per picul

Value

(H.K.$)

1948 Weight

(in piculs)

Value (H.K.$)

5,269,385 2,079,305 7,348,690 $16.1

369,610 167,005 536,615

5,411,491 2,444,930 7,856,422 $14.64

1949 Weight

441,900 211,663 653,563

(in piculs)

Value (H.K.$)

8,968,429 4,258,080 13,226,509 $20.18

(16.8 piculs 1 ton).

FORESTRY

Hong Kong derives its water supply from thirteen reservoirs which to a large extent obtain their water from surface run-off into catch-waters running along the contours of the hillsides. As there is a total average annual rainfall of 84.26 inches, most of which occurs between June and September, and as the hillsides are very steep, the strict maintainance of an adequate forest covering becomes a necessity, not only to reduce erosion to a minimum in order to avoid silting up the reservoirs, but also to increase the seepage run-off and extend it as far as possible into the dry season when water shortage becomes acute, especially since the surface run-off is normally more than adequate to fill all the reservoirs before the end of the wet season. Consequently it is not surprising that afforestation work has been largely concentrated on the catchment areas with the object of restoring and maintaining a forest covering, so much of which disappeared during the war years.

The catchment area most urgently needing reaffore- station was in the neighbourhood of Kowloon reservoir in some parts of which severe surface erosion is in evidence. Extensive planting of eucalytus and tristania was carried out but the soil and climatic conditions on the hilltops are rather too severe to support vegetation and consequently it is necessary in the first place to establish a forest covering on the lower slopes near the reservoirs and gradually to extend it.

From a somewhat different standpoint the afforestation of the Shing Mun catchment area is of interest in so far as a large part of the area consists of deserted paddy fields vacated when the reservoir was built in order to avoid

polluting the water. On these terraced areas the question of erosion and seepage water is less important than the question of finding a productive use for good agricultural land, on which it has become necessary to prohibit cultivation. Melaleuca has been the species exclusively used for this purpose thriving as it does under damp or waterlogged conditions. Extensive afforestation of the hillsides in this area is also in progress.

Restoration of a forest covering can only be achieved if the strictest possible protection is given to the vegetation both from wood-cutters and from fire. Any planting that is done must be supplementary to protection, since either wood-cutters or fire can rapidly annihilate a whole season's planting. Protection against wood-cutters has always been a difficult problem in Hong Kong in view of the close proximity of such a large population to the forest areas. Since the war the position has worsened by the spread of the population into former forest areas, and in an endeavour to stop this spread many arrests were made during the course of the year by the Forestry Department of would-be squatters found in the process of erecting huts in the plantations.

To combat the fire menace a lookout post has been established on Kowloon Peak which can report outbreaks over very large areas of Hong Kong and the Mainland by telephone before they can spread and cause extensive damage. Notices are also erected during the dry season warning the public of the danger of fires to the plantations.

Approximately 200,000 trees were planted in 1949 most of which were raised in tin tubes under a method which was introduced into the Colony in 1947 from New South Wales. This system is particularly suitable for raising tree seedlings for planting under conditions where failures are likely to occur from drying out after the young trees have been lifted from a seed bed. By the end of 1949 the stock of seedlings in the nurseries was over 300,000 and a programme to increase the annual production to well over the half million mark by 1951 is in hand. Seedlings were raised practically entirely from stocks of seed collected locally.

An interesting development from the Forestry point of view is to be found in the Sai Kung district of the New Territories. Here the forestry lot holders in all the villages have voluntarily agreed to hand over the management of their forestry, lots to the Forestry Department. The primary objects of this arrangement are to improve forestry practice by ensuring that the plantations are properly stocked and to prevent the cutting of the trees before maturity for the sake of an early monetary return. Each village uses its own labour to plant up its forestry lot under direction of the Forestry Department, and receives wages for planting and tending at

the current rate for daily paid labour. Forestry lot holders are moreover encouraged to prepare and sow seed-beds to raise their own planting stock. All thinnings are first marked by the Forestry Department after which the trees are cut and sold by forestry lot holders. This arrangement which has now been in operation in this locality since 1947, has met with very warm approval, but other districts in the New Territories were not willing to participate.

During 1947, for the first time in many years, roadside trees were planted along many of the thoroughfares of Kowloon, but the absence of tree guards and the wilful damage caused by passers-by in breaking off the leaves and uprooting the stakes caused many of the trees to fail. In 1948/49 larger trees were planted and protected by tree guards constructed from angle-iron pickets obtained from the Military Authorities with much more satisfactory results.

A small experimental tung oil plantation (Aleurites montana) started in 1947 near Shatin has made very favourable progress. The ability of these trees to retain their fruits through two moderately strong gales experienced during the year was most encouraging. There are now over 15,000 trees in the plantation.

As a result of the order prohibiting entry into areas in the immediate vicinity of the reservoirs, many of the most pleasant walks on Hong Kong Island are now no longer open to the Public. Keen walkers can however visit Taipo Kau forestry reserve (entrance opposite to milestone 131⁄2 on the Taipo Road) where a very pleasant series of walks up to seven miles long has been recently laid out.

MINING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

There are few places in the world comparable in area to Hong Kong (391 square miles) which have such a varied geological record. Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are all represented, but it is the igneous rocks, ranging from granites to rhyolites, which are the most widespread. A wide range of economic minerals has been formed. Not all have been located in sufficiently large deposits to be worth working but it is possible that modern prospecting methods may reveal valuable finds in the future. Unfortunately, much of the Colony is covered by a thick lateritic type of decom- posed rock which effectively masks the solid geology below.

The principal minerals so far identified in the Colony are: kaolinite, argentiferous galena, wolframite, molybdenite, garnet, pyrite, mica, magnetite, haematite, cassiterite, fluorspar and quartz. However, the chief minerals mined to date, either by modern European methods or traditional Chinese surface scratchings, are kaolin, lead, iron and wolfram.

Lead deposits are widely scattered throughout the Colony. The lead is usually associated with silver as argentiferous galena. There are fair deposits to be found at Silver Mine Bay, Lead Mine Pass and Lin Ma Hang. The mines at Lin Ma Hang were easily the largest and most modern before the war began. They were forced to close down in 1940 when the Japanese sealed off deliveries to China. At one time they were producing roughly 250 tons of lead ore

(concentrated) and 7,000 ounces of silver monthly. The Japanese opened the mine again during the occupation.

Iron is everywhere in evidence but the only deposit which so far has attracted a major commercial exploitation is the lenticular magnetite mass at Ma On Shan. Its produc- tion is regulated by its chief customer the Green Island Cement Company. Surface scratchings for ochre, a hydrated oxide of iron, are worked on and off. The ochre is used by small local paint companies.

Wolfram, which is loosely called tungsten, occurs in several places. It is mined officially and unofficially at Shing Mun, Castle Peak, Ho Chung and on Lantau Island. By far the largest workings are at Shing Mun where a European company has the lease. The Japanese kept up a steady production during the occupation. To-day there are a hundred or so miners from these mines, which are temporarily closed, panning for placer wolfram in the bed of the Shing Mun River. Their output is presumably sold on the local market.

Kaolin, not excluding the great reserves of building stones and the sand and gravel deposits, is certainly the most valuable of the proved deposits in the Colony both in quantity and quality. It occurs everywhere in varying degrees of purity ranging from the best ball clay to the coarser varieties. Of the many deposits now being worked, the pit at Cha Kwo Ling is the most valuable and productive. Much of the clay from this pit is exported to Japan but some is used locally in the ceramic industry. Elsewhere other deposits are mined for the various brick, face powder, tooth powder and rubber companies.

There are stone quarries sited all round the coast. The ornamental grey Hong Kong granite is most usually worked for building stone.

Sands and gravels are available in large quantities mainly from the raised beaches along the coasts.

During the year a few permits were issued, on a month to month basis, to small family concerns wishing to mine small amounts of ochres and clays.

A manuscript copy of the findings of the team of geologists, of the University of British Columbia, who, under

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The Opening of the Exhibition of Chinese Products in Feb. 1949 in Kowloon,

Kong Chi Wing.

the direction of the late Dean R. W. Brock, surveyed the Colony between 1923 and 1935 has now been received. Dr. S. G. Davis visited Canada during the year and is now engaged in re-writing the manuscript which will eventually be published as a Hong Kong Government Memoir. To accom- pany this memoir it is also proposed to print a geological map of the Colony, based on the 1935 edition of the 1/84,480 geological map. All efforts to trace the pre-war geological base maps in Japan have failed.

A book by Dr. S. G. Davis entitled Hong Kong in its Geographical Setting was published in 1949.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

Industry continued to expand not only in volume of output, but also in variety of products and in scope of markets. There are now very few corners of the globe to which Hong Kong manufactures do not penetrate. The tendency of Shanghai industrialists to move to Hong Kong continued and it must be confessed that they have brought into the Colony modern methods and machinery, which have proved a welcome and effective spur to established industries. As supplies of raw materials have become more regular and assured and markets more competitive, increased attention has been given to lower costs and to quality, and in particular to the maintenance of standards of quality, but much work remains to be done in this field if Hong Kong is to extend its markets and to keep those captured in the rather abnormal postwar period.

Two developments in the latter half of the year consider- ably improved the prospects of certain industries. The revaluation of the dollar sterling exchange rate improved their competitive position in some non-sterling markets; while the issue of an open general import licence opened the United Kingdom to a wide range of Hong Kong products which had been excluded since the end of the war. Empire markets and Imperial Preference are still an important element in the prosperity of Hong Kong industry.

Close cooperation between the various sections of Hong Kong industry has again been prominent and augurs well for the future. Its most outstanding manifestation was the annual industrial exhibition, which provides a comprehensive year to year index of industrial development. The 1949 exhibition comprised 417 stalls, displaying a very wide range of products, was visited by over 700,000 persons (as against 600,000 in 1948). Hong Kong was represented again at the British Industries Fair in London on a more ambitious scale than in 1948. There were 95 exhibitors, and a party of 48 industrialists made the journey to London in a specially chartered aircraft.

No reliable figure is available of the total value of products manufactured in Hong Kong, but it is estimated to Certi- be in the region of HK$250-$300 million per year. ficates of origin were issued in 1949 for goods valued at HK$87 million.

Cotton Spinning

Some Industries

most modern postwar The number of spindles. year from 90,000 to

This represents the largest and development in Hong Kong industry. in operation increased during the 131,940, and planned expansion in 1950 will bring it to 183,193; total production in 1949 was 59,365 bales of 400 lbs. The fortunes of the industry varied considerably during the year, the conjunction of devaluation which increased raw cotton prices and the release of large quantities of low quality yarn for export from India had a depressing effect in the last quarter of the year.

Weaving and Knitting

Many of the smaller mills closed down during the first half of the year, but there was an improvement later, result- ing partly from orders from the United Kingdom for grey cloth probably for processing there and re-export to Colonial markets.

Enamelled Hollow-ware

There are now ten factories operating 52 muffle furnaces with an output valued at HK$30 million. They enjoy one of the widest markets and appear to have taken over temporarily part of the pre-war markets enjoyed by Germany and Japan.

Rubber Shoes

This industry has not been able to recapture to any extent its main pre-war market in the United Kingdom because of high costs, but after a poor start, recovered fairly well later in the year, the majority of orders coming from Far Eastern markets.

Ginger

The import quota into the industry's main pre-war market, the United Kingdom, was raised from its 1948/49 level of 3,000 tons to 4,000 tons for the 1949/50 season; later quantitative restrictions were removed but, for lack of raw ginger, it is unlikely that much more than 4,000 tons will in fact be shipped. Progress was made in developing

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Cotton Mill Industry.

David Cohen.

the U.S.A. and Canadian markets, and in resuming exports to Holland. But little progress has been made in regaining the important pre-war Australian market, that country having developed its own production during the war.

Shipbuilding and Repairs

During the early part of the year the industry's repair activities were maintained at a level higher than that anticipated in view of the gradual drying up of postwar reconversion and overhaul work, but there was some falling off towards the end of the year. Some major jobs were undertaken including the almost complete reconstruction of a Japanese tanker of 14,750 tons deadweight sunk during the war off Formosa and salvaged two years later.

Shortage of steel in the earlier part of the year restricted new construction to small craft such as lighters and launches, but an improvement in steel supplies later in the year made it possible for the shipyards to tender for the construction of new vessels and the keel of the first was laid down during the last few weeks of the year.

A proper proportion of new construction and repair work is necessary for the most economical operation of the yards and the maintenance of steady employment, and it is hoped that this will be achieved in 1950. With the almost complete rehabilitation of the yards, the installation of new precision machinery and the adoption of modern techniques in ship- building, notably welding methods, the industry is well equipped for the future.

HEALTH

SOCIAL SERVICES

Chapter 7.

EDUCATION

The Education System and the Schools

Education in Hong Kong is voluntary and is largely in the hands of Government, missionary bodies and private individuals. The present system may be said to have started in 1913 when the Education Ordinance from which the Director of Education derives his legal powers came into operation. Under this Ordinance all schools unless speci- fically exempted are required to register with the Director of Education and must comply with the regulations made. under the Ordinance governing staff, buildings, number of pupils and health. In 1920 Government set up the Board of Education of which the Director of Education is ex officio Chairman. The present constitution of the Board is seven official and ten unofficial members. The Board has eight regular meetings a year.

The schools in the Colony may be classified as follows: (1) Government schools, which are staffed and

maintained by the Education Department;

(2) Grant schools, which are schools run mainly by missionary bodies with the assistance of a grant from Government under the provisions of the Grant Code;

(3) Subsidised schools, which are those schools in receipt of a subsidy from Government under the Subsidy Code;

(4) The Military schools and certain others which are exempted from the provisions of the Education Ordinance, 1913;

(5) All other private schools.

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Morrison Hill Community Camp School.

A system of Grants in Aid was first introduced in 1873 and has been modified and revised several times. Up to 1941 the grant had been paid first on examination results and finally on a per capita basis. In that year a new Code was introduced and approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The aid given covered the difference between the approved expenditure and the income from tuition fees in the grant-aided schools. Approved expenditure included all salaries, incidentals, other charges, passages and leave pay for teachers entitled to them, and the rent of school premises. In the case of a grant-aided school which owned its own building the approved expenditure could include a percentage, not exceeding 3% of the capital value of the building, to be used solely for the purpose of a rebuilding fund. Grants were also made up to 50% of the cost of new buildings and of major repairs. Local teachers in grant-aided schools, however, did not receive the same salaries as those in equivalent grades in Government schools.

In 1945 the Code was revised. This revision raised the salaries of local teachers in Grant Schools to the same level as for Government Schools while those with approved British or American qualifications received the Burnham scale of salaries, irrespective of race or nationality. It also introduced a Provident Fund Scheme whereby the teachers contributed five per cent of their salaries and Government added a similar amount. This was introduced because teachers in Grant Schools do not come under any pension scheme. Certain of the revised clauses in the Code came in for much discussion both in London and in Hong Kong but agreement has now been reached on all outstanding points of difference.

The Subsidy Code has also been revised during the year and the new provisions make for simplicity of operation and have improved the salaries of the teachers by 400%, making them four-fifths of the salaries paid in Government and Grant- aided schools. The objects of the Code under which sub- sidised schools operate are three-fold: (a) to enable properly qualified teachers to open schools without running into debt; (b) to keep fees at a reasonable level; and (c) to ensure proper salaries for teachers. Were it not for the subsidy many of these schools would be compelled either to charge high school fees in order to pay their teachers or to balance their budget by paying unreasonably low salaries and con- sequently lowering the standard of their tuition. The number of schools receiving subsidy varies from year to year; the amount of each subsidy is determined by the school's deficit and is in any case not less than half the difference between expenditure and income. The amount spent on subsidies is steadily rising and indicating that schools welcome this form of assistance while ensuring a greater measure of control.

Private schools are those which are not in need of or do not merit Government assistance. They comprise 60% of the 819 schools in the Colony and cater for 65% of the total enrolment of 143,000. These schools vary considerably in size, character and purpose. Education may be conducted either in English or in Chinese and their enrolments vary from 100 pupils or less to large schools with an attendance of about 1,600 children.

•

The medium of instruction in schools varies from one category to another. In some English is the sole language, in others, Chinese, and a number of schools have classes in both languages. The grant-aided schools mainly use English, although in one such school the bulk of the teaching is in Chinese. Teaching in subsidised and private schools is usually carried out in Chinese. "Chinese" in this context means, in the vast majority of cases, Cantonese, although there are a few schools whose language of instruction is Hakka, and a very few which use Kuo Yu. Kuo Yu is, however, taught as a language in many schools and is a compulsory subject in Government schools.

The Military schools cater for serving officers' and soldiers' children under the age of eleven. The staff of these schools is recruited from the Army Education Corps and the Queen's Army School-mistresses. They are exempted from the provisions of the Education Ordinance. Considerable expansion has taken place in Military schools and further building is under consideration.

The changes which have taken place in the distribution of responsibility for education can be appreciated from the following figures. In 1941 Government schools catered for 2,700 pupils, Grant schools for 10,000, Subsidised schools for 23,000 and Private schools for 80,000 pupils. To-day, the figures are 8,300 Government; 13,750 Grant-aided; 28,000 Subsidised and 93,000 Private. Government is giving assistance in one form or another to a far greater extent than formerly.

A building programme has been approved which will complete the rehabilitation and replacement of war damaged government school buildings. In all, some seventeen schools are in process of building or are in plan. These include a new Queen's College for 1,000 secondary pupils and several urban and rural primary schools. The urgent need for a six-hundred bed military hospital led to the requisition in July of La Salle College, a Grant-aided school of 1,000 pupils. By October a new temporary wooden structure with accommodation for all the pupils and complete with laboratories and great hall had been completed. Even with this large building programme, two sessional schools will have

to continue.

Indeed, the pressure is so great that some of the best private schools are being asked to consider adopting a similar plan. Government cannot and should not put up buildings to accommodate school children who are only temporary residents.

The number of pupils in Government schools has more than doubled in the last two years with over 2,000 additional pupils since last year and the increase has again been mainly on the vernacular side. There is, however, a growing demand for English and in those schools where it is the medium of instruction there are always long waiting lists. Owing to lack of accommodation some 700 secondary pupils of Government schools had to continue their education in the primary schools, where an extra class was added. While they received the same book education as would have been available at Queen's College, they were handicapped by lack of laboratory facilities. With the opening of a new Queen's College in September 1950 all these pupils will be accommodated there. While fewer children than pre-war attend secondary schools, 28,000 as compared with 37,000, the demand for secondary education is increasing at the rate of 8,000 per annum. Some of the education given in the private middle schools (secondary vernacular) is not of a high standard. A further difficulty which has arisen as a result of the political upheaval in China is the lack of outlet for the products of the Senior Middle Schools. Formerly they sought admission to Universities in China but many are now remaining in the Colony. A scheme whereby they can take a course of higher studies in Chinese is being examined.

The enrolment at King George Vth School, a secondary- grammar and modern-secondary school, continues to increase. Despite the addition of six new classrooms the school is full with an attendance of 483, of whom 238 are boys. It will be necessary to raise the age of admission to eleven years instead of ten years as at present and add an extra class to the Junior schools. This school compares favourably with any grammar secondary school in England both in academic attainment and in sport. Thirteen out of fifteen entrants gained the Cambridge School Certificate and the school has won the Governor's Shield for athletics, in competition with all schools in the Colony, two years in succession. King George Vth School is 'fed' by four government junior schools for British children (with a total enrolment of over 300), two Garrison schools for service children and the best of the children from other Government, Grant-aided and Private schools.

Rural education is conducted mainly through subsidised schools. Out of 230 rural schools with an enrolment of 16,000 three are government and 200 subsidised. Increasing

attention is being paid by the rural communities to education in their villages and this is taking the practical form of financial assistance in the building of new schools. The way in which the schools for the children of fishermen were being conducted was, in some cases, unsatisfactory and one is being taken over as a government school, the subsidy to another has been cancelled and a third has had a complete change of staff.

The Technical College has been functioning during the year with full time day courses in building and wireless telegraphy. The engineering course re-opened in October. The College also runs an evening department of twelve courses with an enrolment of 872. Most of the pupils attend- ing these evening classes are apprentices from the various dockyards. The Junior Technical School holds classes in English, mathematics and machine drawing in the Technical College premises. New accommodation will be available in

September 1950,

There are also evening classes conducted under the Evening Institute with an enrolment of 1,019. Classes include instruction in book-keeping, shorthand, English for commer- cial students, pharmacy, teaching training and physical education. Lack of staff prevented at least a similar number of applicants from attending classes. The rural centres for adult education continue to attract entries although the number has fallen from 271 to 265. This is due to the fact that in one centre all those who are interested have now become literate, after two years of training, and no longer require classes. The centre is being moved to another district. Apart from absences due to seasonal occupations the attendance has been good. The syllabus includes read- ing, writing and simple arithmetic which are treated in such a way as to meet the requirements of adults in rural areas so that they can be applied to the man's own trade and his dealings with government notices and market prices. Follow up work is carried out by the staff of the Rural Training College.

The demand for teachers with training has been so great since the re-occupation that the Evening Institute classes have had to be revived even though this method of training is admittedly unsatisfactory. There are at present 160 teachers in training in two Colleges and 29 in the Normal Classes of the Evening Institute. These classes, however, are the last classes to be trained in this way and are now in their third and final year. The teachers for urban schools trained at Northcote Training College are of such a standard that they usually find employment at secondary level. This means that there is no local training which produces teachers for primary schools. There is urgent need for a training

centre for primary teachers and this is now under considera- tion.

The Rural Training College, opened in 1946, is now beginning to make an impression on village schools in the New Territories. All those who gained certificates are teaching in village schools where they have created such a favourable impression that many of the students who will graduate this year have already been earmarked by certain village Elders for their schools. The College has an enrolment of 48 students half of whom, in the present first year, are teachers who have been employed in village schools for some years but who have had no training. The College aims at supplying replace- ments by means of its younger graduates and also, in the course of about 10 years, of training all the teachers in the rural areas. The College established its own co-operative society in 1946, at $10 per share with a limit of four shares, confined to staff and students. They purchased twelve hens, two goats, two pigs and some seeds. The Co-operative hast paid 100% per annum and the stock is now 240 hens, 24 pigs, one boar, six goats and 200 pigeons together with a large market garden. Two of the certificated students are starting similar co-operatives in their village schools.

The expenditure on education during 1949, including capital expenditure on buildings, was over $20,000,000, a considerable increase on the previous year and almost 12% of the total expenditure of the Colony. $8,000,000 were allotted to Grant-aided schools and Subsidised schools.

The fees in Government and Grant-aided schools have changed very little since 1928 and are $5 per month in primary classes and $10 per month in secondary classes. Subsidised school fees are from 200 to 300% greater than in 1940 and private school fees as much as seven time's greater in some cases. The compulsory gazetting of an inclusive monthly fee, the maximum amount for which a parent is liable, has done much to keep the fees at a reasonable level. The total revenue from fees in government schools was $450,000.

In the absence of any reliable figures, it is difficult to estimate the number of children of school age in the Colony or to guess at the number who are not receiving schooling. Of the latter, many have been in school but, owing to the family's financial distress, have been with- drawn in order to work. The large number of applicants for vacancies in certain schools is no indication of the number of children not in school since the majority are already in school elsewhere and merely seek either better or cheaper education. Several cases have been known of a boy attending one morning school and different afternoon school in another name.

a totally It is probable

that the number of children of school age not attending school is about 50,000 but of these not many would attend except under compulsion. Certainly few children of bona-fide residents who want education are not receiving it. In this connection it is interesting to note that the average attendance in all schools in the Colony is 97% of the enrolment.

During the year an increasing number of local education officers successfully undertook the responsibility of head-ships formerly held by expatriate officers and the standard generally has been improved with the return of those who have completed courses in England. The inspection side of the department has been strengthened by the appointment of an additional Senior Inspector and an Inspector. All those engaged in this work, whether for English or Vernacular schools, are now in a self-contained unit under a Senior Inspector who reports to the Director. This has made it possible to exercise greater supervision and will improve the general standards in all schools. Formerly Inspectors com- bined administrative duties with inspection.

Increased attention has been paid to education for citizenship and schools are being encouraged to take their senior pupils on visits to government departments, commer- cial undertakings and the law courts. Every assistance has been given in these ventures by the departments and firms concerned. Courses in Civics have been given for teachers and pamphlets compiled in the Education Department have been issued from time to time. A group of senior teachers is now engaged in compiling a text-book of Civics for local schools.

Government provides assistance for further education by means of subsidised courses at Northcote Training College and the Rural Training College, where students receive an allowance equivalent to the salary of an

an uncertificated teacher, and by means of scholarships to the University of Hong Kong where 41 students are entirely or partially maintained. Of these 12 are in the Faculty of Arts, 5 Science, 6 Engineering and 18 Medicine. There is also a scholarship awarded every three years tenable at any British University.

The University

The University of Hong Kong was incorporated in 1911 and formally opened in 1912. The supreme governing body of the University is the Court, which comprises life members, ex officio members and nominated members, with the Governor as chairman. The Council, which is the executive body, is composed of the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, the Treasurer, certain Government officials, Chinese members of the Legislative Council, the Deans of the Faculties, two representative of the

the commercial community, and two

additional members appointed by the Governor. The Senate is composed of the Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Education, and the Professors and Readers. There are four faculties, medical, engineering, arts and science. Thirteen professors are on the staff of the University.

In the matriculation examination held in June, 1949, 100 candidates passed out of a total of 253, representing 40%, compared with 62% who passed in 1948 and 52% who passed in 1947. Entrance to the University is not, however, restricted to those who pass the University matriculation examination. A large proportion enter on other recognised qualifications, many students coming from Malaya.

Early in the year the University entered the Fulbright Agreement by which funds from the sale of American surplus war supplies to Great Britain are made available for the exchange of facilities for research between American and British institutions. Arrangements have been made for the first American under this scheme to visit the University for research in Far Eastern Economics.

The income of the University during the academic year 1948/49 was $2,183,694 and the expenditure $2,095,504, giving a surplus of $88,189. The Government makes an annual grant of $1,500,000 towards the cost of running the University.

The following table shows the enrolment at the beginning of the academic year 1949/50:-

Academic

Year 1949-50.

Medicine Engineering

Arts

Science

Sub-Totals

Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women

Total

1st year. 77

141

203

2nd year. 58

117

175

3rd year. 66

123

4th year. 50

10°

5th year

6th year. 32

༡

Sub-Total 283 56

109

14 450 179

TOTALS

339

160

Women: 28.45%

Men:

629) 71.55%

External Students: Arts:

Science :

GRAND TOTAL:

638

At the beginning of the previous academic year 516 students were enrolled at the University.

Fourteen students passed their final University examina- tion for M.B., B.S. during 1949 and one graduate fulfilled all requirements for the degree of Master of Surgery.

Construction has begun on a new engineering and architecture building, two floors of which are designed to house engineering units and one floor of which will provide accommodation for courses in architecture which it is pro- posed to begin in 1950. Work has also begun on the new hall of residence for women students.

HEALTH

The statutory responsibility for the health of the Colony is shared by the Urban Council and the Medical Department. The Urban Council is a corporate body consisting of a Chairman appointed by the Governor and ten Members. Of the members, four are ex-officio representatives of Government departments intimately concerned in public health matters. The six unofficial members represent the various racial com- munities. The Chairman of the Urban Council is also the administrative head of the Sanitary Department and, as such, is responsible for the staff, numbering several thousands, engaged in the carrying out the Council's various statutory duties and responsibilities.

The Medical Department is administered by a Director, assisted by two Deputy Directors, one of whom, the Deputy Director of Health Services, is professional adviser to, and vice-chairman of, the Urban Council.

Within the Urban District, which comprises the whole of the Island of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon, the Urban Council is the responsible authority for administer- ing the public health laws governing sanitation, food inspec- tion, food establishments, offensive trades, etc. while upon the Medical Department devolves the responsibility for pre- vention and mitigation of infectious disease.

In the New Territories, the Commissioner is the respon- sible authority for administering the laws pertaining to sanitation, food inspection, food establishments, offensive trades, etc. In these matters, he is advised by the Director of Medical Services and the Deputy Director of Health Services and assisted by Health Officers and Health Inspectors. As in the Urban District, the Medical Department is respon- sible for the prevention and mitigation of infectious disease.

The functions of the Medical Department include the maintenance of hospitals, health work, an investigation division and dental clinics. These divisions in themselves are

not self contained and a certain amount of over-lapping takes place.

The hospitals division includes 11 hospitals, which provide approximately 1750 beds for accidents, maternity cases, infectious diseases (including tuberculosis), mental and general cases. 16 dispensaries and 3 polyclinics are also maintained where out-patients are treated daily. The Tung Wah groups of hospitals which are to a large extent financed by Government provide approximately 1100 beds. Other charitable and private hospitals exist in the Colony and these provide accommodation for approximately a further 1050 beds, making a grand total of beds in all hospitals in the Colony of 3900. Some two thirds of the hospital accom- modation is on the island of Hong Kong and the remainder on the Kowloon Peninsula with the exception of about 100 beds in the New Territories and on Cheung Chau Island.

The health division of the Medical Department is responsible for supervising the cleanliness of houses, streets and open spaces in the New Territories, the control of anti- epidemic measures such as vaccination and inoculation, the care of expectant and parturient mothers and neo-natal care of infants, the inspection and treatment of school children, the control of malaria and a tuberculosis service. This division is also responsible for port health work, drug control, public health education, the treatment and prevention of social diseases and the registration of births and deaths. Vital statistics for the year 1949, are given at the end of this section.

Two dental clinics are maintained on the Island and one on the Mainland.

The investigation division consists of a pathological laboratory on each side of the harbour, and a clinical labora- tory at the Queen Mary Hospital, a chemical and bio- chemical laboratory, and public mortuaries where autopsies are carried out on all bodies of persons where the cause of death is in doubt.

The staff of the Medical Department on 31st December, 1949, consisted of 127 Doctors, of whom 99 were Chinese, 5 Executive Officers of whom 2 were Chinese, 512 Nurses and Hospital Dressers, of whom 443 were Chinese, 10 Health Inspectors of whom 6 were Chinese, 1879 others (including technicians, subordinate and menial staff) most of whom were Chinese.

Health Inspection

The Urban District, (Island of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon) is divided into five areas. A Health Officer is responsible in each area for health and sanitation

CASES.

RETURN OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES NOTIFIED, 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

REFERENCE No. G. 113/234.

LEGEND:

CASES NOTIFIED. = THICK LINES.

DEATHS.

= THIN LINES.

CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS.= DIPHTHERIA.

ENTERIC FEVER.

JAN FEB.

MAR. APR.

MAY. JUN.

JÚL. AUG.

SEP.

ОСТ.

NOV DEC

CASES.

4,000

900

RETURN OF TUBERCULOSIS NOTIFIED, 1949.

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, REFERENCE NO.G. 113/235.

圖

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

CASES

GKONG

DEATHS

IC LIBRAR

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC.

and for supervising and directing the work of the health inspectors employed in his area. Each area is divided into health districts in charge of each of which is a health inspector. Other health inspectors are employed in special duties connected with the control of hawkers, anti-epidemic measures, scavenging, etc. Altogether there are forty-three health districts in the urban district of which twenty-five are on the Island and eighteen in Kowloon and New Kowloon.

The New Territories are divided into five Health Districts of which three are situated on the Mainland and two on islands.

A Health Officer is in overall control and responsible to the Director of Medical Services for health and sanitation matters in the New Territories and for directing the work of the Health Inspectors and other staffs engaged in these activities.

A Health Inspector has charge of each Health District and is responsible for scavenging, food inspection, main- tenance of latrines and markets, house-to-house inspection and anti-epidemic measures. In addition, he is in direct control of staffs engaged in the scavenging and cleansing of his District.

General Health

The general health of the populace during the year was satisfactory and compares very favourable with previous years. Reference to the statistics at the end of this section of the report will show that there was an increase in the births and deaths for the year as against those for the previous year but this is undoubtedly accounted for by the increase of the population of the Colony.

Maternity Service

The high standard of the maternity service throughout the Colony continues to be maintained and the approximate total number of beds in both

both Government and private hospitals for maternity cases was 400. The private maternity homes, of which there were 102, provide another 333 beds, making a grand total of 733 beds. Only midwives who are registered with the Midwives Board are permitted to practise and their number had increased during the year from 740 to 803. The Supervisor of Midwives who is also Secretary of the Midwives Board makes periodical inspections of all private maternity homes which must be registered with the Board. The maternal mortality figure of 2.12 is higher than that for the previous year.

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Almoner's Office, Queen Mary Hospital.

Child Health

The infant mortality rate of 99.4 was slightly higher than the corrected figure for 1948. A considerable increase in the facilities for treating sick children was made with 18 clinics being opened in the poly-clinics and public dispensaries; 136,526 children attended these clinics.

Infectious Diseases

As in 1947 and 1948 the Colony was once again free of any major epidemics. Tuberculosis was responsible for the highest number of cases in any single infectious disease followed by measles with 458 cases. A graph showing the number of infectious diseases reported during the year will be found on page 68.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis remains the greatest single cause of adult mortality and morbidity. 7,510 cases were reported during the year with 2,611 deaths. An extensive programme is well under way and a new anti-tuberculosis clinic is due for completion during 1950. Efforts to educate the population against the spread of this disease are made by means of a travelling cinema and propaganda van. The Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association completed during the year the rehabilitation and staffing of the Old Naval Hospital, now the Ruttonjee Sanatorium, which had been placed at its disposal by Government and provides 120 beds for treatment of tuberculosis patients.

The graph on page 69 shows the number of cases reported during the year.

An annual X-ray survey of all Government servants is carried out and like facilities are freely available to groups of the general public such as the staff of large firms on the understanding that the employers will provide the treatment and medico-social welfare of any cases discovered.

Nutrition

The standard of nutrition has remained good, 100 cases of death from beri-beri were recorded as against 140 in 1948, 312 in 1947 and 7,229 in 1940. The rice shortage which continues to exist is responsible for forcing the mass of the population to eat a more mixed diet and this, together with the increase in wages among the lower wage groups as com- pared with pre-war years, is probably responsible.

Sewage

Although many of the more modern type buildings in the Colony are provided with the water carriage system,

removal of excremental wastes from the majority of buildings is carried out by the pan-conservancy system.

Many hundreds of workers in the employ of the Sanitary Department are responsible for emptying and cleansing pan receptacles and for discharging the waste matters collected into specially designed barges. These barges are stationed at convenient points along the water front. Collection and removal operations are carried out overnight.

Excremental matters are disposed of either by dumping at sea or by distribution to farmers and gardeners in the New Territories for use as fertiliser. During the year, political changes in China have caused a greatly increased demand for human fertiliser with the result that a very small proportion only of excremental wastes is now dumped at sea.

A scheme is envisaged for introduction throughout the Colony of a two-pail system, important features of which are the replacement of soiled pails by clean sterilised pails and the provision of water-tight covers to soiled pails during transit of contents to the 'sewage' barges.

That very

necessary data may be available before embarking on a general scheme, a pilot service has been put into operation at Ho Man Tin, an important residental centre in Kowloon.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR 1949

A. Births

Records for births are incomplete owing to the hostilities in December, 1941, and the subsequent lack of interest in birth registration manifested by the Japanese during their occupation of the Colony from December, 1941 to August, 1945.

Year

1940

Births 45,064

1941

45,000 (estimated)

1942

10,343

1943

20,732

1944

13,687

1945

3,712 (to 31st August only)

1946

31,098

1947

42,473

1948

47,475

1949

54,774

Deaths

Death registration was equally unsatisfactory during the Japanese occupation and many thousands of bodies never received burial in recognised cemeteries. Such figures as arė

available in respect of the occupation period together with those for 1940, 1941 and 1946 onwards are as follows.

Year

Deaths

1940

61,010

1941

61,324

1942

83,435

1943

40,117

1944

24,936

1945

23,098 (to 31st August only)

1946

16,653

1947

13,231

1948

13,434

1949

16,287

C. Infant Mortality

The deaths of infants under one year of age formed almost exactly one third of death for all ages. The figures in respect of post war years are tabulated below.

Year

No. of infants

born

No. of infants who died under

Infant mortality

1 year of age

rate

1946

31,098

2,770

89.1*

1947

42,473

4,346

102.3*

1948

47,475

4,324

91.1*

1949

54,774

5,444

99.4

* These figures supersede those previously published as it has been

discovered an error in the method of computation was made.

D. Pre-Natal Mortality

There were 1,321 still-births recorded in 1949, i.e. 23.5 per 1,000 live births, as against 1,251 still-births or 25.7 per 1,000 live births in 1948.

Neo-Natal Mortality

The number of deaths of children under 4 weeks in respect of the years 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1948 are tabulated below.

Number of deaths

1946, 1947, 1948, 1949.

Neo-Natal Mortality rate

1,001 1,463 1,433 1,609

32.2 34.4 30.2

29.4

F. Maternal Mortality

was 2.12

The maternal mortality rate for 1949, was compared with 1.5 for 1948, and 1.64 for 1947.

}

G. Notifiable Diseases

(a) Smallpox

Eleven cases of smallpox occurred with 7 deaths. Of these 11 cases 5 had a history suggesting infection was acquired outside the Colony. This compares very favourably with last year's figure of 8 cases which was the smallest number of cases that has occurred in any year since records were first kept. 1,386,254 vaccinations were performed during the year.

(b) Cholera

No cases of cholera occurred during the year.

There were 408 cases with 89 deaths giving a mortality rate of 21.8 as against 311 cases with 69 deaths giving a mortality rate of 22.2 for 1948. The peak month was September and the majority of cases occurred in young adults. In two outbreaks carriers were traced. The actual increase in the number of cases is associated with the massive squatter settlements in the Colony. Prophylaxis in the Police Force has been introduced and all recruits are now systematically inoculated.

(d) Cerebro-spinal meningitis

Thirty-six cases occurred with 16 deaths giving a mortality rate of 44.4% as against 69 cases with 19 deaths giving a mortality rate of 27.5% for 1948. The largest number of cases notified in any one month was 5 in March and again in May.

(e)

Diphtheria

Two hundred and sixty one cases occurred with 75 deaths giving a mortality rate of 28.7% as against 140 cases with 49 deaths giving a mortality rate of 35% for 1948. The majority of cases and deaths occurred in children under 5

years of age, especially in the second year of life.

Prophylaxis in the infant welfare centres has been emphasised during the year and prophylaxis in schools and orphanages has continued.

(f) Dysentery.

Two hundred and seventy six cases were reported with 22 deaths giving a mortality rate of 7.97% as against 183 cases with 25 deaths giving a mortality rate of 13.7%. It is probable that many of the cases reported as enteritis are in fact dysentery so the above figures may not give an accurate picture of the disease. Of the reported cases 153 were amoebic, 115 bacillary and 8 not specified. This

represents a considerable increase in the number of cases of amoebic dysentery.

(g)

Rabies

The worst outbreak on record occurred during the year. There were 40 canine cases proved and 20 human fatalities. The following table shows the monthly occurrence of the

cases.

Month

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

Canine

Human

No. of dog heads

brought in for No. of dogs

examination proved rabid

...

164

September

October

November

December

Total:

館

An intensive campaign was instituted to control stray dogs and new legislation was introduced making prophylactic inoculation of dogs inter alia, compulsory. The outbreak was largely confined to the urban area of the Kowloon Peninsula.

(h)) Measles

Four hundred and fifty eight cases were reported with 44 deaths giving a mortality rate of 9.6% as against 190 cases with 6 deaths giving a mortality rate of 3.2% for 1948. 235 of these cases occurred during the first 3 months of the year.

(i) Puerperal Fever

Thirteen cases were reported with 6 deaths giving a mortality rate of 46.1% as against 10 cases with 5 deaths giving a mortality rate of 50% for 1948. An outbreak in one hospital lead to a strict control and inspection of the nursing and attendant staff.

(j) Tuberculosis

Seven thousand five hundred and ten cases were reported with 2,611 deaths.

HOUSING

}

Urban Housing

The majority of the Chinese population lives in four- storey tenements. Each of the upper floors of these tenements consists of one large room, sub-divided into cubicles measuring about 64 square feet; and a communal kitchen, and usually accommodating not less than three or four families. The ground floor is usually used for light industry or for shops. In many of the older types of building no provision is made for bathrooms or latrines and public conveniences and bath houses are therefore maintained in the poorer districts. A large proportion of the city was built in the early days of the Colony when town planning was little practised and the major defects of housing are a result of the absence at that time of controlling legislation. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance of 1903 was framed in accordance with the standards of structure and hygiene prevailing in Hong Kong and in Europe at that time but those standards fall far short of modern ideals. Control of domestic buildings is now obtained through the Buildings Ordinance, 1935, which provides amongst other things for the improvement of lighting and ventilation in old buildings and the provision of yards and scavenging lanes, latrines and bathrooms. Buildings erected since 1935 show a great improvement over the old tenements, but modern ideals of housing are constantly advancing and a new and more up- to-date Ordinance is being planned.

European-Type Housing

In the urban area there is an increased number of buildings similar to European flats. These are also erected to a height of four storeys and are found bordering the city They are similar to flats in the United Kingdom but are provided with verandahs, greater window space and servants' accommodation. Europeans and many of the more well-to-do Chinese occupy this type of flat.

area.

are

In the suburban area of Victoria and Kowloon

detached consisting of

or semi- European residences detached two or three storey buildings not unlike those in the suburbs of the United Kingdom.

Further away from the town and dotted about all over the hillsides including the Peak are many large European In most type residences, occupied by Europeans or Chinese. cases approach roads have had to be cut deep into the hill sides to reach these houses. Since the war large blocks of modern flats, six to eight storeys in height, have been built by Government or by private enterprise. Increased land values, due mainly to the large number of people requiring

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Aerial View of Sheung Wan District.

houses, have been mainly responsible for this new type of structure.

In spite of the very large numbers of new buildings which have been erected or repaired since the war, the shortage of all types of houses and offices remains acute and it is practically impossible for a private individual, unless provided with large funds, to obtain a house of his own. For this reason hotels and hostels are overcrowded and it is difficult to obtain accommodation in a hotel even for short periods.

Thousands of persons who have taken refuge in Hong Kong from the civil war in China have been unable to obtain accommodation of any sort and as a result colonies of squatters shacks have sprung up throughout the Colony providing a dangerous risk of fire and disease. Efforts have been made successfully to keep the centre of the city free from huts by providing for the demolition of dangerously insanitary colonies and for the re-settlement of some of the displaced squatters on a prepared site where they may build for themselves at low cost huts of standard design, but the problem remains acute in the outlying districts.

Rural Housing

The housing of the village population in the New Territories is somewhat different, though in some of the market towns and suburban areas there is housing of a type similar to that found in the urban area. In these market towns, which are supplied with water and electricity, there have been considerable increases in population, particularly noticeable on Cheung Chau Island and in the town of Yuen Long on the north-western plain.

In the rural villages, where the population has remained stable, or even dwindled in numbers during the past twenty years, the original houses still stand. The population varies from 20 to 30 people for a small village to 2,000 in the case of the biggest village. The houses are huddled together and a few old villages are still surrounded by wall and moat, a reminder of more unsettled times. Some of the walled villages still retain their heavy gates, though the routine of bolting the gates against bandits at sunset has lapsed with time.

Village houses, which have passed from father to son through the years, are rarely sublet by the owner, who pays generally about 50 cents a year Crown rent. These houses are constructed of locally made blue brick or roughly cut granite blocks with a tiled roof and, of recent years, cement floors. The less permanent houses in the poorer villages are built of sundried mud-brick faced with plaster; these houses

deteriorate after a few years, the owner again rebuilding in similar style. A typical village dwelling consists of one ground floor room, entrance being made through the front door-there is no back door-into a partially roofed-over space, one side of which is reserved for cooking, and the other side for storage of dried grass, the principal fuel. An inner door gives entrance to the single room, the rear portion of which is screened off with wooden partitions for use as a bedroom. Over this rear portion, raised some 8 feet above the floor level, is a wooden platform or gallery known as the "cockloft" which is used for storage purposes or for extra sleeping accommodation if the family is large. The house has no ceiling, except the rafters and tiles, and no chimney. Windows are few.

Dwellings are sometimes built in rows of a dozen or so in the large villages, with the front of one row facing the back of another row; whilst at other times they are built irregularly to conform with "Fung Shui" ("wind and water"), a form of Chinese geomancy which traditionally governs the siting of dwellings and graves. The streets between the dwellings are usually not more than six to eight feet wide, and the drainage is primitive. Latrines are erected apart from the dwellings, and are similar, though inferior, to those still found attached to some rural cottages in the United Kingdom. The houses are for the most part kept in reasonable repair and the structural design is never altered. Furnishings consist usually of trestle beds, perhaps a table, and a few small stools.

New Buildings and Repairs

During 1949, 608 plans involving the construction of 1,290 buildings were submitted to the Director of Public Works for approval. These included 451 European-type dwellings, 749 Chinese type dwellings, 34 factories, 8 hótels, 10 schools, 5 churches, 32 godowns and stores and one theatre. There were also 2,231 plans covering rehabilitations, altera- tions and additions, mostly to domestic property, 57 site developments, and a large number of plans covering minor construction work such as garages and temporary buildings.

A total of 597 new buildings, comprising 490 European- type and 639 Chinese-type dwellings and 63 other structures were completed during the year. 201 other miscellaneous non-domestic buildings were also completed.

Town Planning

The Report of Sir Patrick Abercrombie, who was commissioned under the Colonial Development and Welfare Scheme to advise Government on town planning, was published in September and envisages far reaching develop-

ments including the provision of a cross-harbour tunnel, land reclamations, the re-siting of the railway, the removal of military establishments and the creation of industrial and residential zones. These recommendations are now being studied with a view to the preparation of an interim outline plan for the whole Colony. It is clear that such expensive proposals cannot all be implemented at once but progress has been made in implementing such parts of the recommen- dations as can be put into effect at present. Town planning legislation is also being drafted.

On the mainland the development of Tsun Wan as an industrial satellite and Luen Wo as a market centre has begun. The former provides factory sites outside the present congested urban area and should develop into a complete community. The latter, being a completely new village, will provide better living and working conditions than exist in the older centres. Plans have been prepared for the development of other New Territories villages including Shek Wu Hui and Sheung Shui. In the urban area building has been encouraged on the lines of the Report and develop- ment schemes are being prepared for the areas between Kowloon and the hills to the north, particularly at Kowloon Tong north of Kai Tak and at Kung Tong.

Large scale traffic control layouts for dealing with the increasing congestion in Victoria and Kowloon have been considered and some of these have been approved by the Traffic Department and put into effect. It is apparent that what has been done in this direction can only be considered as stop gap measures; nothing short of completely new traffic arteries can solve the chronic traffic problems of Victoria and Kowloon.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Urban Community Development

Relief work of a more productive and long term character than has previously been the case was performed during 1949 in various fields. In January it was suggested

to some of the neighbours of a government social welfare centre in the densely crowded Shamshuipo area that they might interest themselves in helping to rehabilitate the underprivileged of their own district who attended that centre. Several commercial and industrial leaders in the same district then saw the possibilities of still more pro- gressive neighbourhood work and started to plan a new Shamshuipo Kaifong Welfare Association. During the following months the idea spread to other districts, helped on in part by the unsolicited enthusiasm of the Chinese Press. By the end of the year there were twelve major urban districts which had started their own kaifong welfare associa-

tions with the intention of combining what was adaptable from western community or neighbourhood associations with some of the long-established Chinese social traditions of kaifong. The total membership had risen by December to nearly 8,000, including a very large proportion of shop- keepers, artisans, and in two districts boat people, as well as leading businessmen. The genuine kaifong welfare associations have been encouraged to stand on their own feet and to prove themselves by the performance of as much practical work as possible. Their aims and objects have so far been confined to some of the social problems connected with education, public health, cultural development, recrea- tion, relief work, family welfare, and all other necessary social welfare work. They are non-political and membership is open to all adults living or working permanently in the association's district. The business of all these associations is conducted in Cantonese, since many of the members speak no other language, and this has meant that very few non- Chinese have felt able to take part.

Vulnerable Groups

In spite of civil war and economic disasters in nearby parts of China and of the unrestricted immigration of Chinese into the Colony, there were no signs in Hong Kong of anything approaching widespread starvation during 1949. There was severe poverty, desperate overcrowding, and the scourge of tuberculosis, but very few cases indeed of the appalling economic distress which might reasonably have been expected.

was

Non-residential work for the relief of distress carried on by very large numbers of Chinese charitable or social organisations and by four other independent voluntary organisations. Most of the assistance given was in the form of foodstuffs to be taken home, ready-made clothing, intro- ductions for employment, payment of school fees or the provision of free schools for destitute children, free repatria- tion and outright grants of money. The Social Welfare Office also kept six welfare centres open every day where one substantial free meal a day was issued and eaten on the spot by destitute adults genuinely unable to seek work and by any destitute child. The daily average attendance was a little under two thousand, of whom 60% were children. At some of these centres co-operative ventures were started for certain of the adults, and children's clubs and vocational training organised for as many of the children as possible. Two residential camps were also directly administered by the Social Welfare Officer; one at North Point was in part a public assistance institution, and the other at Morrison Hill an experiment in community living for over 200 very poor persons.

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Interviewing applicants for a free meal at Yaumati Welfare Centre.

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Residential care for 1,700 deprived children was provided by 15 orphanages and foundling homes, the majority of which received welfare and educational subsidies from Government. Non-residential child welfare work, other than that in the boys and girls clubs, was mainly undertaken by the Social Welfare Office. Transfers of children from destitute or broken homes, sometimes for a purely nominal consideration and by strangers who were new to the Colony, continued to present a serious social problem, not least on account of the opportunities which were thus multiplied for traffickers in children. In order to suppress these evils and to aid in the hunt for any girls employed illegally as mui tsai, all alleged adopted daughters whose adoption is not made on the order of a competent court are automatically the statutory wards of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and have to be registered accordingly. Thereafter they are regularly visited by child welfare workers until they contract an approved marriage or reach the age of 21. Other children suspected of being in potential physical or moral danger are if necessary given the same protection.

Three religious organisations maintained Homes for the indigent aged, and a large number of old persons drew regular charitable relief from government or voluntary agencies. Welfare for blind girls or unmarried women was provided by a Roman Catholic and a Lutheran Home. The new School for the Deaf had nearly 40 Cantonese children in residence, a number of them being almost penniless. Five of these voluntary agencies or organisations were subsidised by Government.

During 1949 the Police reported 91 cases of suicide, and referred a further 282 cases of attempted suicide to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs where their histories were investigated and where they were offered appropriate help or guidance.

In January Government, after consultation with the Port Welfare Committee, revised that Committee's terms of reference so that they clearly covered the welfare of all visiting merchant seamen irrespective of race, creed or nationality. The new Committee included British, Chinese and Norwegian members. One of the Committee's principal activities during the year was the establishment of a Merchant Navy football field with a modern and well- equipped club-house on ground provided by Government near the Kowloon waterfront.

Family Cases

Machinery for countering the disintegration of families or the breakdown of home life arising from internal dissen- sion was often provided by the police stations where simple

cases of discord were quickly ironed out by the officer on duty. More serious cases, and especially those requiring protracted arbitration, were taken by the New Territories District Officers or in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs; the latter handled 1,456 of these cases during 1949. Finally, the judiciary provided expert machinery both for conciliation, the bulk of which was carried out in the magistrates' chambers, and for the settlement of disputes by litigation.

Squatters

The Social Welfare Office carried out a preliminary screening of all the inhabitants of squatter colonies scheduled for clearance, and recommended to the Urban Council those families which qualified for admission to one of the new approved squatter sites. In the course of this work a very large amount of social and economic information about squatters was collected and recorded. As the work was not started until towards the end of the first quarter, statistics have been summarised only from the July-December returns. Squatter screening squads during this period visited 3,085 shacks and interviewed 5,027 squatter families consisting of 15,892 persons; 1,565 of these families had been in Hong Kong for ten or more years, but over 90% of all squatters originally came from Kwangtung Province. Only 275 of the families were eligible for recommendation to the Urban Council for an approved site. Both economically and socially there are very great differences between one squatter colony and another; some consist almost solely of brothels or opium dens; some are flourishing trading centres dealing in reputable wares; some are inhabited only by Chiuchow- speaking immigrants from Swatow; some have a very high proportion of bread-winnners in regular, legal and well-paid employment; some consist of nothing but matting roofs two or three feet off the ground which cannot even be called shacks. Not a few government employees from nearly all departments, school-teachers, employees of big public utilities, and others who may be earning total incomes of $300 a month. or more have been found amongst the squatters. Other investigations of squatter families made by the squatter- screening squad for special reasons, or after a fire, gave the same picture.

Youth Work

No social welfare activity is more important or more lasting in results than that collectively described as youth work. Although in this work it is impossible to establish any boundary dividing educational from social welfare activities, this section deals only with the progress made outside the schools and the University.

In some other parts of the world youth work or youth welfare describes activities undertaken for or by adolescents

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or even very young adults. In Hong Kong early economic maturity is forced upon so great a part of the community, that practical youth welfare work has as a rule been carried out for boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 15; during 1949 efforts were made to extend this age-group upwards from 10 to 21. At the beginning of 1949 six other major problems still had to be faced: lack of money, lack of staff, lack of accommodation, lack of co-ordination between different organisations, lack of any general policy, and very serious gaps in the available knowledge about the needs of different sections of Hong Kong's youth. Money alone would not have solved all those problems: sufficient money and an adequate supply of properly trained staff would have met most of them, and it is encouraging to be able to record that through joint government and voluntary action definite pro- gress was made.

A Youth Leaders' training course was instituted at the beginning of the year, which was later followed by a series of lectures on health education. The Boys and Girls Clubs Association was formally affiliated to the National Association of Girls Clubs and Mixed Clubs in the United Kingdom; and with the aid of a Government grant it also engaged a full- time field secretary. The local branch of the Girl Guides Association, again with the help of a special government grant, arranged to share with certain other territories in South East Asia the temporary services of a highly qualified trainer in 1950; this should do much to raise still further the high standard of Girl Guide work in the Colony.

Lack of bathing facilities for under-privileged children, who cannot afford the comparatively expensive transport to the Colony's beaches, was met in part by the provision of a bathing shed at Kennedy Town by the Boys and Girls Clubs Association. Experimental holiday camps for about 200 of these children were so successful that plans were made for setting up a permanent camp site which could cater for up to 9,000 deprived children a year as well as many school- children. Thirty-seven non-government clubs and six government children's clubs between them had a total membership of about 1,750 deprived or near-destitute children, and it was encouraging to note how these young future Hong Kong citizens all benefited markedly in self- control, self-respect and initiative as a result of joining these clubs. Finally, through the help of the War Memorial Fund Committee, the Children's Playgrounds Association was able to complete its plans for a Centre in the heart of Wanchai where five different organisations concerned with child and youth welfare will have headquarters or branches, where further training facilities for youth leaders or workers will be available, where under-privileged young persons' recrea- tion will be given first priority, and where a far closer prac-

tical co-operation will be made possible between all interested organisations.

Another significant event in 1949 was the establishment of a purely consultative Standing Conference of all youth organisations, in which the Social Welfare Office and Educa- tion Department have the status of full members equal to the seven other voluntary member-organisations. This Con- ference has already taken a leading part in initiating or furthering some of the progress noted above, and in achieving greater co-ordination between youth organisations.

The reorganisation and expansion of the Probation Service, together with certain other reforms in the treatment and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents, still awaited the arrival of a qualified Probation Officer, but meanwhile the voluntary Juvenile Care Committee appointed two lay Court Missioners to be at the disposal of the Magistrates should the latter require their services. These appointments proved of considerable value in helping the magistrates and probation officers in dealing with many of 31,000 juvenile defendants who were charged during the year. The vast majority of these juveniles were charged with unlicensed hawking or kindred offences; only 16% were found guilty of more serious crimes.

The Social Welfare Office and its Role

The Social Welfare Office was established as a specialised sub-department of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs in August 1947, but since the beginning of 1948 it has in prac- tice been granted administrative and financial independence except in the exercise of certain legal powers vested in the Secretary for Chinese Affairs as Protector of Women and Girls and delegated by him to the Social Welfare Officer.

The Social Welfare Office's principal responsibilities included public assistance measures and emergency relief work in the event of a fire or typhoon, official liaison with all voluntary charitable organisations except hospitals or schools, child welfare, protection of women and girls, welfare of other vulnerable groups and of unsuccessful suicides, youth welfare work, the probation service, family case-work, merchant seamen's welfare, surveys and squatter screening, repatriation, kaifong and urban community development, financial control over government charitable subventions, plans for the training locally or abroad of social workers, and consultation with the official Social Welfare Advisory Committee over recommendations for Government's long and short term social welfare policies. One of the most important duties is the encouragement of local voluntary self-help through close and friendly liaison and through the provision of such technical advice or other services as may be required.

Chapter 8

The year 1949 saw the enactment of a

total of 51 Ordinances. In contrast to the legislation of the three preceding years, comparatively little of the 1949 legislation is directly concerned with conditions arising out of the Japanese occupation of the Colony. This fact encourages the belief that the majority of the post- occupational problems, in so far as they required legislation, have been met. The 1949 legislation in the main reflects the need to meet novel social

LEGISLATION nd political conditions within the

Colony resulting in particular from the state of civil war and unrest which prevailed in China throughout the year. But opportunity was taken wherever possible to achieve consolidation and simplification of existing laws with particular regard to the needs of a general law revision which has proceeded throughout the year.

For example, the Immigrants Control Ordinance, 1949, revised and consolidated existing legislation relating to the entry into and residence in the Colony of persons not born in Hong Kong, and introduced provision for the better control of aliens and for establishing a check on the movements of persons in the Colony who were not born in Hong Kong. The Ordinance consolidates the powers exercised by the Immigration Officer under previously existing legislation, and extends such powers to cover the situation resulting from the increased use of aircraft as a modern method of transport. Although wide powers are given under this Ordinance to the officers required to carry out its provisions safeguards against the arbitrary use of such powers have been carefully pre- served in that an aggrieved person has a right of appeal to the Governor in Council in addition to his right of recourse to the Courts.

The Magistrates (Amendment) Ordinance, 1949, effected considerable revision of the Magistrates Ordinance, 1932. An important amendment enables the appointment of two types of Magistrate-"permanent" and "special". Permanent magistrates are professionally qualified officers and as such exercise greater powers under the Ordinance than do special magistrates who may not be legally qualified. Another amendment eliminates a defect in the principal Ordinance in that power is now given to appoint magistrates by warrant under the hand of the Governor and in this way to limit the jurisdiction and powers of magistrates so appointed. Oppor- tunity was also taken more clearly to define the powers and

functions of the Attorney General in regard to prosecutions in the Magistrates Courts and it is now clear that the Attorney General is empowered to exercise the same control over prosecutions before magistrates as in the Supreme Court.

A further amendment based on section 1 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907, (7 Edw. c.17) gives wider powers to magistrates in the matter of releasing an offender on probation. The amending Ordinance authorises a novel procedure whereby persons charged with the commission of certain minor offences are afforded the right to plead guilty by letter, but this right is restricted only to those offences which have been the subject of a special declaration in an Ordinance or which have been specified by a resolution of Legislative Council. As regards bail, magistrates have been given a discretionary power to grant or refuse bail in all cases of felony save treason and murder and in all cases of indictable misdemeanor. In the event of an appeal from the decision of a magistrate, the amended Ordinance now specifically requires a magistrate to provide a written judg- ment for the consideration of the Court of Appeal.

The Emergency Regulations (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance, 1949, amended the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1922, and in so doing clarified the question of penalties for offences against regulations made under the Ordinance and confirmed that where there is conflict or inconsistency between regulations and existing law, regula- tions would prevail.

In the course of the year necessity was presented to enact regulations. A principal body of such regulations of a most. comprehensive nature has been enacted and published. These regulations, entitled the Emergency (Principal) Regula- tions, 1949, were not brought into force upon enactment, provision being included to empower the Governor to bring them into force in whole or part as circumstances may require.

The shortage of accommodation in the Colony necessitated the appointment of a committee charged with the responsibility of enquiring into and advising Government concerning the control of hotel accommodation and the charges for such accommodation. As a result of this committee's report the Hotels Ordinance was enacted in 1949 to enable measures of control to be imposed in respect of accommodation in and charges made by certain hotels in the Colony. The Ordinance protects, by reservation of accommodation and by control of charges, the "Hong Kong resident", being a person who is resident in Hong Kong for the reason that his occupation is in Hong Kong.

One of the worst and most obvious legacies of the war was the extensive damage which occurred to a large proportion of domestic and business premises in all parts of

the Colony. In many cases complete destruction had taken place and barren sites thus created, often encumbered with squatters' huts or insanitary accumulations of rubbish, have become a danger to health. In order to assist and accelerate the clearance and re-development of such sites the War Damaged Sites Ordinance was enacted in 1949. The Ordinance lays down a standard procedure for the carrying out of site clearance and shortens the period which must elapse before a power of sale can be exercised in the case of an owner who is unwilling or unable himself to effect the desired improvements. Under the Ordinance the Director of Public Works has wide discretionary powers. For example, he may declare a site to be a war damaged site whereupon the owner may be required to state what he intends to do with regard to clearance of the site. Further the Director of Public Works may enter upon a war damaged site and carry out the work of clearance. In that event the cost of clearance becomes a first charge on the property. In certain circum- stances the Crown has the right to re-enter in accordance with the provision in the lease and, after notification in the Gazette of an intention so to do, may sell the land by public auction. Provision is made in the Ordinance for appeal to the Governor in Council by any person who considers that his is a case of hardship or that a discretion under the Ordinance has been unfairly or unwisely exercised. The ordinary rights of recourse to the Supreme Court are also explicitly reserved.

The modern tendency to organise strikes in order to achieve a political objective rather than in furtherance of a genuine trade dispute, rendered desirable the enactment of the Illegal Strikes and Lockouts Ordinance, 1949. Under this Ordinance a strike or lockout having an objective other than the furtherance of a trade dispute and being designed to coerce the Government or community, is rendered illegal.

Having regard to the possibility of the maintenance of law and order in the Colony being endangered by external influence, it was considered necessary to legislate so as to require the registration of all societies in the Colony with a view to securing knowledge of the objects and some measure of control of such societies. In order to achieve this purpose the Societies Ordinance, 1949, was enacted. The Ordinance requires that all societies coming within the definition of local societies shall apply to the Registrar of Societies for registra- tion. The Registrar may register or refuse to register or exempt any society so applying. He is obliged to refuse registration of any local society which is affiliated or connected with any political organisation established outside the Colony. The Ordinance gives a right of appeal to the Governor in Council against a refusal by the Registrar to register a society.

The danger of adverse external influence has also been a factor influencing the enactment of the Representation of Foreign Powers (Control) Ordinance. Under this legislation a person who is not a properly accredited representative of a foreign power, is precluded from functioning on behalf of any foreign power in the Colony. A measure of control is thus applied, in particular as regards organisations of a commercial nature which are, in fact, representative of or controlled by a foreign power and which consequently are capable of being employed to project the political aims or doctrines of such foreign power.

The general increase in the population of the Colony since the liberation and the heavy incursion of refugees due to the unsettled conditions in China made it imperative to legislate so as to provide machinery for the more expeditious removal of undesirable elements in the population. With this object in view, two Ordinances were enacted in 1949, namely the Expulsion of Undesirables Ordinance and the Deportation of Aliens (Amendment) Ordinance. Under the former Ordinance, a competent authority, after holding a summary enquiry and recording a finding that an individual is undesirable, may make an order expelling such individual from the Colony unless he satisfies the competent authority that he is a British subject or that he has been ordinarily resident in the Colony for 10 years or more. The power to establish camps is given to the Governor in Council and power to detain and remove undesirables and suspected undesirables is given to police officers. The grounds set out in the Ordinance upon which a competent authority may declare an individual to be undesirable reproduce in general- the grounds upon which a prospective immigrant can be refused permission to enter the Colony under the Immigrants Control Ordinance, 1949. An order of expulsion is final and conclusive subject to revocation by the Governor and is valid for 5 years if not revoked. In view of the fact that the powers afforded by the Ordinance are directly related to the over-population in the Colony, a condition which is liable to change beneficially or adversely, the Ordinance provides that its operation may be suspended or re-imposed by resolution of Legislative Council.

The Deportation of Aliens (Amendment) Ordinance, 1949, amends the 1935 principal Ordinance so as to simplify the process of deportation in the case of aliens who have been convicted of certain scheduled offences, such convicted aliens being now subject to automatic deportation. Under the Ordinance a competent authority, that is to say, an individual officer appointed by the Governor, may order the deportation of an alien convicted of a scheduled offence but the amending Ordinance preserves safeguards against the deportation of any person who is not an alien and further provides for a due

investigation of claims against deportation on the grounds, for instance, of long residence in the Colony.

In one form or another registration of persons and the issue of identity cards has been in vogue in many parts of the world in modern times as a necessary part of any machinery for control and security in conditions of emergency. The Registration of Persons Ordinance enacted in 1949, provides for the registration of persons in the Colony and establishes means for their identification, the primary object of the legislation being to aid any measures which may from time to time be found necessary for the maintenance of law and order and for the distribution of supplies of food or other commodities. The Ordinance obliges, with certain exceptions such as members of His Majesty's Forces, every person being in the Colony or entering the Colony to make application for registration to the Registration Commissioner. The Registration Commissioner is required to maintain a Register in which shall be entered the name and particulars of an applicant and all persons whose names are so entered the Register are issued with identity cards. For administrative convenience the Ordinance enables registration to be carried out in progressive stages by empowering the Governor to direct by Gazette notification that initially registration shall be effected in relation to categories specified in such Notification.

Legislation designed to provide an organisation to aid, in emergency, in the operation of services essential to the life of the community was enacted under the title of the Essential Services Corps Ordinance, 1949. Under this legislation the Governor is given power to raise and maintain a body of persons by voluntary enrolment to assist in the maintenance or the performance of essential services. Persons enrolled under the provisions of the Ordinance become members of the Essential Services Corps who will be available, upon being called out for actual service, to assist in the maintenance of essential services of the nature specified in the Schedule to the Ordinance.

The need for consolidating and amending the law regulating the granting of pensions, gratuities and other allowances to members of the public service of the Colony had been apparent for a long time. The necessary legislation, which conforms closely with model legislation adopted in the majority of Colonies, was afforded by the enactment of the Pensions Ordinance, 1949. In the category of pensions legislation the Compensation (Special Cases) Ordinance which was enacted in 1949, legislates to empower the grant of compensation to a person injured, or to the dependants of a person who is killed in the discharge of a moral or legal duty to uphold the law in resistance to crime.

JUSTICE

POLICE & PRISONS

The Supreme Court

Chapter 9.

JUSTICE

The Supreme Court consisted throughout the year of the Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges. The Supreme Court has the same jurisdiction as His Majesty's Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer lawfully have or had in England and is a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, Assize and Nisi Prius, with jurisdiction in Probate, Divorce, Admiralty, Bankruptcy and Criminal · Matters. It is also a Court of Equity with such and the like jurisdiction as the Court of Chancery has or had in England, and has and executes the powers and authorities of the Lord High Chancellor of England with full liberty to appoint and control guardians of infants and their estates and also keepers of persons and estates of idiots, lunatics and such as, being of unsound mind, are unable to govern themselves and their estates.

The practice for the time being of the English Courts is in force in the Colony, except where, being inapplicable to the local circumstances, it has been modified by local legislation. The civil procedure of the courts was codified by the Code of Civil Procedure, Ordinance No. 3 of 1901, which modified and, in some instances, excluded some of the provisions of the English Rules of Practice. Such of the laws of England as existed in the Colony on 5th April, 1843, are also in force in the Colony except so far as the laws are inapplicable to local circumstances and subject to legislative modifications thereto.

All civil claims above the sum of $1,000 are heard in the Court's Original Jurisdiction as well as all miscellaneous proceedings concerning questions arising on estates, appoint-

ments of trustees, company matters, etc. Civil claims from $5.00 up to and including $1,000 are heard in the Court's Summary Jurisdiction by the Puisne Judge as are all matters arising out of distraints for non-payment of rent. Cases in the Probate, Divorce, Admiralty and Bankruptcy Jurisdictions of the court are usually heard by the Chief Justice. Indictable offences are first heard before magistrates and are committed to the criminal sessions which are held once every month; these cases are usually divided between two judges.

A right of appeal exists in all the above cases. Appeals are heard by a Full Court consisting of two or more judges. Under the Magistrates Ordinance, 1932, as amended by Ordinance No. 19 of 1935, any person aggrieved may appeal to a judge from the decision of a magistrate in a summary way. This form of appeal is heard by a single judge who may reserve the appeal or any point in it for consideration by the Full Court, or may direct the appeal or the point to be argued before the Full Court.

The Moratorium imposed at the time of the re-occupation in 1945 was lifted on the 1st December, 1948. As will be seen from the figures given below, litigation greatly increased during 1949. In the case of the Original Jurisdiction, the number of actions was almost double the number for 1948. This increase in litigation more than justified the appointment of the new Puisne Judge.

By making certain alterations to the building of the Supreme Court, a third Court (air-conditioned) was constructed during the year.

The ceremony in connection with the opening of the assizes was held on the 18th January, 1949. A service in St. John's Cathedral, which was attended by both branches of the Profession and members of the public, including prominent local citizens and representatives from the three Services, was followed by an inspection by His Honour the Chief Justice, Sir Leslie Gibson, of a Guard of Honour supplied by the 1st Battalion, the Buffs. An address by His Honour was then delivered in the first Court before a large gathering.

Women jurors, who were first appointed in 1947, con- tinued to serve in Assize cases.

Legislation was enacted during the year to free the Registrar of the Supreme Court from duties hitherto carried out by him in connection with Companies and Official Trustee's work. These matters are now under the control of the Registrar General's Department. The same legislation brought the position of the Registrar more into line with that of a Master of the High Court in England.

By the effect of the Registrar General's (Establishment) Ordinance 1949 a new department was established under

the Registrar General with effect from the 1st April, 1949 to centralise the administration of the following offices by combining them into one department: Land Office and Deeds Registry, Companies Registry, Trade Marks and Patents Registry, Marriage Registry, and the offices of the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy and Official Trustee.

The following table gives details of the work done in the Supreme Court during 1947 to 1949:

Original Jurisdiction

(actions instituted)

Summary Jurisdiction

(actions instituted)

Distraints for Rent

Probate Jurisdiction

Probates

1947 1948 1949

340

357

763

229

411

439

245

372

387

246

160

130

(grants made)

Letters of Administration

642

589

531

(grants made)

Grants by other Courts sealed

232

208

109

Criminal Sessions

XXX

Persons indicted

366

286

203

Persons convicted

277

261

158

Under trial or adjourned

Appeals against conviction or sentence

Appeals against magisterial decisions

Appeals in respect of civil actions

Appeals against the decisions of the Tenancy

Tribunals

Admiralty Jurisdiction

(actions filed)

Divorce Jurisdiction

(Petitions filed)

Estates taken into custody by the Official

Adminstrator

Bills of Sale registered

128

141

183

During the year 1949, the appointment of a permanent President to the Tenancy Tribunal was the remedy to the heavy arrears which had been accumulating; not only were the arrears accounted for during the year but a big increase in the number of cases filed-599 as against 398 in 1948- was successfully dealt with.

The Lower Courts

There are three magistrates' courts on the Island and two in Kowloon. The latter hear cases from the whole mainland area south of the Kowloon Hills and from the harbour. In October, 1948, a new court was instituted, known as the Justices of the Peace Court which is composed

of two unofficial Justices of the Peace sitting together, one of whom is a solicitor. This court has proved a success and is of great value in relieving the Magistrates of a good deal of work. Towards the end of 1949 a third magistrate assisted in Kowloon.

Civil jurisdiction in the New Territories is exercised by the District Commissioner and his District Officers, who have powers similar to the Supreme Court. Most of the litigation concerns land, in which the number of disputes is particularly heavy in the Taipo District. The District Officers Yuen Long and Taipo sit each three days a week, on alternate days, as Magistrates. They also hear debts cases.

Cases Heard in the Lower Courts

The figures below show the penalties which were awarded at the Hong Kong and Kowloon Magistracies in respect of cases heard during the whole year 1949. Corresponding totals for the year 1948 are also given.

Total

for

Hong Kong Kowloon 1949

1948

Prosecutions against adults Prosecutions against juveniles

54,147 49,130 146,921 133,001

30,623 13,021

Convictions against adults

49,570 43,312

134,295 120,893

Convictions against juveniles

30,057 11,356

Adult Offenders

Fined

40,203

34,233 74,436

63,598

Imprisoned in default of payment of fine

5,025

8,053 13,078

19,771

Imprisoned without option

1,950

2,422

4,372

5,353

Bound over

452

503

955

1,123

Cautioned or discharged

4,033

5,200

9,2

8,641

Defendants fined and allowed time to

pay fine .............

655

540

1,195

425

Deported from the Colony

479

537

1,016

Expelled from the Colony

1,197

549

1,746

1,780

Juvenile Offenders

Fined

27,852

7,683

35,535

22,505

Sent to Reformatory

....

Committed to approved institutions

Bound over

144

162

306

408

Placed on probation

Cautioned or discharged

422

1,502

1,924

2,272

Whipped

1,195

3,172

4,367

4,531

Imprisoned

166

477

Deported from the Colony

103

Expelled from the Colony

851

315

1,166

1,339

Maintenance Cases

Order made .....

POLICE

The territory of the Colony comprises heavily populated urban areas as well as tracts of rural country, both hilly and flat, with scattered village communities, and the surrounding territorial waters, and the ever increasing population, though predominantly Chinese, is cosmopolitan and comprises all strata of society. Police duties are therefore manifold and

and widely varied. Moreover the peculiar geographical situation of Hong Kong, having a common land and sea frontier with China, poses political and other problems which frequently add to the difficulties of Police action. Despite this the Colony has had a year of comparative serenity, and although Police buildings and equipment are still short of requirements, definite progress has been made and there has been a marked improvement in both man-power and material.

Organisation and Composition of the Police Force

Primarily the Force is divided into a Headquarters and two Branches, the Uniformed Branch and the C.I.D.

The Uniformed Branch comprises two territorial districts, which are subdivided into seven territorial divisions, the Traffic Branch, the Marine Police, and the Communications Branch. In addition there are certain task forces, such as Emergency Units, Water Front Searching Unit, Railway Police Unit, Hawker Squad, and Village Penetration Patrols in the New Territories.

The Marine Police has a fleet of 21 vessels ranging from ocean tugs to motor boats, all fitted with radio telephony. Six new landing craft with outboard motors are on order. During the year the Marine Police has co-operated to a considerable extent with the Royal Navy and the Commando Brigade and successful raids against armed men on outlying islands have also been carried out.

The C.I.D. comprises the Detective Branch and the Special Branch. The former has its Identification Bureau, Records and Statistics office, Forensic Laboratory, and specialist sections such as Commercial Crime, Anti-Corruption, and Homicide Squad. The Special Branch is responsible for the prevention and detection of all activities subversive of peace and good order and also operates the Immigration Department, Registry of Aliens and Registration of Societies.

The authorised establishment of the Police Force was 3,911 the actual strength at the end of 1949 being 3,477. The Force is composed of 42 Gazetted officers, 365 Inspectorate (240 expatriate and 125 non-expatriate includ- ing 1 Woman Sub-Inspector), 484 Shantung Police, who are recruited because of their superior physique, 2,462

Cantonese including a small number of Eurasians and 124 Indians, and is relieved of all but strictly Police duties by a civilian staff of 738.

Training and Education

All ranks on engagement undergo a period of training at the Police Training School, six months in the case of locally recruited Inspectorate and three months in the case of the Rank & File. The syllabus includes law and Police duties, first aid, drill and weapon training, including the use of tear smoke. Concentrated refresher courses are held for N.C.O.'s and there is a special course of training for Marine Police including signalling and seamanship. A total of 1,044 men passed out of the school during the year.

All ranks are literate in their own language when recruited; Chinese is compulsory for non-Chinese and basic English is taught to Chinese at the Training School so that all recruits on passing out of the school have acquired at least a slight knowledge of the language. It is hoped shortly to provide facilities for post-graduate instruction in English for the Rank & File.

Traffic

During 1949 there has been a large increase in the number of vehicles in use on the 410 miles of roads in the Colony. In

In 1948 there were 11,757 vehicles, and in 1949 there were 14,551. These figures do not include Service vehicles which now number several thousand. The increase in numbers of both vehicles and pedestrians, and lack of adequate parking space has aggravated the traffic problem. In an attempt to improve the situation, one way systems have been put into operation with considerable success, and parking facilities have been extended almost to the limit. A 24 hour silent zone was introduced towards the end of the year in the centre of Victoria, and this has proved very beneficial. A number of regular pedestrians crossings were instituted at the same time.

The accident rate, not unnaturally in the circum- stances, has increased:

Fatal accidents

Serious accidents

1948

1949

119

474

611

1,945

2,780

Slight accidents

Developments

New developments during the year include the setting up of a much needed Forensic Laboratory, under a qualified forensic specialist, who has been appointed Police Surgeon after taking a course of forensic study at Glasgow and

Edinburgh Universities. The Criminal Records office has been improved and reorganised, and in the Crime Statistical office a new system of recording serious crime by means of the Hollerith Machine has been adopted. Great strides have also been made during the year in the Communications Branch, and there is now a complete radio telephony com- munication network covering the whole of Hong Kong and Kowloon, the harbour, the harbour approaches and the New Territories with electrical stand-by equipment for the whole system. The Branch has its own workshop and does its own maintenance and installation.

Crime

The figures for serious crime dropped from 11,008 cases to 9,329 cases. There was a slight decrease in robberies of all kinds, from 227 to 205. Burglaries and housebreaking cases also decreased from 927 to 570. There were 4,434 prosecutions for serious offences as against 5,233 in 1948. 114,328 persons were prosecuted for miscellaneous minor offences compared with 98,150 in 1948. 11,824 persons were deported or expelled from the Colony representing an increase of 5,017 on the previous year. Great credit is due to the Police Force for thus reducing the crime of the Colony in spite of the increasing difficulties with which they have had to contend.

IBRARIES

VG KONG PUBLIC LIBRA

PRISONS

Prisons Population

During the year 21,456 persons (18,253 males, 3,203 females) were, for various reasons, committed to the prisons of the Colony, as compared with 24,941 (21,345 males, 3,596 females) during 1948. Of this number, 16,448 (13,849 males and 2,599 females) were sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment, of which 8,320 in respect of males and 866 in respect of females were for periods of under a month. Assuming the population of the Colony to be in round figures 1,860,000 it appears that 884 persons per 100,000 of population were committed to serve sentences of imprisonment. In addition to the figures given, 29 boys were admitted to the Reformatory as compared with 64 during 1948. These admissions caused a daily average population of 3,041 (2,769 males, 211 females and 61 reformatory boys). The approved accommodation is for a total of 2,374 persons distributed as shown below.

Prison Buildings

Stanley Prison was built in 1937. It is a modern type of building, situated amid rural surroundings and has cellular accommodation for 1,578 prisoners but has been overcrowded since the day it was opened. During 1949 the lowest muster was 2,003 (on 28.12.49) and the highest was 2,794 (on 8.1.49), with a daily average of 2,342. It has a well equipped hospital and in one of the cell blocks 40 cells have double-sized windows to provide a good supply of fresh air for prisoners suffering from tuberculosis. The workshops are good in design but are inadequate for so large a prison. A building originally intended as a Printing Shop has been adapted to provide additional workshop space. for the making of baskets and brooms. Part of it is used as a dormitory for prisoners in the 16-21 years age group.

Two war-time food-storage godowns, to which sanitary-block has been added, have been converted into workshops and class-rooms and set aside as a Training Centre for prisoners in the 16-21 age group. This centre is situated about 300 yards from Stanley Prison and the lads leave the prison early each morning and only return at the end of the day which has been devoted to school work, industrial or manual training and recreation in suitable proportions.

Victoria Prison is situated in Victoria near the Central Police Station and the Magistrates' Courts. In it are detained persons on remand and awaiting trial, those held in custody, pending deportation, vagrants, debtors, and convicted male prisoners serving sentences up to a month. Each of these

classes of prisoners is segregated. There is approved accommodation for 516 prisoners and the daily average population for 1949 was 427.

The Boys Reformatory is housed in buildings which were war-time food-storage godowns, three of which have been subdivided to form dormitories, schoolrooms, workshops, kitchen, dining-room, recreation room, sick-bay etc., and another provides quarters for subordinate staff. To these has been added a small building containing two offices. There is reasonably good

good accommodation for 75 boys. During 1949 the daily average number was 61, the highest muster during the year being 75 (22.4.49.) and the lowest 47 (9.11.49).

Lai Chi Kok Female Prison is situated on the mainland, in the north-western suburbs of Kowloon. Except for 24 cells the accommodation is of dormitory type. There is reasonable space for 250 convicted prisoners, 22 prisoners on remand and awaiting deportation, and a hospital with 12 beds with a separate room for maternity cases. Women prisoners are employed at cooking and domestic duties, laundry, sewing, hand-weaving and gardening, while a small party assists daily in the nursery garden of the Forestry Department. Prisoners are encouraged to make good use of their leisure by attendance at classes where knitting and sewing is taught. The articles made are sold periodically, the proceeds forming a general fund from which deserving cases are assisted on discharge. The daily average popula-

tion during 1949 was 211, the highest muster being 327 on 9.3.49 and the lowest 153 on 13.10.49.

Staff and Discipline

Of a total staff of 451 no less than 304 have joined since the reoccupation and of this number 165 joined during 1948 and 1949, but in spite of such a "young" staff the standard of discipline has been brought to and maintained. at a high level.

No prisoner escaped during the year and there has been no serious incident in any prison.

Industries within the prisons and reclamation and other works outside the walls have been developed to the point that every prisoner fit for labour is usefully employed and the value of the work performed is about equal to the cost of food and clothing.

RAB

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PUBLIC UTILITIES

Chapter 10

The supply of water to the Colony is undertaken by the Public Works Department of the Government. The generation of electric power is in the hands of two private companies one of which operates on the Island of Hong Kong and one in Kowloon and the New Territories. Domestic gas is supplied on both sides of the Harbour by the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., Ltd. Bus, tramway and ferry services are in the hands of private companies. Broadcasting is a Government undertaking under the control of the Postmaster General.

Waterworks

There are no large rivers or underground sources of water and the Colony has to depend for its water supply on the collection in impounding reservoirs of the rains falling on upland gathering grounds. These reservoirs are thirteen in number and collect the heavy south-west monsoon rains between May and September. Little rain falls in the remain- ing months of the year, so that the storage necessary to provide for an all-the-year round supply is relatively heavy. The total capacity of existing reservoirs is 5,970 million gallons, only 2,362 million of which are on the Island. Of the 3,608 million gallons on the mainland 2,921 million are contained in the Jubilee Reservoir at Shing Mun. This reservoir is the largest in the Colony and the 275 foot dam forming it is one of the tallest in the Empire. To augment the run-off from areas draining directly into the reservoirs, about 35 miles of catchwater channels have been constructed on the hillsides to lead the water from upland areas the natural drainage of which falls outside the reservoir catch- ments.

Despite the completion of the Shing Mun Valley Scheme in 1941, the increased growth of the population resulted in a demand still in excess of the available resources, and investiga-

tions were begun for a new source of supply in Tai Lam Chung Valley on the mainland. This work, consisting of extensive drilling and a geophysical survey has now been completed, and it is hoped that it will be possible to make an early start on this new scheme which will approximately double the Colony's water resources within the next ten years. Topographical survey work for the scheme proceeded throughout the year.

Slightly over 40% of the Island's consumption is supplied from the mainland reservoirs, the water being conveyed across the harbour in two 21" diameter submarine pipes. On account of the hilly nature of the Island a big proportion of the water has to be pumped and in some areas re-pumped, necessitating a large number of pumps and service reservoirs. Most of, the water supplied is both filtered and sterilised by chemical treatment and a satisfactory standard of purity is maintained. All water is supplied to consumers through meters, and the charge is based on the total cost of provision including capital charges. Restrictions in the hours of supply have to be imposed throughout the year to keep consumption within the available resources, but daily consumption reached record figures both on the island and mainland during September. The average daily consumption for the year was over 321⁄2 million gallons; peak consumption reached 44.7 million gallons. The maximum amount of water that can be filtered daily is 41 million gallons.

The delivery of pipes ordered from the United Kingdom improved. This enabled the relaying and extension of water mains both in the city and outlying villages to proceed particularly at Tsun Wan, where rapid development is taking place and at Fanling and Stanley where the demands of the Forces are at present heavy. The replacement of ground hydrants by pedestal ones was continued. It has not yet been possible to operate the waste detection system owing to shortage of staff, although the replacement or repair of the waste detection meters has been completed. Steady improve- ment in the delivery of water meters and spares has enabled the replacement of defective meters to be speeded up. Most of the services are now fitted with meters in good working order. At the end of the year about 30,000 meters were in use.

Plans for a new workshop and depot in Kowloon to replace the existing inadequate and unsatisfactory accommo- dation were completed and approval to proceed is awaited. The erection of the new rapid gravity filtration plant at Stubbs Road was completed and the filters were put into use in December. This plant replaces the old filters at Eastern, Bowen Road and Albany. The replacement of the old brick unfiltered water conduit in Bowen Road (con- structed about 1888) by a 24" diameter reinforced concrete

100

pipe, cast locally, was also completed, together with a new pumping station required to pump filtered water from the new filters along the new Bowen Road pipe line to Bowen Road, Albany and Elliot Service Reservoirs. The new pump- ing station contains both diesel and electrically driven pumps. New slow sand filters at Wong Nei Chong, to provide filtered instead of unfiltered water for the Shouson Hill area, were completed and put into use. Quarters for the operating staff were built at both the new Eastern and Wong Nei Chong Filters. Plans were also prepared and orders placed for new rapid gravity filters for the Stanley area. The prepara- tion of schemes for the modernisation of pumping stations and for the provision of badly needed stand-by pumping plant was continued. Plans were also prepared for the difficult work involved in the repair of a leaking scour valve at Jubilee Dam and in the replacement of a damaged length of one of the 21" diameter cross harbour pipe lines. Both these works were in hand.

Much consideration was also given throughout the year to schemes for supplying the Colony with water in the event of an emergency.

Electricity

Electricity on the Island of Hong Kong is supplied by the Hong Kong Electric Co., Ltd. As was expected in 1948, the rapid development of both residential and industrial properties resulted in a considerable and sustained increase in the demand for electricity, which shows no signs of falling off. Output at the present time has increased by 40% over 1948 levels and the peak load has risen from 22,000 k.w. to 29,000 k.w. Satisfactory progress has been maintained in the expansion of the undertaking to meet the increased demand in the Colony. New plant installed at the North Point generating station during 1949 includes one 15,000 k.w. turbo-alternator and it is expected that a second 15,000 k.w. set will be in commission during 1950 which will increase the generating capacity to 72,500 k.w. Two additional 75,000/98,000 lb./hr. high pressure boilers will be installed and working next year which will be dual fired by oil or coal, giving a total steaming capacity of 675,000 lb./hr. Generat- ing efficiency has been greatly assisted by the conversion of the major part of the boiler plant to oil firing.

Developments are also in hand to augment the distribu- tion of electricity from the North Point generating station. A high tension feeder from the generating station to a new substation in Ice House Street is in process of being laid, through which electricity will be transmitted at 22,000 volts for subsequent distribution as required to the central district of Victoria and other points on the western half of the

101

Island. It is hoped that towards the end of 1950 with the additional facilities available all restrictions on industrial power users over peak load hours will be withdrawn.

During 1949 9,387 additional meters were connected; 1,021 street lamps were in commission during the year. The number of consumers on 31st December, 1949 was 48,805, an increase of over four thousand over the previous year; meters connected totalled 61,273, an increase of over 10,000. A total of 109,249,808 units was sold by the Company during 1949, an increase of 26,256,534 over 1948.

The charges for electric current were reduced from 35 cents per unit to 33 cents, less discounts, for lighting and remained at 14 cents per unit for power with a reduction to 13.3 cents when units in excess of 1,000 are consumed in a month. Special rates are quoted for bulk supply consumers. The supply is distributed at 6,600 volts, 3 phase, 50 cycles and 346/200 volts, 3 phase, 4 wire, 50 cycles.

Electricity in Kowloon and the New Territories supplied by the China Light & Power Co., Ltd. Throughout the past year there has been a steady expansion in the industrial use of electricity when no less than 252 additional factories were connected to the Company's mains. Domestic consumption of current has also increased. Street lighting has now been fully rehabilitated and is far ahead of the pre-war standard of lighting. Large scale building operations are at present in hand which will undoubtedly considerably increase the demands for electricity, both for domestic_and industrial purposes. Plans for major extensions have been carefully made in order that the Company's distribution system will at all times be able to meet whatever demands are made without any restrictions.

The total generating capacity of the Power Station is 50,500 k.w. The boiler plant capacity at the present time is 465,000 lbs. per hour and will be increased to 665,000 lbs. per hour in a few months when the latest oil fired boiler is commissioned. An additional 20,000 k.w. turbo-alternator and an additional 200,000 lbs. per hour dual fired boiler are on order and are expected to be commissioned in the middle of 1951.

The present charges for electricity are 35 cents per unit for lighting, 16 cents for power and 13 cents for domestic power.

Gas

Gas is supplied on both sides of the harbour by the Hong Kong & China Gas Co. which was first established in the Colony in 1861. Progress has been made in regard to repairs and renewals of plant and mains during the year and it is hoped, subject to arrival of the necessary supplies

102

from the United Kingdom, that this work will be completed during 1949. The demand for gas is still increasing, the total output for 1949 being 36.8% above 1948, which is placing an ever increasing strain on the Company's resources.

Tramways

The electric tramway service is operated by Hong Kong Tramways Limited. The route runs mainly along the northern shore of the Island and thus serves the main industrial and residential areas. The track is almost entirely laid as double permanent way and exceeds 19 miles in length. It extends from Kennedy Town to Shaukiwan passing through the city of Victoria. There is, in addition, a branch line which passes round the Race Course in Happy Valley. The tramcars are of the double deck type, the top deck being used for first class traffic and the lower deck for third class traffic. The bodies are of the single staircase type intended for single ended working, the termini having turning circles.

During the past year an average daily service of 100 cars was operated. Owing to delays in arrival of electric traction motors, the number of cars in service was prevented from being higher. During 1949, 109 million passengers were carried, an increase of 21 million over 1948 and 30 million over 1947. These passenger figures reflect the heavy influx of population into the Colony during recent years which has resulted in phenomenal loads being carried. This, allied with increased traffic frequency, has made apparent the need for improving the standard of permanent way. The Company has a programme in hand consisting of the gradual elimination of fishplate joints and their replace- ment by the latest type of thermit welding. This system produces in effect a continuous homogeneous rail without joints. Another part of the programme consists in substantial improvements of the concrete foundations in many parts of the track. On sections of the track which were previously lightly loaded, these improvements are well advanced. The conversion of certain short sections of single tracking in the Shaukiwan district is now proceeding and should greatly help the increased traffic demands arising out of the post-war building development in that area. An interesting piece of work completed in the early part of 1949, in conjunction with the Public Works Department, was the construction of a raised and widened roadway between Causeway Bay terminus and King's Road where an entirely new and re-aligned double track was laid down with completely new foundations. To minimize noise, the Company has replaced all trolley wheels by trolley bus type carbon slider collector heads. During the year eight new cars were brought into service; among these was a new type of car designed and

103

built locally as an experiment. This car, while being substantially similar in external dimensions to the older cars, is of more modern appearance. It is based on an all welded steel underframe and bulk heads and includes air operated entrance doors, step lights and other safety features.

The fare structure is upon a flat-rate basis for any distance over any route-the maximum of which is 63⁄4 miles of 20 cents (2 pence) 1st class, and 10 cents (11⁄2 pence) 3rd class. The Company also issues Monthly Tickets and concession fares are given to children, scholars and Service personnel.

The Peak Tramway was opened for traffic as far back as in May, 1888; it was, then known as the Hong Kong High Level Tramway. With the lower terminus situated at the lower portion of Garden Road and the Peak terminus at Victoria Gap, this means of transportation has provided almost without interruption for over sixty years one of the safest and the most efficient funicular services in the world. Until motor roads were opened in 1924, it was the only means of transport to the Peak. The cars are operated by a modern electric haulage plant and incorporate safety features which make it possible for a car to come to a halt within eight feet of the application of automatic brakes on the steepest gradient of the track.

Traffic figures have grown from 732,000 passengers travelling in 1946 to over a million in 1949. This was largely due to two transient factors; rehabilitation of damaged properties in mid-level districts causing workmen to travel, and lately, to the influx of inhabitants from China. Regular patrons travelling at standard monthly rates maintain the same level as pre-war.

An all metal body car is in the course of construction and it is hoped will be put in service in February 1950. It will be the first of its type to be used in funicular railways. Built of an aluminium alloy, it is stronger and lighter and imposes less strain on the haulage system. It also possesses the advantage of being able to carry additional passengers. It is expected that all future replacements of wooden-bodied cars will be of this type of construction.

Bus Services

Bus services are maintained on the Island by the China Motor Bus Co., Ltd. and on the Mainland by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company. In November a service was introduced between the new ferry pier at Tonnochy Road in Wanchai and Aldrich Street in Shaukiwan while another service was directed to call at the new pier and was extended to

104

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NG KONG PUBLI

Vehicular Ferry.

Kwan Ming Chin.

Shaukiwan.

The bus fleet on the Island has been increased from 108 to 128 but the number of vehicles in service has been limited by the difficulties encountered by the Company in finding men with suitable qualifications for training as bus drivers.

On the Mainland 39 new buses, including 20 double- decker buses, were added to the fleet, bringing the total to 191 as against 152 last year. The use of double-decker buses for the first time in the Colony proved so successful that a further order for 50 such buses has been placed. These are scheduled for delivery in early 1950. In view of the swollen population the Company has not yet succeeded in withdrawing from the roads all the converted lorries which have been used since the war as makeshift buses. Two new routes, from the Star Ferry to the Monument on Jordan Road and from Jordan Road Ferry to Ngau Chi Wan, were instituted. Season tickets and school children's tickets were introduced during the year.

Buses on the Island travelled 42 million miles and carried some 36 million passengers. On the mainland buses carried over 90 million passengers a distance of 114 million miles.

Ferries

The "Star" Ferry Co., Ltd., operates a passenger ferry service across the narrowest part of the harbour, a distance of approximately one mile, from a point in the centre of Victoria to Tsim Sha Tsui at the southern extremity of Kowloon Peninsula. Six launches are now in service, and operate daily for 191⁄2 hours. A five-minute service is main- tained from 8.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. with an additional speed- ing up at rush periods, a ten-minute service from 6.00 a.m. to 8.00 a.m., and 9.00 p.m. to midnight, and a fifteen minute service after midnight to 1.30 a.m. on weekdays and 2.30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Approximately 35 million passen- gers were carried in 120,000 crossings during the year, as · compared with 28 million passengers transported in 108,800 crossings in 1948. In December 118,000 persons were transported daily, comparied with 90,000 in December 1948. Fares remained unchanged throughout the year.

In the past year the Hong Kong & Yaumati Ferry Company Ltd. was able to resume the issue of season tickets, to effect an all round improvement in the Ferry Service and to inaugurate a new Service between Wanchai and Kowloon all of which has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of passengers carried. Over 42 million passengers and 680 thousand vehicles were carried during the year.

105

The rehabilitation and motorization of their fleet of 29 vessels is now almost completed. Five steel double-ended and two single-ended ferry vessels were reconstructed and motorized during the year and orders have been placed with the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co., Ltd. for the construction of two new double ended steel ferry vessels-the completion of which is expected in June 1950.

The vehicular ferry service which is now operated on a 12 minute service between 6.20 a.m. and 11.00 p.m. daily has been extended up to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. With the new vessels in service about the middle of 1950 the service will definitely be able to handle all Vehicle Traffic without any difficulty or delay.

At noon on the 12th November, 1949, the long expected ferry service between the Wanchai District and Kowloon came into operation on a 12 minute schedule. It was soon- found necessary to increase the service to 10 minutes. 500,000 passengers were carried on the Service during the first month's operation. The traffic is steadily increasing and with the expected improvement in the bus service at the Jordan Road Ferry Terminus the new ferry service will soon become one of the major cross harbour services. The new service has been instrumental in reducing the traffic conges- tion on the trams and buses between the Central and Wanchai Districts on the island and has played a prominent part in maintaining communication between the Wanchai and Central Districts even although it is necessary to cross the harbour twice and to transfer ferries at Jordan Road. The volume of traffic to the outlying districts showed an all round increase during the year. There are no less than nine sailings to Cheung Chau Island on Sundays and holidays and seven during week days. Excursions to the beautiful bathing beaches on the islands, to the summer rest camp on the Lantau plateau (which is over 2,200 feet above sea level) and to the famous monastery at Ngong Ping (1,600 feet above sea level) have become increasingly popular.

Broadcasting

Radio Hong Kong is a sub-department under the control of the Postmaster General. Transmissions are made from two stations, ZBW (845 k/cs.) which is an English language station and ZEK (640 k/cs.) from which broadcasts are made in Chinese. Short-wave transmissions are also made from ZBW on a frequency of 9.525 megacycles. Throughout 1949 the hours of transmission on weekdays remained constant in both the English and Chinese service-12.15 p.m. to 2.00 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. On Sundays the English section opened at 10.00 a.m. for a religious service,

106

and on all public holidays continuous programmes were broadcast from 8 a.m. until midnight in both English and Chinese. With the arrival in the Colony of large numbers of reinforcements for the garrison, a sponsored programme for the Forces on Saturday and Sunday afternoons was introduced on 3rd September to bridge the four hour period from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. These extensions of broadcasting hours on holidays proved very popular with listeners. The new studios in Electra House are due for completion during the first quarter of 1950, and it is hoped that Radio Hong Kong will have transferred to its new premises by March 1950.

Hong Kong has been much in the headlines during the last year, and in view of the rapid trend of events in China additional locally compiled news services in English and Chinese were broadcast in the evenings before the stations closed down. Other news services have been maintained as usual; bulletins are broadcast three times daily in English and Chinese.

In the Chinese section, relays of plays from the Cantonese theatre and storytelling remained the most popular pro- grammes. It was decided that instead of closing the station at 11 p.m., transmission hours might be extended until the finish of plays, and the public gave their warm approval to this concession.

On the engineering side developments and expansion have proceeded rapidly. The 16% increase in the hours of broadcasting has necessitated the installation of several new outside broadcast points, and the number of outside broad- casts increased by 33%. Recordings always form a major part of the activities of the engineers, and in this section the number of recordings made rose by 150%.

Close touch has been maintained with the B.B.C., the B.B.C. Transcription Service, Radio Ceylon, the British Far Eastern Broadcasting Service at Singapore and United Nations Radio at Lake Success. Facilities have been provided for a number of radio correspondents from overseas, including representatives of CBS, Rocky Mountain Radio, NBC, CBC, B.B.C., Norak Rikskringkastning, Schweizer Radiozeitung, Radiodiffusion Francaise, Saigon, etc. The first direct broad- casts from Hong Kong to the B.B.C. and to CBS, New York, were made during the summer.

From April to October 1949 a member of the staff of Radio Hong Kong attended training courses in Great Britain organised by the B.B.C. Staff Training School and the British Council. He was also seconded to the B.B.C.'s Far Eastern Service for three months as a Chinese Programme Assistant/Announcer.

107

}

Rediffusion

A franchise to operate a wire broadcasting system was granted to Broadcast Relay Service (H.K.) Ltd. (subsequently. renamed Rediffusion (H.K.) Ltd.), which is associated with the Company of the same name in the United Kingdom, in July 1948. Broadcasting was formally inaugurated on the 22nd March, 1949 with an opening address by the Governor. The popularity of this service is shown by the increase in the number of subscribers from under 1,000 on the opening date to over 20,000 as at 31st December, 1949.

The Company's headquarters, comprising offices, studios. and workshops, are in a separate building in Hennessy Road, and its broadcasts are carried to subscribers through three amplifying stations, two on the Island and one in Kowloon, and 358,000 route yards of wire. The wireless receiving station is situated at Shatin in the New Territories. There are two networks, the Blue network carrying European pro- grames and the Silver network carrying Chinese programmes; each programme is continuous from 7 a.m. to midnight. A switch on each receiver gives the subscriber a choice of either network. The programmes consist partly of relays from Radio Hong Kong, the B.B.C., Manila, Australia and elsewhere, and partly of recorded and "live" matter originated in the Company's own studios. Approximately 10% of programme time is commercially sponsored. The fee charged to subscribers is $9 per month, and the Company pays to Government a fee of $1 per month in respect of each subscriber who does not hold a Broadcast Receiving License.

108

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Dry-Docks.

David Cohen.

COMMUNICATIONS

Chapter 11.

THE PORT

The Colony possesses one of the most magnificent harbours in the world, having an area of some 17 square miles. It is surrounded by granite hills which rise to heights of 2000 to 3000 ft. and provide scenery reminiscent of the grandeur of the Western Highlands of Scotland. It is amongst the busiest ports of the world as is shown by the fact that 66,815 vessels of 23,040,126 tons entered and cleared during the year ending 31.3.49, which was an increase of 11,471 vessels and 3,070,574 tons over the previous year. Of these 42,983 vessels of 22,287,827 tons were engaged in Foreign Trade and 23,832 junks and steam vessels under 60 net reg. tons, a total of 752,299 tons, were engaged in Local Trade.

A total of 991,308 passengers arrived and 1,072,088 left the port while, in addition, 54,967 were declared as emigrants. Of the passengers 774,470 arrived and 827,481 departed in foreign trade vessels the remainder in local trade vessels.

The port is well equipped with aids to navigation both in the approaches and within the port and all lights have been re-established since the re-occupation. New modern equipment consisting of an electric light, visible for 21 miles, with diaphone fog signal for Waglan Island, an automatic acetylene light, visible for 5 miles, with a powerful electric oscillator fog signal for Tathong Point, and an electric light, visible for 16 miles, for Green Island all arrived towards the end of the year and are now being installed in place of the present temporary equipment. Investigations are also

109

being made into the statistics of the delay of ships due to fog with a view to the provision of shore-based radar assistance to vessels approaching the port.

Ocean going vessels drawing up to 34 ft. can enter by the eastern entrance and if not exceeding 24 ft. by the western entrance. Each entrance is covered by a quarantine examination anchorage where Port Health Officer's launches, which are fitted with a radio telephone, are on duty from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. This arrangement expedites the granting of pratique and prevents unnecessary movement within the crowded harbour.

The port is well equipped with commercial wharves and piers, the principal ones being on the mainland, three of which can accommodate vessels over 650 ft. in length with a maximum draught of 32 ft. During the year 1,223 ft. of linear quayage suitable for accommodating vessels up to 30 ft. draught alongside were

were completed at North Point providing the only commercial deep water berth on the island. Government maintains for hire 46 moorings, of which 17 are 'A' Class suitable for vessels up to 600 ft. in length and 29 are 'B' Class for vessels up to 450 ft. in length. Seven of the 'A' Class are special heavy "Typhoon Moorings."

Ship/shore communications are provided by three signal stations, manned on a 24 hours basis, and fitted with modern daylight signal lamps, which provide coverage for all berths. Waglan Signal Station and Lighthouse is fitted with a radio telephone which enables first information of all vessels sighted on the eastern approaches to be passed to port authorities and agents.

The ship building, ship repair and marine engineering establishments in the Colony have now been re-equipped and modernised and are well able to undertake major overhauls and repairs of all types, including the dry docking of vessels up to 750 ft. in length, 88 ft. beam with a maximum draught not exceeding 33 ft. Altogether there are seven graving docks and 6 patent slipways capable of handling vessels of 300 ft. in length and upwards and a large number of slipways for handling the smaller type of vessel.

Regular communications by sea are available to most parts of the world as the following list of the principal services available will illustrate :..

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Number of

Destination.

America (North)

Atlantic &

Pacific Coasts.

Shipping

Companies.

Approximate Sailing.

weekly, fortnightly

Time of transit to first port.

16-42 days.

and monthly.

America

every two months

75 days.

(South)

Australia

Borneo

fortnightly and

15-20 days.

monthly.

fortnightly.

5 days.

Burma

fortnightly and

10 days.

3 weekly.

Canton

daily

China

weekly and

1 day. 3-6 days.

Central & Northern

fortnightly.

ports

Europe

fortnightly and

26-49 days.

monthly.

Formosa

every 6 or 8

2 days.

days.

India

15-26 days.

Indo China

Japan

Macau

North African ports

fortnightly and

3 weekly.

fortnightly

and

monthly.

fortnightly and monthly.

CO LO

daily.

fortnightly and monthly. monthly and 2 monthly.

fortnightly

and

3-4 days.

4-15 days.

1 day. 19-34 days.

23-30 days.

28 days.

South African ports

Persian Gulf

Philippines

United Kingdom

monthly.

fortnightly and

СЛ

monthly.

fortnightly and monthly.

CIVIL AVIATION

2-3 days.

30-42 days.

In the course of the year Hong Kong became the busiest air centre in the Far East and the traffic of the airport rivalled that of the major airports of Europe and America. Kai Tak aerodrome continued to be used by all civil land planes and flying boats and, being only 15 minutes drive

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from Kowloon, is most conveniently situated for passengers. The hotel in Kowloon which contains the offices of most of the airlines also accommodates many passengers who are in transit and is the assembly point for others. The year's total of passengers using the airport was 320,000 as compared with about 250,000 in 1948 and 81,800 in 1947 and rose from 21,000 in the first month to a maximum of 41,000 in August. Thereafter traffic decreased owing to the civil war in China and the cessation of flying by the two Chinese airlines towards the end of the year. To carry this traffic 25,000 aircraft on international flights arrived or departed as compared with 14,000 in 1948 and 5,400 in 1947 and in addition there was much local civil and service flying. On some occasions aircraft movements amounted to 250 in a day and one landing or take off every five minutes was

common.

The companies shown below fly regular services, but flights to China are at the moment in abeyance:-

Routes

Company

Nationality

British Overseas Airways Corp.

British

United Kingdom Singapore

Japan,

Hong Kong Airways Ltd.

British

Canton

Shanghai.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

British

Philippines

Singapore

Australia.

Canadian Pacific Airlines Ltd.

British

Canada

Qantas Empire Airways

British

Australia

Macau Airtransport Co. (Hong Kong)

Ltd.

British

Macau

Central Air Transport Corp.

Chinese

Shanghai

China National Aviation Corp.

Chinese

Canton

China, other points.

Shanghai

Canton

China, other points

India

U.S.A. Thailand

Pan American World Airways

Air France

U. S. A.

French

U. S. A.

Philippine Air Lines Inc.

Philippine

France Haiphong

Philippines

Trans-Asiatic Airlines Inc.

Philippine

Philippines

Siamese Airways Co. Ltd.

Siamese

Siam

Pacific Overseas Airlines (Siam) Ltd.) Siamese

Siam

Trans-Asiatic Airlines (Siam) Ltd. Braathens S.A.F.E. Airtransport A/S

Siamese

Siam

Norwegian

Norway

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The aircraft used are twin-engined Dakota DC3s and Convairs and four-engined Skymaster DC4s, Canadairs and Constellations. The popular B.O.A.C. flying-boat service to the United Kingdom and Japan ceased in September and was replaced by a land plane service over a similar route, thereby reducing the time to London to three days. The flying boat base is still used by private float planes and by commercial flying boats on charter flights. There has been little alteration to the airfield, but extensive repairs to the runways were carried out and a major resurfacing project planned. This will enable heavier aircraft to be accepted, but the maximum length of 4,730 feet will prevent the largest types using this airport. The preliminary planning

of a new airport has begun.

Airport charges remained at the same level as in the previous year but the revenue from aircraft landing and accommodation fees rose from $557,000 to about $12 million.

Hong Kong is now an important centre for the maintenance and repair of aircraft and the workshops of the two maintenance companies are capable of complete engine and airframe overhauls. Among their customers are Pakistani, Indian, Burmese, Chinese and Indonesian aircraft owners. Other activities which have continued training of pilots and aeronautical engineers.

are the

The Department of Civil Aviation administers the airport including air traffic control, telecommunications and safety services. The Royal Observatory provides full information on weather from a station at the airport. Examinations for aircrew and engineering licences are held from time to time. An Air Advisory Board assists in advising on matters of policy and an Air Transport Licensing Authority has been set up to issue licences for the operation of air routes.

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

Meteorological services are provided by the Royal Observatory for the general public, merchant shipping, civil aviation and the armed forces. The main forecasting office is located at Hong Kong airport, and is linked to the Observatory by teleprinter and telephone. The Observatory remains the administrative centre, and its work includes the storm warning service, marine weather service, meteorological observations, climatology, training and research.

As a great seaport, Hong Kong is responsible for providing a weather service and storm warnings to ships in the northern part of the China Sea and along the China coast. Close co-operation is maintained between the Observatory and ships of all nationalities, and the large number of weather reports now received from ships at sea is of great value in the forecasting work.

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Owing to the growth of air traffic since the war and the raising of safety standards for the operation of aircraft, there has been a great expansion in the aviation weather service provided by the Observatory. The weather charts which are drawn four times daily in the forecasting office now cover an area extending from India to the Mariana Islands and from Lake Baikal to the East Indies, in order that the international air routes radiating from Hong Kong may be effectively covered.

During the reconstruction period it was difficult to keep pace with the demands for weather services, but it is now becoming possible to undertake other scientific work, less urgently required but perhaps equally important. There is a wide field for research in the meteorology and geophysics of tropical and sub-tropical regions, and several investigations on these lines are nearing completion. Radio-sonde equip- ment for exploring the upper atmosphere was installed during the year; the radio-sonde balloon, seen ascending from the Observatory each morning, was at first taken for a flying saucer, but now evokes no comment. Equipment for the re-establishment of the time service is now being installed, but no progress has been possible in the restoration of the seismological and magnetic stations.

THE RAILWAY

Kowloon is the southern terminal of a railway system From extending north as far as Hankow in central China. Shum Chun on the border of the New Territories northward to Canton the route is now operated by the Canton-Hankow Railway, and is referred to as the southern section of that Line. From Shum Chun south to Kowloon, a distance representing 36 kilometres out of a total of 183 kilometres from Kowloon to Canton, the railway is operated by the Hong Kong Government and is known as the British Section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway.

was

The total revenue for the period January-December 1949 amounted to approximately $7,234,712 while expendi- ture was approximately $3,650,989. The main source of income

the heaviest passenger traffic which in the history of the Line, the total numbers carried and revenue earned over the British Section being 4,747,746 and $5,991,234 respectively. This was an increase of 28.89% over the numbers conveyed in 1948 which were previously the highest in the history of the Railway. These figures however do not represent the results of any one financial year as the Railway financial year dates from 1st April to 31st March.

Through passengers carried were 1,507,559, revenue earned being $3,115,797, which was a decrease of 939,336

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passengers and $1,778,292 in revenue compared with the previous year. The reason was the very unsettled political situation in China which finally culminated in the cessation of the through services with the Chinese Section on 14th October when a new regime took over the administration of Canton. The number of local passengers rose from 1,236,726 to 3,240,187, revenue earned being $2,875,436, an increase of $1,802,729. This was partly due to passengers travelling between the Colony and Chinese territory after the cessation of the through services who booked tickets to and from the frontier village of Lo Wu and then rebooked after having crossed the frontier. There was also a marked increase in the population of the New Territories during the year and this, coupled with the Military use of the railway by troops, has been responsible for the increase in traffic. It is interesting to record that in January the number of passen- gers on both local and foreign trains carried over the British Section totalled 300,958 while at the end of the year, the December passengers carried by the local services totalled 413,040.

There was a decrease in through goods traffic by comparison with 1948 as the following figures show:

Up Down

Total

1948

55,784 tons

1949

9,922 tons

31,100 tons

4,790 tons

86,884 tons

14,712 tons

The decrease was the result of the uncertain political situation in China, an unstable and inflationary currency and the very stringent restrictions imposed by the Chinese Government on imports from and exports into China.

At the close of the year the train service consisted of nine local passenger trains and one goods train in each direction daily. All through services were suspended from 14th October, but three passenger trains and one goods train were operating daily over the Chinese Section between Shum Chun and Canton.

The rolling stock consisted of 34 coaches, 86 wagons and 16 locomotives. More coaches are urgently required and 22 are on order but delivery cannot be completed until 1952. In the meanwhile the lack of adequate passenger accommodation gives serious cause for concern as trains are very overcrowded and on occasions passengers have to be turned away. All coaches are run continually, and this imposes a great strain on maintenance crews.

The replacement of railway watchmen by Police during 1948 proved successful from every point of view. Good order has been maintained and railway property effectively

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URBAN COUNCL PUBLIC LIBRARIES

safeguarded from theft and damage. The Railway Police have also rendered effective assistance to ticket-checking staff on numerous occasions which has resulted in increased

revenue.

Rehabilitation of property and renewal of tracks have proceeded steadily, and supplies from the United Kingdom have been received with greater regularity at the close of the year.

The valuable liaison services performed by the London Office of the Hong Kong Government have materially assisted towards this end.

ROADS

The building and maintenance of roads in Hong Kong are subject to unusual topographical and climatic difficulties. Most of the Colony is hilly and the construction of a new road usually involves considerable blasting operations, but fortunately the rock thus blasted is suitable for use as road metal. Heavy downpours of rain in the summer months are sufficient to cause grave damage to any road surface which falls short of a high standard of maintenance and further rains are liable to make repairs difficult and expensive. A sum of $307,000 was spent in 1949 in making good damage caused by rains to road cuttings and embankments. In spite of these difficulties the populated areas of the Colony are reasonably well served with roads. Within the 391 square miles of the Colony there are over 400 miles of roads, 173 miles being on the island, 106 miles in Kowloon and the remainder in the New Territories. About 90% of these roads are of modern metalled construction.

The output of stone from Hok Un Quarry has been maintained and amounted to 51,000 tons during the year and the new quarry at Hung Shui Kiu has been useful in supplying some of the stone for New Territories roads. The contract for Morrison Hill Quarry was extended for the year, and the plant for the quarry at Tsat Tze Mui has arrived and its installation is now in hand.

Many of the roads deteriorated badly as a result of neglect during the Japanese occupation and the large number of vehicles at present in the Colony, about double the prewar number, provided an added burden on the already weakened surface. Causeway Road widening was completed, many side streets were resurfaced, and the reconstruction of sections of the main streets in the centre of the City was begun. Some progress was made in the restoration of street lighting. New traffic signs in accordance with the new traffic regulations were installed.

The scope

of the work carried out on the mainland during the past year has been varied and intensive. In Kowloon major

116

reconstruction of certain bus routes has been put in hand and the type of road surface is now more in keeping with present day traffic requirements. Attention has also been given to repairs to secondary roads which had received little attention throughout or since the war period and as a result had completely disintegrated. The strengthening of the military garrison with its attendant equipment and vehicles has taxed the existing lightly constructed roads in the New Territories to their limit and extensive repair work has been necessary. In addition, new roads of strategical importance have been surveyed and planned, and construction has started during the year. The construction of the Lam Tsuen Valley Road, approximately 6 miles long, has been the first major road scheme on which earth moving equipment has been used in the Colony, and once the wet season was over, excellent results were obtained with excavators, bulldozers, tractors and scrapers.

THE POST OFFICE

Postal services are provided through the General Post Office in Victoria, the Central Post Office in Kowloon and seven branch offices of which three are on the Island and four on the mainland. Postal kiosks are operated at Stanley and Aberdeen and special deliveries to Aplichau Island are covered from Aberdeen. There is a small post office on Cheung Chau and special arrangements exist for delivery to Lan Tau Island. There are also special arrangements for delivery and collection of correspondence at Sha Tau Kok and Sai Kung in the New Territories. Thirty shop-keepers in various parts of the colony are licensed as stamp vendors. Owing to the increase in the volume of mails and the development of business and residential areas there is an increasingly urgent need for a new General Post Office and more branch offices.

The year has been one of extreme difficulty as a result of the changing situation in China. All regular air services to China, except Formosa, had ceased by the end of the year and shipping services were very limited. The through train service between Kowloon and Canton was suspended in October and had not been resumed at the end of the year, with the result that only a limited amount of mail could be despatched. Mail for North and Central China was mostly despatched via Tientsin, to which port there were about two sailings weekly, and via Shanghai on the few occasions that there were direct sailings to that port. Owing to the risk involved as the result of the action taken by the Chinese Nationalist Navy against shipping attempting to enter ports held by the Peking Government, it has been necessary to restrict the service to ordinary unregistered letters at senders'

117

risk. In any case, were the service to be extended to all categories it would be beyond the capacity of Hong Kong to handle the vast quantities of mail-especially parcels- which would have to be transhipped at Hong Kong but which in normal circumstances would be forwarded on direct vessels from the administration of origin.

The total number of bags of overseas mail posted or delivered in Hong Kong was 236,417 as against 210,268 in 1948. On the other hand the number of transit bags handled decreased from 164,146 in 1948 to 87,998 in 1949, chiefly as a result of the suspension of the Chinese domestic services between Canton and Shanghai which hitherto had averaged 500 bags per day. 1,705,207 registered and insured letters were dealt with, an increase of 134,212 over 1948. Correspondence dealt with in the Chinese Branch increased from 8,263,088 to 8,946,269 items. There was an increase in the number of parcels handled from 334,904 to 363,430. Postage stamps and receipt stamps to a total value of $13,087,543 constituted a new record and an increase of $3,379,237 over 1948. A small part of this increase was due to the issue on 10th October of special stamps to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Postal Union. Sales of these special stamps amounted to $82,000 on the first day of issue. Money and postal order business continued to increase. The total value of money orders issued and paid amounted to $2,212,452, more than double that of the previous year. The increase in value of postal orders issued and paid was equally spectacular, from

from $286,077 to $451,034. The Christmas postings were heavier than ever before and necessitated staff working to midnight for several nights to keep it cleared.

LICENSING

The Radio Licensing and Inspection Office issues radio licences for many purposes, attends to the prosecution of unlicensed users of radio apparatus and examines candidates for the different grades of the Postmaster General's Certi- ficates of Proficiency in radiotelegraphy and telephony. Ast in former years, prosecutions of persons operating illegal radio transmitting stations were carried out, as well as prosecutions for unlicensed broadcast receivers. The sale of Broadcast Receiving Licences continued to increase and there are now over 40,000 of these in force in the Colony. Approximately ninety percent were taken out by Chinese who naturally constitute the bulk of radio listeners. The new Private Business Wireless Licence came into active being during the year and a number of commercial firms have availed themselves of the facilities allowed. This

118

licence permits a person or firm in the Colony to establish a radiotelephone station in his office in order that communi- cation may be maintained with his or its vehicles on land, or craft in the waters of the Colony. This is a boon to owners of craft and vehicles and has resulted in considerable saving of time and money.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The first year of the transferred telecommunication services under the control of Cable & Wireless, Ltd., ended 31st October, 1949. These services were formerly administered by Government and include the marine, meteorological, aeradio and the technical side of broadcasting. The main expansion during the past year was again in connection with air services. Towards the end of the year, radio traffic on point to point services to China showed a downward trend until finally, in December, communications ceased to all aeradio stations on the mainland of China. monitoring and statistical section has been established on a routine basis at the airport and much valuable information has been gained as a result of its reports. The marine radio service has handled a marked increase in traffic on both the medium and high frequency channels, the total number of transmitted and received messages being 33,688 as compared with 19,549 in 1948.

Additional transmitters of higher power have been installed at Cape D'Aguilar radio station by Cable & Wireless, Ltd., for commercial telegraph and radiotelephone. services. A huge bulk of commercial traffic has been handled by the Company, to and from all parts of the world. The radiotelephone services operated by Cable & Wireless, Ltd., in conjunction with the Hong Kong Telephone Co., Ltd., between Hong Kong, Manila, Canton and Macau have been augmented with new services to Shanghai and Taipeh, and limited services to the U.S.A. and United Kingdom. The red-letter day for the Colony's communications was the re-institution of the London/Hong Kong direct cable working. Automatic printing was established on the Shanghai and Canton radio circuits.

A main receiving station with expanded facilities is in course of development at Mount Butler, and the new Electra House which has been under construction during the year is nearing completion. This building will also house the Broadcasting Studios which are at present situated in the Gloucester Building in the City of Victoria. A new workshop for the Lines Section was erected at Hung Hom, Kowloon. Another building was constructed for the radio workshops and laboratory in Wanchai.

119

Extensive tests and improvements have been carried out in the Police V.H.F. radiotelephone system and much additional equipment has been installed. Twenty one launches of the Water Police Department were fitted with V.H.F. equipment. One extra medical launch

was also equipped for communication with the Marine Office. A transmitter was installed on a harbour launch to facilitate the calibration of radio direction finding apparatus on board merchant vessels. Wireless surveys were carried out on 203 ships and 4 aircraft. The harbour fire floats are to be fitted with radiotelephone equipment. The radio beacon on Waglan Island has been in constant service and has proved of inestimable value to ships and aircraft approaching Hong Kong. Public address equipment has been put to extensive use for official requirements, either for ceremonies or on mobile vans for traffic control and health campaigns. Rehabilitation of the Government system of lines-submarine, cable, and overhead-has continued. A new control cable was laid to the Cape D'Aguilar radio station along a new route selected to avoid frequent interruptions due to cutting by thieves. The rehabilitation of all the New Territories overhead routes was completed. Various individual tele- printer circuits were provided for the airline companies and a low level lines network was made available to Rediffusion (H.K.) Ltd. The Peak radio station route was extended by a further cable and the rehabilitation of the cable along the perimeter of Kai Tak Airport was completed.

A new central battery telephone system for the Kowloon Canton Railway was installed, and the public address equipment at the Kowloon terminus was renovated and vastly improved. The central loop of the new public fire alarm system is now in operation, and work on the installation of the eastern and western loops is proceeding. A cross harbour cable was laid to replace the 41 pair submarine cable which was cut by thieves in December, 1948, and damaged beyond immediate repair.

TELEPHONES

The public telephone service is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Co., Ltd. On the 31st December, 1949 the total number of direct exchange lines working

on the company's system was 19,661 and the number of extensions 8,061, making a total of 27,732 stations. In 1945 the total number of working stations amounted to 6,000, none of which had received maintenance during the war years. Since that date, the exchange equipment has been completely overhauled, 16,693 telephone instruments have been received from the United Kingdom and installed on new lines or used to replace faulty instruments, and the internal wiring on

120

most subscribers' installations has been renewed, using over 230 miles of wire.

Additional apparatus to ease the overloading of the Central and Kowloon Exchanges was completed during the year but, owing to the influx of large commercial establish- ments from Shanghai, Canton and other ports in China, the improved grade of service that should have resulted there- from has to some extent been offset by a considerable increase in calls per line. The latest figures show that the number of calls passing through Central Exchange equals that of the busiest of London exchanges. The number of exchange lines in the Central Exchange has been increased from 13,500 to 16,800, and in Kowloon good progress is being made in increasing the number of lines from 5,000 to 7,000. Sub-exchanges have been opened for service during the year at the Peak (500 lines), Repulse Bay (70 lines), Stanley (40 lines) and Tsun Wan (70 lines). Preparations are in hand to give service to Un Long in the New Territories.

A recently completed building at Causeway Bay is being used to house the company's stores and workshops, while two floors will be used to accommodate a 5,000 line telephone exchange to serve this area of the town.

A new modern 12 storey telephone building has been erected in Kowloon. This building has been requisitioned and is occupied by the Military Authorities.

During the year, underground cable work has been proceeding in preparation for the new exchange in the eastern end of the island. Over two miles of large size main cables, totalling 6,000 pairs, have been laid whilst a further two miles of similar cable is on order to cater for development and modernization in the western areas of Victoria. Outlying areas which have been without service since the war, owing to loss of cables during Japanese occupation, have now been joined into the main cable system.

The principal item in cable development on the main- land has been the laying of a new 1,000 pair cable to replace a 600 pair cable serving Nathan Road, which was badly damaged during the war years. District development has been carried out as suitable cables have been received from United Kingdom. New duct lines have been laid along Cheung Sha Wan Road to the end of Laichikok Road, along Cameron Road, Chatham Road and Tong Mi Road in pre- paration for giving service in these districts on receipt of cables already on order.

A new 150 pair cross-harbour cable has been ordered and will be laid in August, 1950. When this cable is in service, the total number of cross harbour circuits on the company's system will amount to 726 pairs.

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}

RESEARCH

Chapter 12

During the years before the war a good deal of research was carried out in fisheries and marine biology, in natural history and in archaeology. A summary is given below with references to the more important publications in these fields.

Fisheries and Marine Biology

Research in these subjects began in 1930. Large collections of fish and other marine organisms were made and studied by experts in several countries. Many papers were published in the Hong Kong Naturalist on the results of this work, including more than 200 pages on the fishes of the China Seas and a similar number of pages on other marine fauna and flora. These papers provide a useful background for present and future fisheries research.

Early in 1938 Government made a small grant to the Hong Kong University which enabled the salary and expenses. of Mr. S. Y. Lin, a Chinese research worker, to be met. Mr. Lin carried out a very careful and thorough survey of the marine fishing industries of Hong Kong and also of fish culture in fresh-water and brackish water ponds in the New Territories. Papers on this work and on other aspects of local marine biology were published in the first two numbers of the Journal of the Hong Kong Fisheries Research Station, in February and September, 1940. A book on the Common Marine Food Fishes of Hong Kong was published and was sold out; a second enlarged edition, in which 50 species were described, appeared in March, 1940. Another book was in the press dealing with the crabs, prawns and shell-fish of the Colony but the manuscripts and proofs were lost as a result of the war. A small fisheries research staff was appointed and plans were prepared for the building by Government of a Fisheries Research Station on Hong Kong Island. Research meantime continued at a temporary field station and in the

122

•

Biology Department of the University. Unfortunately in the subsequent hostilities all preserved specimens, records and books were completely destroyed. In 1941 the Hong Kong Government voted the sum of $220,000 to cover the cost of the building of a Fisheries Research Station, and building began on a site near the village of Aberdeen in the Autumn. This was interrupted by the Japanese attack on the Colony. During the months immediately preceding the Japanese. attack research was carried out on the tanning of nets and on the extraction of oil from the livers of different local fish. This work showed that it was possible to increase greatly the efficiency of the Chinese method of tanning by a small and easily grasped modification, and, secondly, that the livers of large sharks yielded oil very rich in vitamin A. Enough livers were obtained to yield a quantity of valuable oil suitable for hospital use and a small reserve of this oil was built up against an emergency. Mr. Lin, who during the Japanese occupation remained in Hong Kong, was able to continue the manufacture of this oil and to supply Stanley Internment Camp with it through the medium of the Inter- national Red Cross. Thousands of internees received the oil as a prophylactic against vitamin A deficiency and it proved of great value in the treatment of tropical ulcers and eye troubles caused by the deficiency of this vitamin in the camp diet.

Natural History

The flora of Hong Kong has been very fully, though not completely, described in Flora Honkongensis by G. B. Bentham, published in 1861 and in the Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong by S. T. Dunn and W. J. Tutcher, published in 1912. Attention has in particular been paid in recent years to the flowering shrubs and trees and the orchids; numerous papers in the Hong Kong Naturalist and three small books have been published on these plants. Food and Flowers, edited by Dr. G. A. C. Herklots and issued by the Agricultural Depart- ment and the Gardens Department in June, 1948, gives, amongst other information, an account of rice cultivation and of trials carried out with various vegetables and details of some flowering shrubs, melastoma and related genera. The only book published on the fauna of the Colony was one on the Butterflies of Hong Kong by Mr. J. C. Kershaw in 1905. This book has been out of print for many years and is extremely scarce. Attention has been paid in particular to the snakes, birds, mammals and butterflies, and many papers have been published. There is a need for a comprehensive natural history book dealing with the more conspicuous flowers and trees, the commoner insects and the larger animals.

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Zoology

A survey of the fleas infesting house rats from Hong Kong Island and Kowloon was carried out by the Rodent Control Section. The mean number of the plague-carrying species of flea (known as Xenopsylla cheopis index) for each of the two common house rats was recorded monthly throughout the year and revealed considerable seasonal variation. Plague, the most serious disease transmitted to man by this flea, has not been known in the Colony for many years, though the knowledge acquired by such an investigation is considered to be of value from the epidemiological stand- point. It is hoped that the detailed results of this survey will be published in due course.

A short paper entitled Revision of the List of Greckoes Known to Occur in the Colony of Hong Kong by Mr. J. D. Romer, F.Z.S., will be published in COPEIA (Journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) in 1950. Observation has indicated that the lizards of this family are now represented in Hong Kong by four species.

Archaeology

Prior to 1932, Dr. C. M. Heanley, Mr. W. Schofield and Professor J. L. Shellshear, D.S.O., had made some investiga- tions into local archaeology, and in that year Father D. J. Finn, S.J., began an intensive study of the subject. Between 1932 and 1936 he published in the Hong Kong Naturalist thirteen detailed and very fully illustrated articles (245 pages) on his own discoveries which he correlated with archaeological work on the Chinese mainland. Serious research on this subject suffered a set-back in 1936 with the death of Father Finn, but his work had drawn the attention of archaeologists in all parts of the world to this corner of East Asia. Father Finn's conclusion as to the date of the sites which he excavated was that they were representative of the middle of the first millenium B.C., and extended over the third quarter of that period. Since Father Finn's death, Father R. Maglioni has done some work in Hong Kong and considerably more in Kwangtung province, and has correlated the archaeology of Hong Kong with that of the mainland. His most recent paper appeared in the Proceedings of the Third Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East, Singapore, January, 1938.

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Religion

Chapter 13.

In religion as in other aspects of life Hong Kong presents a wide variety. The majority of the Chinese besides the traditional family observances usually described by foreigners as "ancestor worship", follow the ancient Buddhist, Taoist or Confucian creeds, although about 20,000 of them are Protestants and about 40,000 are Roman Catholics. Each of the three creeds is to a certain extent the complement of the other two and has reacted on the other two during their long history. Confucianism which is entirely unmystical and aims purely at providing a code of behaviour for this world, is represented in the Colony by the Confucian Hall and the Confucian Society which provides a number of free schools for boys and girls. Taoism, the oldest of the three creeds, includes an element of mysticism and aims at inculcating that resignation and contentment which its followers believe to be essential requirements of longevity. There are nearly fifty Taoist monasteries in the Colony. Buddhism to the Chinese is a foreign creed having been introduced into China from India-the traditional date being 61 A.D. During the centuries while reacting on the Chinese way of life Chinese Buddhism has itself been changed into a creed considerably different from the original Buddhism. There are some seventy Buddhist monasteries and nunneries in the Colony. All Chinese Temples (which term under the Chinese Temples Ordinance, 1928, includes, besides temples proper, Taoist and Buddhist monasteries and nunneries but does not include ancestral halls of which there is one in nearly every village) must by law be registered with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in order to ensure that temple and monastery properties, which in many cases are of considerable value, do not fall into unscrupulous hands.

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Hong Kong forms part of the Diocese of Hong Kong and South China. The hundredth anniversary of the consecration of the first Bishop of Hong Kong on 29th May, 1849, was observed on Whitsunday and a centenary history of the Diocese, the first complete history based on first hand documents, was written by Mr. G. B. Endacott, M.A., B. Litt. and Mrs. D. E. She, M.A. to commemorate the event. The building which is now St. John's Cathedral was built in 1847 and was established as a Cathedral Church by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria in 1850. The building was extensively damaged during the Japanese occupation but restoration has now progressed a long way and a British electronic organ has been installed which it is hoped will stand up to the vagaries of the local climate. Centenary funds both for the Diocese and for the Cathedral have been opened and have met with considerable success.

The large numbers of the armed Services stationed in Hong Kong have increased the congregations of the various Anglican churches. A social settlement type of club has been started in Wanchai and the number of Anglican elementary day schools has been slightly increased.

The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong was originally under the administration of a Missionary with the ecclesiastical title of Prefect Apostolic. In 1874, as a result of the increasing number of adherents to the Roman Catholic faith, a Bishop was appointed to the territory with the title of Vicar Apostolic and in 1946 the status of the Roman Catholic Church was raised to that of a diocese. This diocese extends into China and covers in all an area with an estimated population of about 4 million. Within the Colony rather more than 40,000 have either been baptized or are under instruction for baptism.

Within the Colony there are twelve parishes with public churches, while twenty-six chapels are established in different villages of the New Territories. The Church is staffed by 59 priests engaged in parochial work and an additional 105 priests from eight different religious orders occupied with the administration of schools and colleges. Lay Brothers engaged in educational work number thirty- three. There are

moreover almost four hundred nuns belonging to Religious Orders who are engaged in philan- thropic and educational works in hospitals, schools, and homes for orphans, blind girls and crippled and aged people. Ninety four schools with a total enrollment of 8,000 boys and 9,000 girls are run by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Free Churches, although heavily damaged during the Japanese occupation are recovering from the effects of the war and the restoration of the Church halls of the

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Union Church in Hong Kong and Kowloon have been completed.

There is also a Russian Orthodox Church in the Colony. The Indian Community has four places of worship, the Sikh Temple, two Mosques and a Parsee Temple. The greater part of the Indian population of Hong Kong is Muslim (about 1,100); Sikhs and Sindhis with about 300 each are also well represented. The Sikh temple which was standing before the war was destroyed during hostilities, but has now been replaced.

There is a Jewish Community of about 150 mainly composed of merchants. The community is very old, dating back to the foundation of the Colony. One synagogue is maintained, which during the past year housed and fed large numbers of Jewish refugees who passed through the Colony in transit from Shanghai and Tientsin.

The Churches play a very full part in the educational, social and charitable work of the Colony. Many charitable institutions and much relief work are undertaken by them, but, as social welfare is the subject of another Chapter in this report, no detailed mention of particular activities is included in this section. Among the charitable ventures are numbered the Salvation Army Children's Home and the special relief work for the poor and destitute carried out by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The educational work is performed mainly in the grant Schools, which are referred to elsewhere in this report. The social activities of the Churches are too numerous to mention but among them two of the most active are the Catholic Centre, which houses a chapel, library, reading room and lecture halls, and the Sailors' and Soldiers' Home run under the auspices of the English Methodist Church.

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THE

ARTS

Chapter 14.

1949 has been for most of the cultural organizations in the Colony a year of consolidation. The memberships of the Hong Kong Art Club and the Photographic Society have considerably increased, the British Council has extended the services it offers to the public, and the Reel Club has opened a new branch in Kowloon so that it is now represented on both sides of the harbour. Fundamentally, Hong Kong's cultural problem remains the same. There is no concert hall, museum, public library or suitable theatre available for the Hong Kong Stage Club. If anything, the amount of musical and artistic talent in the Colony has increased, but the media this talent uses to reach the public are still the small organizations which have all along battled courageously against the indifference of the majority of the population, which might on occasion be said to take a cynical view of the Arts. In point of fact, the public's response to the steadily rising standards of cultural achievement in the Colony has been unmistakable and encouraging.

Over 2,000 people came to this year's exhibition by the Photographic Society, and there has been increased interest in the Art Club's activities. Audiences at the concerts given by the Sino-British Orchestra increased throughout the year, and at the last concert before Christmas the Orchestra played in the hall of St. Stephen's College at the University to a house filled to capacity.

Thanks to the energy and good musicianship of its conductor, the Sino-British Orchestra's standard of playing has greatly improved. The Orchestra now has 46 regular players. Each concert it gives is repeated twice, the first performance being in the Diocesan Boys' School for Kowloon residents, the second at St. Stephen's College for Hong Kong

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residents, and the third a special performance for students. One performance was given this year by the Chamber Music Club at the University. In some ways this may be called the most highbrow of all the entertainments Hong Kong has to offer, the concert on this occasion consisting of chamber works by Mozart, Beethoven and Leclair. Several well known Chinese exponents of Western music visited the Colony during the year, and gave recitals. Some of these were held in the attractive Roof Garden lounge of the Hong Kong Hotel, which is perhaps the Colony's most suitable public room for recitals and chamber music. The British Council continued its campaigning in the cause of British music by opening a lending library of gramophone records of British music and inaugurating a series of lunch-time concerts of recorded music. The B.B.C. Transcription Service has continued to provide Radio Hong Kong with excellent musical performances, and the Chinese Radio Service has been enhanced and extended by many broadcasts given by amateur musical societies and dramatic groups where the very wide range of Chinese talent in Hong Kong is able to get the audience it deserves.

Throughout the year there has been a steady succession of exhibitions by distinguished Chinese painters. The majority of these are held at the Hotel Cecil, and on one occasion a most successful exhibition, accompanied by a lecture on Chinese art, was given at the Club Lusitano. In the field of Western art, by far the most important event of the year was the Hong Kong Art Club's exhibition at Macau. The pictures were displayed in the gracious surroundings of the historic City Hall, the Leal Senado. This event took place at the invitation of the Governor of Macau, who opened the exhibition. Over 200 pictures were shown. Later in the year the Club's Annual Exhibition in Hong Kong was held in St. John's Cathedral Hall, with well over double the number of pictures shown at the 1948 exhibition.

The Stage Club presented six full-length plays and gave nineteen performances to the public. It also broadcast several plays, some of which were written by its members. In the performances of "Twelfth Night" and "The Importance of Being Ernest" the stage, décor and costumes were on a more ambitious scale than anything the Club has hitherto attempted. The most successful performance of the year, however, was the production of "Duet for Two Hands" by Mary Hayley Bell, a former resident of Hong Kong. their performance on this occasion, the Stage Club was generally conceded to have attained the high standard of amateur acting previously held by the pre-war Amateur Dramatic Club and the similar institution in Shanghai. In the Chinese theatre the most important event of the year took place in the autumn when the South China Motion

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Picture Actors' Federation presented a series of plays in Cantonese at the Central Theatre, and subsequently at a theatre in Kowloon. The plays included a fine performance of "Ka" (Family) by Pah Kin; but for the European ventur- ing to enjoy an evening's Oriental entertainment perhaps the more interesting spectacle was the Cantonese version of "The Lady of the Camellias" by Alexandre Dumas fils. The setting of this play was transferred in adaptation to con- temporary Shanghai with Violette as a westernised Chinese good-time girl and Armand's father as a typically dignified Chinese of the old school, conservative in dress and manner. In some ways this altered setting added a new and unexpected pungency to the play.

The increase in the fighting services stationed in the Colony has had several effects on the cultural life of Hong Kong. In the summer a Forces Entertainment & Welfare Committee was appointed by the Governor, and among its functions has been the organizing of Forces broadcasts during Saturday and Sunday afternoons at times when Radio Hong Kong is not normally on the air. These broadcasts are paid for by the Committee, and various large firms in the Colony subscribe to the Committee's funds to enable these broadcasts to be given. Another section of the Committee deals with concerts for military personnel stationed in the New Territories and without easy access to Kowloon. A number of talented amateur musicians and entertainers volunteered their services for these concerts and several Chinese professional entertainers ranging from musicians to acrobats generously offered their services free of charge. small mobile stage was constructed and, in spite of many difficulties, such as shortage of any suitable canteen or hall in which to perform, a number of successful entertainments were presented. As the months passed, and the initial problems of transporting pianos, performers and para- phernalia were overcome the entertainments became more regular and finally led to the formation of an Amateur Club for the Entertainment of the Services (ACES). Condition of membership is that the member must be willing to take part in two Forces entertainments per month. These voluntary concerts have been enthusiastically received by the New Territories troops, even when catastrophes occurred, such as the failure of the mobile stage to turn up in time for a performance, and a light-failure which left the performers illuminated in the headlights of a jeep.

Another way in which the Colony has benefited culturally from the presence of so many troops is that there is a larger number of Military Bands than has ever been stationed here before. This has led to a regular feature of fortnightly band concerts in the Botanic Gardens. These have remarkably popular with all sections of the public.

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proved The

dance bands of the principal Regiments also do a good deal of public entertaining, giving regular concerts at the China Fleet Club, the Nine Dragons Services Club in Kowloon, and over the radio.

The principal event of the year in Hong Kong's Chinese-owned film studios has undoubtedly been the making of the film "Dawn Must Come" by the South China Film Corporation. The film, which was made for release in 1950, is in some ways a landmark in the development of Cantonese motion pictures, the Corporation's aim being to produce a picture with sufficient artistry and technical skill to qualify it for international distribution. In spite of the almost too clear-cut distinction between heroine and villain, which is a feature of many Chinese films, "Dawn Must Come" shows in a remarkable way how each of its characters is moved to act for good or ill by force of economic circumstance. It portrays clearly the way in which great numbers of the people in China live on the verge of complete poverty in which each must help himself as best he can. Technically a great advance on former Cantonese productions, it has for the foreigner the definite educative value that it gives a faithful account of Chinese daily life in Canton and the villages of South China. The principal scenes were taken in a Kowloon film-studio, and the greater part of the location work was filmed in the New Territories.

The success of the new Kowloon Reel Club can be gauged by the fact that within two months it had a member- ship of over 100. The Club has also been fortunate in having the services of a piper of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. Amongst the more youthful members of the community Highland and Scottish country dancing is acquir- ing such popularity that no dance or party is considered a success until an "Eightsome", "Dashing White Sergeant" or a "Strip the Willow" has been danced.

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SPORT

Chapter 15

The history of sport and sporting clubs in Hong Kong dates back to the early days of the Colony and records show that yachting, cricket, swimming and horse racing were all enjoyed during the forties and fifties of the last century.

Yacht Racing

The oldest sporting club still in existence is the Victoria Recreation Club which was founded on 25th October 1849 to promote yacht racing, rowing and swimming. Yacht racing continued under the auspices of that club until 1869 when the Hong Kong Yacht Club was formed. There were several yacht races in the harbour in 1845 but the first record of a race outside the harbour limits was in 1864. In 1868 the first race to Macau, a distance there and back of 72 miles, was won by the "Wave", a cutter of 20 tons in 21 hours. The best time recorded in those day was in 1875 by the "Naiad" in 12 hours 31 minutes and this record was held until 1924 when "La Cigale" sailed the course in just over 12 hours and 23 minutes. The Macau race is still an annual feature of the Club. The yachts of those days were schooners of 30 to 50 tons.

In 1893 permission was obtained through the Admiralty for the club to be called the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. The Club house until 1908 was situated on the site at present occupied by the Navy Coal-yard in Kowloon where there was a sandy beach. In 1908 a new club house was built at North Point and in 1939 the club moved to Kellet Island where it still stands.

Regular regattas are held by the Yacht Club and on the occasions when the whole fleet of cruisers and dinghies is out, two hundred or more members of the club participate. Interport rowing is being revived and recently the club was invited by Club Nautique de Saigon to visit them. Hong Kong was successful in winning all the events.

Swimming

The Victoria Recreation Club since its inception in 1849 has always taken the lead in the swimming activities of the

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Horse Racing

Colony although many other clubs also provide facilities for the sport. The first swimming races were organized by the Victoria Recreation Club as long ago as 1866 and galas have been held every year since then with few exceptions. Aquatic championships open to the Colony are held annually. at the Victoria Recreation Club along international lines and large numbers of enthusiasts compete.

Swimming interport meets were first arranged annually with Shanghai and later Tientsin was invited to participate to make triangular tournaments but these contests stopped over ten years ago and it has not been possible to revive them. Since the war Hong Kong has engaged Manila in two competitions and although honours have been shared, there is no doubt that the standard of swimming is higher in that city owing to the excellent conditions for competitive swimming which are available in the Philippines. Paradoxi- cally it appears that the great number of beaches available to the public and the consequent small number of swimming pools are responsible for the general standard of swimming in the Colony being lower than it should be, for talent in competitive swimming can only be developed to its fullest potential in swimming pools. It is of course true that the vast majority of people in the Colony are interested in swimming more as a week-end recreation on the beach than as a serious competitive sport.

Horse Racing

The Hong Kong Jockey Club was not founded until 1884 but racing was actively engaged in long before that date. Dr. Eitel in his "History of Hong Kong" mentions that race meetings were held in Macau in 1842 and 1843. Racing first started in the Colony in 1844 but the first recorded annual race meeting was held in 1845. This, and subsequent meetings, were organized by a group of sporting gentlemen who formed themselves into what was known as the Hong Kong Race Fund. Various breeds of horse-flesh took part including Arab, Sydney, Cape. Manila, English, Japanese and China ponies and horses. The times on the whole were considerably slower than those of the present day. In 1851 a sensation was caused when a Sydney horse was taken out of a buggy and raced to make up a field. In 1848 the Wong-nei-chong Stakes, the Valley Stakes and the Ladies Purse were inaugurated, these races being perpetuated in the Annual Meeting Programmes of to-day.

The year 1856 records the first race run exclusively for China ponies, and all riders were Naval or Military Officers. There is no record of the weights carried, but there is the significant remark "Won easy-all bolted" against this historic event. For many years all ponies racing were pure

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China ponies, but after the Boxer Rebellion the Chinese breeders obtained many Arab and European blood horses for their stud farms, from which emerged a new and bigger About 1931 type of pony which was designated "Z" class. the Stewards decided to import batches of Australian ponies and since 1940 no further China ponies have arrived here.

The club has stabling for over 400 horses and the present course and buildings compare very favourably with those of any other Race Club in the world but the sport is so popular in Hong Kong that the accommodation is taxed to the uttermost. Until 1920 the Club held only one big meeting early in the year but now there are 23 racing days annually. The percentages taken on pari-mutuel and cash sweeps provide a valued contribution towards the Government's revenue and the Club continues each year generously to donate large sums of money to deserving causes and charity.

Cricket

When Hong Kong was first ceded to Great Britain the sea came up to the level of Chater Road and it appears that the present ground of the Hong Kong Cricket Club was a fairly level piece of grass which was used by the Military for parades. By 1851 the civilian population had grown and in June of that year the Hong Kong Cricket Club secured the use of the ground which was also used for "quoits and other games" and at a later date for croquet. Tennis has also been played on the ground for many years and the Open Grass Court Championships are held there every year.

The first Interport cricket match was played against Shanghai in 1866 and the first match against Malaya was played in Singapore in 1890. In the following year Malaya visited Hong Kong. These fixtures have continued with fair regularity ever since.

In the early days of the Colony the Hong Kong Cricket Club ground was the only sports ground in the Colony but as the community increased other grounds and clubs were developed to cater for the varying needs of the people till at present there are many grounds on both sides of the harbour. During the more leisurely days of the last century when motor cars were not included in the Colony's imports and other amenities enjoyed to-day were still unknown, the Hong Kong Cricket ground was the Mecca of all sorts and conditions of men who came to watch cricket on a Saturday afternoon. To-day they still come, but in lesser numbers, to this and other grounds to watch or play a peaceful game amid the roar of the surrounding traffic.

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Golf

The first ball was probably driven in Hong Kong about the autumn of 1888 when the late Sir Gershom Stewart and Captain Murray Rumsey, the Harbour Master, started to play "golf" on the race course at Happy Valley. There were no holes or greens, but granite sets marked the distances. In the following year the 91st Regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, arrived and the Hong Kong Golf Club was inaugurated with a membership of ten. A club house was erected in 1895 at Deep Water Bay and on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee authority was obtained by the Governor for the club to be called the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club.

In 1911 the present 18 hole 'Old Course' at Fanling was opened and some years later an additional 18 hole course, the 'New Course' and a 9 hole 'Relief Course' were added. The club houses and courses suffered severely during the Japanese occupation but by 1948 all facilities were restored.

Softball

The introduction of softball into local sporting circles dates back to 1936 when members of the now defunct English Forum Debating Society first started to play the game on Sunday mornings as a routine weekly exercise. Other teams shortly emerged and a controlling body was formed in 1937 to organize a league. In the beginning the

game was played only by men, a total of eight teams playing in the first year of the organized leagues, but an exhibition given by a touring band of American girls who played selected local sides composed of men encouraged local women to learn the game. By the next year eight ladies teams had been organized. This popularity spread to the younger members of the community and in 1940 a Junior League for men was started. By 1949 the Softball Association registered 450 players in a total of 34 teams. In keeping with other sports an International Series is played regularly, representatives of six nations entering in the past year.

Tourist Facilities

Hong Kong situated on the main thoroughfare from Europe to the ports of the Far East is at its most attractive in late autumn and early winter when the weather is usually sunny and clear without the excessive heat and damp of

summer.

In the two principal towns of the Colony, Victoria on the island and Kowloon on the mainland, there are three large European-run hotels, many Chinese hotels and innumer- able restaurants where the best of Western or Chinese food is available. The shopping centres are particularly attractive to travellers from Europe and provide every variety of purchase exquisite Chinese brocades, ivory, paintings and

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so on and the full range of American and European export goods from nylons to de luxe automobiles. There are many large air-conditioned cinemas which show European, American and Chinese films, and several Chinese theatres.

Most of the sports clubs have facilities for the introduc- tion of visitors and by this means tennis, golf, squash etc. may be enjoyed, while the beaches of both the island and mainland provide for swimming and picnics. Horse-racing takes place fortnightly for most of the year.

Even for those whose stay is very brief, much of the Colony can be seen. There are magnificent and constantly changing views from the high roads which encircle the island, both of the great harbour and, on the south side, of the South China Sea and the innumerable islands which stud it. On the mainland a circular road of about 50 miles runs round the New Territories, passing through the hills behind Kowloon to the cultivated area of paddy fields and little villages and hamlets which are scattered wherever cultivation is possible, and where the life of the Chinese farmer is much as it was two thousand years ago. For those who have time to spend and wish to leave the towns and the main roads, climbs and walks in the hills are easily reached, though an occasional armed robbery makes solitary excursions in very lonely spots inadvisable.

Transport throughout the Colony is by bus or taxi, with tramways or rickshaws for shorter distances in town, and there are passenger and vehicular ferries for cross-harbour traffic. While these facilities are normally adequate, the present crowded state of Hong Kong has taxed them heavily. Similarly, hotels are crowded and intending visitors should make their reservations for accommodation early.

Restrictions and regulations for visitors are very few; a passport and visa are required, but all goods entering or leaving the Colony (with the exception of liquor and tobacco) are duty free. At present a six months' quarantine for dogs is in operation.

END OF PART I

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PART III

THONG KONG

Deep Bay

Frontier

Mirs Bay

RAB

CasHe Peak

Kamlin

Tai Mo Shar

Shar

Tole

Kowloon

Lantau *

Víctoria

Scale

Shanisy

GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I.

Hong Kong lies just within the tropics, on the south- eastern coast of the Chinese Province of Kwangtung, and east of the Pearl River estuary. The Colony includes Hong Kong Island (32 square miles), on which is situated the capital city of Victoria, the ceded territory of Kowloon (34 square miles) Stonecutters Island ( square mile) and the New Territories which consist of the remainder of the moun- tainous peninsula of Kowloon together with numerous islands (355 square miles) leased from China on 1st July, 1898, for 99 years.

The total area of the Colony is thus roughly 391 square miles, a large proportion of which is steep and unproductive hillside. The leased territories include also the waters of Deep Bay to the West and Mirs Bay to the East.

Hong Kong Island is eleven miles long from East to West and varies in width from two to five miles. It rises steeply from the northern shore to a range of treeless hills of volcanic rock of which the highest point is Victoria Peak (1,809 feet) near the western end. Between these hills and the harbour lies the city of Victoria. The oldest part of the urban area ran up the steep hillside for hundreds of yards in narrow stepped streets and terraces, but the modern town stands mostly on a strip of reclaimed land averaging 200-400 yards wide which extends 9 miles along the southern shore of the harbour from Sulphur Channel to Lyemun Pass.

Between the island and the mainland of Kowloon lies the harbour, a natural and almost landlocked anchorage

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about 17 square miles in area, and of a width varying from one to three miles. The entrance from the East is by a deep water channel through Lyemun Pass, five to nine hundred yards wide. On the western side the harbour is protected by a group of islands pierced by channels of various depths. The largest of these islands is Lantau which is nearly twice the size of Hong Kong Island. This harbour, lying midway between the main ports of Haiphong in Indo-China and Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River, has become the gateway to South China and has grown to be one of the greatest seaports in the world.

The ceded territory of Kowloon originally consisted of a number of low dry foothills running southward from the escarpment of the Kowloon hills in a V-shaped peninsula two miles long and nowhere more than two miles wide. Most of these foothills have now been levelled and the spoil used to extend the area by reclamation. The town of Kowloon now covers the whole of this peninsula and a part of the leased territory to the north of it. It contains the Colony's main industrial area, one of the two principal commercial dock- yards, wharves for ocean-going ships, and a large residential suburb. Its population in 1941 threatened to overtake that of Victoria. The terminus of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, which connects at Canton with the network of the Chinese railways, is at the extreme southern tip of the peninsula. The Unicorn range of hills, even more precipitous though less high than those on the island, forms a barrier between Kowloon and the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula.

A large part of the New Territories, both islands and mainland, is steep and barren. Before the war considerable areas were afforested, but one of the results of the occupation of the Colony by the Japanese was the felling of the vast majority of the trees for firewood, with the consequence that now only a few isolated woods remain, principally in the vicinity of villages. The highest point is the mountain called Taimoshan (3,141 feet) which lies seven miles northwest of Kowloon. To the northwest of this mountain, and extending to the marshes on the verge of Deep Bay stretches the Colony's largest area of cultivable land. The eastern half of the New Territories mainland is covered by irregular mountain masses deeply indented by arms of the sea and narrow valleys. Wherever cultivation is made possible by the presence of flat land and water, villages exist and crops are raised. Intricate terracing brings the maximum land under cultivation and the Chinese farmers, though ready to adopt any modern methods which are suited to local conditions and whose value has been demonstrated to them by practical tests, find in fact that there are few directions in which their traditional methods can be improved upon.

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Aerial View of New Territories-North of Ping Shan.

The New Territories include 75 adjacent islands many of which are uninhabited. Productive land is even scarcer than on the mainland and the estimated island population of 60,000 includes many fisherfolk living aboard their boats. Lantau, the largest island, is well watered, but the gradients are such that even the patient Chinese farmer has been able to secure only a few precarious footholds and there is little cultivation. Wild boar and barking deer abound among the well-wooded ravines and scrub-covered spurs of the island. The island of Cheung Chau, although quite small in area, maintains a thriving community and is an important fishing centre. Another still smaller island, Ping Chau, is the site of a match factory. The rest of the islands are much smaller, one (Ngai Ying Chau) measuring only 81 acres having been inhabited until, recently by a single family.

CLIMATE

The climate is sub-tropical and is governed to a large extent by the monsoons, the winter being normally cool and dry and the summer hot and humid. The north-east monsoon sets in during October and persists until April. The early winter is the most pleasant time of the year, the weather being generally sunny and the atmosphere dry. Later in the winter cloud is more frequent, though rainfall remains slight; in March and April long spells of dull overcast weather may occur. Warm southerly winds may temporarily displace the cool north-east monsoon during this period and under these conditions fog and low cloud are common. From May until August the weather is persistently hot and humid and is often cloudy and showery with frequent thunderstorms. Although the winds, apart from typhoons, are lighter and more variable in summer than in winter, the air has generally travelled from warm tropical seas to the east and south of Hong Kong. The summer is the rainy season, three quarters of the annual rainfall falling between the months of May and September. The mean annual rainfall is 84.26 inches

(2140.2 MM.).

From July to October Hong Kong is most liable to be affected by typhoons, although they are sometimes ex- perienced before and after this period. A typhoon whose centre passes over or near the Colony may be accompanied by winds of hurricane force, resulting in widespread damage on sea and land. Although the loss of life on such occasions among the boat people is now minimized by an elaborate system of warnings, there are always a number of boats which fail to reach the specially constructed typhoon shelters in time. Sixteen such disasters have occurred in the last sixty six years. Spells of bad weather, heavy rain and strong

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winds, are normally experienced several times in each summer owing to the passage of typhoons at varying distances from the Colony.

The mean monthly temperature varies from 59°F in February to 82°F in July, the average for the year being 72°F. The temperature does not frequently rise above 95°F, and very seldom falls below 40°F. In spring and summer the humidity is persistently high, at times exceeding 95%, while in the early winter it may fall as low as 20%. The mean monthly duration of sunshine varies from 94 hours in March to 217 hours in October.

During 1949 rainfall was only 1.53 inches below normal but its distribution throughout the year was markedly irregular. Large deficits in March, May and July were counterbalanced by large surpluses in February, June, September and November.

The year was warmer than average with a mean temperature of 72.9°F as against the normal 71.9°F; no exceptionally high or low temperatures were recorded.

The only occasion on which sustained gales occurred was during the first six hours of September 8th when a typhoon passed 50 miles south of the Colony. The maximum gust recorded at the Royal Observatory was 81 knots from the east north east.

BLIC LIB

FLORA and FAUDA

Chapter 2.

Flora

To a botanist the flora of Hong Kong is exciting; to one whose knowledge of flowers is limited to a nodding acquaintance with the common herbs of the United Kingdom, it is at first sight a little disappointing. On close inspection, this impression is soon dispelled.

The flora of the island has been fully, though not completely, described in Flora Hongkongensis by G. B. Bentham, published in 1861, and in the descriptive Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong by S. T. Dunn and W. J. Tutcher published in 1912. Less comprehensive works include a small book, remarkable for its excellent drawings, by Mr. L. Gibbs entitled Common Hong Kong Ferns; an illustrated but unfinished series The Flowering Plants of Hong Kong by Mr. A. H. Crooks; Plants of Lan Tau Island by Mr. F. A. McClure which appeared in the Lingnan University Science Bulletin series for 1931 and numerous papers published in the Hong Kong Naturalist. Since the war, two official publications in the series Food and Flowers edited by Dr. G. A. C. Herklots have appeared, and give, amongst other information, articles on some of the more conspicuous wild plants of the Colony. Printing of part 3 of this series has been deferred for the time being.

Mr. G. B. Bentham, one of the most distinguished botanists of his time with considerable experience of other floras, in writing of Hong Kong said in part: "One is struck with the very large total amount of species crowded among so small an island, with the tropical character of the great majority of species, and with the very great diversity in the species themselves.'

The flora of this Colony is tropical in nature but it is at about the northern limit of the tropical flora. Hong Kong has hot and humid summers and dry cool winters and this alternation results in a dormant period for the tropical plants during the winter. It would seem that these conditions promote the development of large flowers borne at definite

}

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seasons of the year. The consequence is that a genus represented both in Hong Kong and Malaya (where the climate is tropical) produces a greater wealth of flowers and of a larger size here than in the more uniform tropics of the equatorial belt.

There is an amazing wealth of flowering shrubs and trees, many with very beautiful flowers, many with very fragrant flowers. Some are easy to place in their correct families; for example, the common wild Gordonia looks like and is related to Camellia, and the wild roses are unmistak- ably roses. But most are not so easy to name. They include a Magnolia, a Michelia with large white flowers, a Rhodoleia with groups of rose-madder coloured petals surrounded by golden bracts, an Illicium with cherry pink flowers, Tutcheria with large Camellia-like flowers, white tinged with gold, and with masses of tangerine orange stamens. Six species of Rhododendron grow wild in the Colony; of these one is extremely abundant, another so rare that it is only known to exist on one shoulder of Victoria Peak, Hong Kong. The Heather family is represented by a very lovely Enkianthus which is common on the hillsides and bears beautiful pink bells in early spring at the time of the Chinese New Year. Flowering at the same time is a Litsea with small creamy white and exceedingly fragrant flowers.

Hong Kong possesses its own Bauhinia which is probably the most beautiful tree of this genus in the world. The tree, Bauhinia Blakeana named in commemoration of a former Governor, Sir Henry Blake, was discovered by the fathers of the Missions Estrangères at Pokfulùm. Its origin is unknown, and as it never produces seed, it is possibly a sterile hybrid.

Many local shrubs and a few herbs have very beautiful and striking fruits, almost all the colours of the rainbow being represented. Red is the colour of the berries of many of the wild hollies--none of which have prickles-among them Ardisia which is very abundant and Chloranthus which is the most holly-like of the berried plants. Orange is a common colour of fruits including the large orange-like fruits of Melodinus, the smaller fruits of Strychnos, enclosing strychnine-bearing seeds, and the berries of the wild Kamquat. The winged fruits of Gardenia, with persistent sepals projecting like feathers from a shuttle-cock, change to orange and red when ripe, and yield a yellow dye. Yellow is the colour of numerous fruits mostly with long and elusive names; one of which is Maesa which abounds on shady hillsides. Green is characteristic of many fruits and berries which are mostly inconspicuous in consequence; among them are those of Mussaenda, the Buddha's lamp. Blue is not such a common colour: many berries are black with a bluish waxy deposit. Probably the only true blue

142

is that of Dichroa a close relative of Hydrangea. Purple, violet and mauve are characteristic of the fruits of the different species of Callicarpa which are better known in gardens in England than in their native land. The fruits of Dianella, in the lily family, are a deep and glorious purple. Many berries are black, a common example being those of Raphiolepis the so-called Hong Kong hawthorn. The only wild Jasmine has glossy black fruits as has also the commonest of the wild Persimmons.

Numerous plants have fruits either poisonous, or edible, or useful for medicine. Strophanthus and Strychnos are both common here; Gelsemium, a source of the alkaloid gelsemidine is less so; Cerbera is abundant near the sea. Edible fruits include those of a wild Jack Fruit, Artocarpus, which when ripe resemble misshapen apricots, and are delicious. The fruits of the Rose-myrtle contain raspberry coloured flesh in which are enclosed numerous seeds; they can be made into excellent jelly. Several species of Persimmon are wild but their fruits are too astringent to be eaten. A wild banana bears fruits filled with very hard black seeds surrounded by a little sweet pulp. Several species of bramble are abundant, one of which has bright red black-berries which though palatable are hard to collect as the vines are very prickly.

There are numerous plants which closely resemble their European relatives. Old Man's Beard, the common clematis of the English hedgerow, has five close relatives here. Four wild violets also occur here; like the English dog violet they are scentless, but they are attractive and easily recognized. The one English honeysuckle has five relatives here, with white or yellow flowers; most have flowers larger than the wild woodbine. They are fragrant and have the attractive Chinese name of "kam ngan fa", gold and silver flower, given because of their change in colour with age from white to yellow.

One very beautiful Iris grows wild in many parts of the Colony, probably further south than any other true iris. The flowers are nearly three inches across, pale violet-mauve with deep violet, orange and yellow markings.

A very lovely Lily grows wild on the hillsides, with individual flowers as much as seven inches long; the white segments may have a purple stripe on the inner surface, and the anthers when split disclose bright orange pollen. By the sea grow a wild Crinum with white fragrant flowers and Bellamcanda in the Iris family with orange flowers spotted with red.

In damp ravines there is found a Didymocarpus with lilac flowers, related to the greenhouse Gloxinia; and several Begonias, as well as a fragrant leaved rush, Stag's

143

horn mosses, numerous Orchids, giant aroids, tree ferns and countless kinds of smaller ferns including Maidenhair and the local Royal ferns. On the hillsides English bracken- a very cosmopolitan plant-may be seen growing together with the so-called Hong Kong bracken, Gleichenia, and a fragrant leaved myrtle called Baeckia.

It is not surprising therefore that of the many beautiful wild plants of Hong Kong quite a number have found a permanent place in cultivation the world over. Since the war, keen interest is being taken in the many free flowering representatives here of the Camellia family and especially, in the eight species of Camellia, one of which has red flowers.

The Colonial Herbarium, which provided the founda- tion for the work of Dunn and Tutcher's Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong has been added to considerably since their time. At present, something over 40,000 specimens are preserved. During the process of a complete overhaul and reclassification of it, necessary after eight years storage in crates during the Pacific War, original sheets of plants collected in the Far East by such famous plants explorers as A. Henry, E. H. Wilson, G. Forrest and H. F. Ridley have come to light. These specimens, with duplicates of many others from regions outside of Hong Kong and Kwangtung, have recently been presented to the Kew Herbarium.

Mammals

Fauna

Although the majority of mammalian species in the Colony are not seen often enough to make them familiar, as a class they are represented in considerable diversity. Members of the cat family include the tiger, an occasional visitor, the leopard which is much rarer, and the Chinese Tiger Cat, the present status of which is not known but which may still occur in some of the more remote parts on the mainland. The Dhole or Wild Red Dog and the South China Red Fox have been listed in the Colony's fauna, the former as occuring in the hills of the mainland, the latter on the island as well as the mainland; only the fox has been reported (on the mainland) during 1949. The otter has also been listed but likewise is not common and does not occur on the island.

Three species of civets-the large Chinese Civet, the Malacca Civet and the Masked or Gem-faced Civet are known to occur in the Colony. Probably only the Malacca Civet is common and it is interesting to note that the flesh of this animal is much prized by the Chinese as food in the cold weather. The Crab-eating Mongoose and the Ferret- Badger also occur, the latter being quite common.

144

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ONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARI

The Chinese Blue Magpie, Urocissa

erythrorhyncha

Bodd., one of the Colony's most beautiful resident birds.

(From a Chinese painting)

The Barking Deer or Muntjac, although fairly plentiful in many wooded districts, is rarely seen in the day-time. It may occasionally be seen at night, however, especially when caught in the headlights of a car. On account of its shyness and noctural habits this small deer may seem to be less common than is actually the case; the Peak district on the island is still to be included amongst its haunts. Wild Boar inhabit certain wooded districts on the mainland, notably the Sai Kung, Sha Tau Kok, Pat Sin Range and Tai Po areas.

It is of interest that the average number of young

in a brood appears to be only four in this Colony.

Monkeys have been seen in at least three different places during the years 1948 and 1949-at Tai Tam Tuk on the island and at the Kowloon and Jubilee Reservoirs on the mainland. Whether these were specimens of the indigenous and now locally very rare or extinct Rhesus Monkey, it is impossible to say.

An animal of particular interest is the Scaly Anteater or Pangolin which feeds to a great extent on termites. Although on record as occurring both on the mainland and Hong Kong Island, it seems at least to be rare now.

Porcupines are to be found on Hong Kong Island and on the mainland being our largest rodent and liable on occasion to damage crops and trees. Next in size among the rodents is the Smaller Bandicoot Rat, first known from Nepal and discovered here in 1946 on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories. This is a large ground-living rat which does not enter houses. The two common domestic rodent pests are the cosmopolitan Common or Brown Rat and the Buff-breasted Rat, a small brown South Chinese race of the well-known Black or Ship Rat. House mice are not numerous but seem to be replaced to a limited extent by the House Shrew, the latter an insectivore a little smaller than a rat with sharply pointed snout and a strong musky odour.

Birds

There is much to interest the bird-lover and ornithologist in the Colony of Hong Kong. Approximately two hundred species of birds have been identified, and may be grouped into four categories, namely:-(1) Residents, (2) Winter Visitors, (3) Summer Visitors, and (4) Passage Migrants. There is, therefore, always variety and the possibility of observing unrecorded species. The families of birds on record for the Colony include the crows, babblers, bulbuls, thrushes, redstarts, flycatchers, minivets, drongos, warblers, starlings, weavers, finches, buntings, swallows, wagtails, cuckoos, kingfishers, owls, falcons, pigeons, rails, gulls, terns, plovers, sandpipers, herons, ducks, and grebes, to mention only those represented by several species.

145

Two birds observed during 1949 which have not been listed are the Rough-legged Buzzard, a winter visitor seen in the Lam Tsun Valley, and the East China Lesser Scimitar Babbler, several of which were seen in the Peak district. Other interesting records of birds seen in 1949 include a small party of the rare White-winged Black Tern, several melanistic examples of the Rufous-backed Shrike, and the rare White Ibis seen on the secluded shore at Deep Bay. A fairly large party of the tiny Chinese Scarlet-backed Flower- peckers afforded amply opportunity for observation when they settled down during the winter of 1949/50 in the vicinity of Belcher's Fort on Hong Kong Island.

Birds recorded in former years which there is reason to believe were less numerous or absent in 1949 are the Blue-tail, the various flycatchers, Java Sparrow, Chinese Spotted Munia, Chinese White-backed or Sharp-tailed Munia, Lesser Black-tailed Hawfinch, Japanese Nightjar, Chinese White-breasted Water-Hen, Indian Moorhen, Chinese Pond Heron, and the Night Heron. Others seen but which appear to be rare in at least some of their former haunts are the South East China Jungle Crow, Grey Minivet, Chinese Hair- crested Drongo, and the Black-necked Mynah. The beautiful Black-naped Oriole may still be seen but is not common. The Little Egret was not reported at the heronries on the mainland during 1949, whilst the Cattle Egret was nesting there in reduced numbers.

Reptiles

Twenty-nine species of land snakes, about six sea- snakes, fifteen lizards and several chelonians (tortoises, turtles and terrapins) are known to inhabit the Colony and the adjacent sea.

Of the land snakes, only six are sufficiently poisonous to be dangerous to man. Most familiar of the latter is the little bright green Bamboo Snake, the bite of which, however, has never been known to prove fatal to an adult.

It is a pitviper, having a distinct pit or indentation between the eye and the nostril, and is one of our commonest snakes. Another common poisonous snake is the well-known Indian Cobra, a bite from which is likely to prove fatal if prompt treatment is not given. Fortunately bites from this snake in Hong Kong are extremely rare and no deaths are on record. These snakes are usually blackish or fairly dark in colour above and when on the defensive or about to strike they adopt the characteristic pose with head and forepart of body raised and the hood expanded. The large King Cobra or Hamadryad is very rare and may be found only in the New Territories. It is the largest poisonous snake in the World and may occasionally attain eighteen feet in length.

146

公共圖

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館

HONG KO

KONG PUBLIC LI

The Malayan Bull-frog,

Kaloula

pulchra pulchra, Gray, common in Hong Kong and produces a remarkably loud noise when croak- ing in chorus.

RIES

(From a drawing by

Tang Ying Wei)

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RARIES

The Indo-Chinese Rat Snake, Ptyas korros (Schlegel), one of the commonest harmless snakes in the Colony.

(Photograph by J. C. E. Britt)

The more frequently seen harmless snakes include the Common Rat Snake or Dhaman and its near relative the Indo- Chinese Rat Snake. The former is usually brownish above with irregular black cross-bars on the hind part of the body, and is pale underneath where some or all of the scales are edged with black; there are distinct black vertical bars on the lips. It grows to six or seven feet in length, is extremely swift and bites fiercely when cornered. The Indo-Chinese Rat Snake is also brownish above, but lacks the dark cross- bars and black vertical bars on the lips. It does not grow quite as large and is not so inclined to bite as its larger relative. Probably the commonest of all snakes is the Chequered Water Snake, a species which lives in and near fresh-water streams, ponds and ditches. It is olivaceous above, marked with darker spots and two dark streaks radiating backwards and downwards from the eye. The belly is whitish or yellowish, the scales edged with black. Although quite harmless, this snake always attempts to bite when handled. Its food consists mostly of Amphibia and fish. The largest shake in the Colony is the Indian Python. These giants of the serpent world are not poisonous, but kill their prey by constriction, being close relatives of the Boa Constrictors of the New World. An exceptionally large python, measuring over fourteen feet in length, was shot on Hong Kong Island in September, 1949.

The sea-snakes are all poisonous, but they are inoffensive and do not attack bathers. Although breathers of atmospheric air, their tails are vertically flattened (paddle-like) and they are equipped for a thoroughly aquatic existence.

•

The

Lizards are frequently seen in the Colony and are represented by four families-the geckoes, the skinks, the Agamids and the typical lizards. The most familiar is the common house-lizard, known as Bowring's Gecko. This active little creature may be seen throughout the warm weather both inside and outside buildings. It is mostly nocturnal, feeding on insects and other small creatures. majority of lizards in the Colony belong to a family, the members of which are known as skinks. They vary in size from a few inches to over a foot and are to be found on both cultivated and uncultivated land all over the Colony. They are stream-lined in appearance, exceedingly active, and fond of basking in the sun.

Amphibia

At least eighteen species of Amphibia belonging to ten genera have

have been

been recorded for the Colony and are represented by various frogs and toads, and one newt. Like the reptiles, most of the Amphibia hibernate during the short winter. They emerge in spring and on rainy

147

spring and summer nights the loud choruses produced by the croaking, especially of the Common Indian Toad, the Malayan Bull-frog and the Paddy Frog, are a familiar sound. The Malayan Bull-frog, beautifully marked with yellowish and dark brown, inflates itself like a balloon and floats on the surface of the water, producing a very loud, deep, guttural sound. It feeds on insects and is particularly fond of termites. The only tailed species is the Chinese Newt which occurs on Hong Kong Island and the mainland in certain hill-streams at elevations upwards from about 1,000 feet.

Butterflies and Moths

The attractive butterflies known popularly by their family name as 'swallow-tails' are conspicuously represented in Hong Kong by a variety of species. This family is predominantly tropical in distribution and contains some of the most beautiful of all insects. They may be recognised in the field by their relatively large size, rapid wing-beats, swift flight and their 'tails', though the latter are not invariably present.

The magnificent Atlas Moth, with a wing-span from about seven to nine inches and among the largest insects in the world, is to be found in Hong Kong. In colouration it is mostly brownish, the various colours and shades being arranged so as to produce the effect of a Persian carpet. Another very fine species occurring in the Colony is the Moon Moth, with a wing-span from about four to six inches and of a soft silvery green colour with pale pinkish-brown markings. This moth is 'swallow-tailed', the tails of the female being slightly twisted and spatulate, whilst those of the male are not so, but are bright orange to red in colour.

148

HISTORY

Chapter 3.

The area which now forms the Crown Colony of Hong Kong is first mentioned in Chinese histories as part of the territories of the Maan Tribes, who then inhabited the greater part of China south of the River Yangtse. About this early culture little is known, though pottery of the prehistoric period unearthed on the islands of Lamma and Lantau, south and west of Hong Kong Island, indicates the existence of trade with the South at a remote period. The Maan tribes of Kwangtung gradually accepted Chinese culture from the close of the Han dynasty (3rd century A.D.) onwards, and by the end of the Sung dynasty (13th century A.D.) the local people, whatever their racial origin, evidently regarded themselves as Chinese. The last Sung emperor, Ti-ping, in flight from the invading Mongols, made his capital at Kowloon on the mainland just opposite the Island of Hong Kong for a few months before his death in 1278 A.D., and a small hill crowned with prominent boulders was held sacred to his memory until 1943 when the Japanese demolished it.

The Arabs were already known in Canton in the seventh century A.D., but European intercourse with China dates from the sixteenth century when expeditions from the maritime states of Europe-Portugal, Spain, Holland and England-penetrated into Far Eastern waters in the hope of establishing a direct trade by sea with the Moluccas or Spice Islands. At the end of the century, Queen Elizabeth herself addressed a letter to the Emperor of China. Though this letter was probably never delivered it marks the beginning of official support for a whole series of adventurous attempts to share in the trade of the Eastern countries. At the beginning of the next century a monopoly of the East Indian trade was created in favour of "The Governor and

149

merchants of London trading in the East Indies." An early trading station at Bantam in Java soon led to the extension of the sphere of action to Japan and China.

The Portuguese had already founded the settlement of Macao from Malacca. In 1681 the East India Company secured a house in Macao and a little later an approach was made to Canton itself. By 1715 a regular seasonal trade had been commenced with a shorestaff residing during the season in the Canton "Factories" and, during the summer months, in the Company's premises at Macao. The French, Dutch and Americans were not long in following the Company's lead, and, by the end of the eighteenth century, Englishmen trading on their own

their own account were beginning to share the benefits of this precarious intercourse.

Two attempts had been made to establish normal official relations with China-by Lord Macartney in 1793 and by Lord Amherst in 1816, but these were rebuffed by the Manchu Court at Peking. The separate trends which British intercourse with China had hitherto taken-the activity of the East India Company, whose monopoly expired in 1831, and the unsuccessful official missions- -were united in 1834 by the arrival of Lord Napier in Canton as His Majesty's Chief Superintendent of Trade. Lord Napier's efforts at improving relations with the Chinese authorities failed and he died in Macao in October, 1834. Captain Elliot, R.N., succeeded him as Chief Superintendent and for five years negotiations were intermittently continued while the position of the British merchants became more and more difficult. The ultimate result of this protracted period of undeclared hostilities was the withdrawal of British merchant ships to Hong Kong, a blockade of the Canton River in 1840 and the peaceful occupation in January, 1841, of Hong Kong Island, which was then inhabited by a few fishermen, stone-cutters and farmers and provided a notorious retreat for smugglers and pirates.

The cession of the Island to the British Crown was confirmed by the Treaty of Nanking in August, 1842. The Convention of Peking of 1860 added the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters' Island to the Crown Colony and under a further Convention of Peking, signed in 1898, the area known as the New Territories, including Mirs Bay and Deep Bay, was leased to Great Britain for a period of ninety-nine

years.

Almost a century of uninterrupted peaceful development followed the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong as a free port became one of the world's greatest harbours and entrepôts; freedom of the port and freedom of entrance and egress for all persons of Chinese race were permitted in accordance with a policy which ensured for the Colony the rôle of

150

entrepôt both for the trade and for the labour of China's southern provinces. Reclamation and afforestation were carried out; a network of motor roads was cut into the hills; public health administration and antimalarial measures combined with the steady and natural growth of the city itself to present in 1941 a picture very different from that of a century earlier. The rich interior of China was connected by railway with the wharves and warehouses. built for the world's shipping; schools and a university were established; Chinese, European and American air lines met in the Colony's airport; shipyards which could build the hulls of 10,000 ton ships and docks able to accommodate the world's largest liners were constructed and light industries were born and thrived.

After Japan invaded China in 1937 the Colony became a refuge for many Chinese and the population grew to over one million and a half. Until the fall of Canton at the end of 1938 valuable war supplies were able to reach China through Hong Kong. With the outbreak of war in Europe in September, 1939, the position of the Colony became precarious, and on 8th December, 1941, the blow fell. Powerful units of the Japanese Army, supported by the Japanese Air Force based on Canton, struck at the Colony. The first attempt of the Japanese to land on Hong Kong Island was repulsed on the night of December 15th-16th, but a second attempt on the night of the 18th-19th was successful. After some bloody fighting on the Island, the Colony was surrendered to the Japanese forces on Christmas Day. The isolated brigade on Stanley peninsula held out for a further day before capitulating on superior orders.

Hong Kong remained in Japanese hands for over three and a half years. The population fell from more than one and a half million to less than half that number, largely as a result of the ruthless Japanese policy of compulsorily repatriating Chinese to their original homes in Kwangtung.

The Colony was liberated when units of the British Pacific Fleet entered the harbour on 30th August, 1945, about two weeks after the capitulation of Japan. A brief period of Military Administration was followed by the re-establishment of Civil Government on 1st May, 1946.

151

ADMINISTRATION

Chapter 4.

The Government of Hong Kong derives its constitutional authority from Letters Patent and Royal Instructions issued from time to time and is administered by a Governor assisted by an Executive Council and a Legislative Council. The Executive Council, which is consulted by the Governor on all important administrative matters, includes the senior Military Officer, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Financial Secretary (who are members ex officio) and such other members, both official and unofficial, as may be appointed. At the end of 1949 there were six official members (including the five ex officio members mentioned above) and six unofficial members, three of whom were Chinese.

The Legislative Council consists of not more than nine official members, including the same five ex officio members listed above, and not more than eight unofficial members. At the end of 1949 there were eight official members and seven unofficial members. The procedure of this Council, with the advice and consent of which all legislation is enacted and by which all expenditure from public funds has to be approved, is based on that of the House of Commons. There are three standing Committees of the Legislative Council- the Finance Committee, the Law Committee and the Public Works Committee-and select committees are from time to time set up to advise on matters before the Council.

The English Common Law, together with such United Kingdom statutes as were in force on April 5th, 1843, or have since that date been expressly made applicable to Hong Kong, forms the basis of the legal system, modified by Hong Kong Ordinances of which an edition revised to 1931 was published in 1938. The constitution of the Supreme Court of the Colony is set out in the Supreme Court Ordinance No. 3 of 1873. The law as to civil procedure was codified by Ordinance. No. 3 of 1901. The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, regulates the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in Admiralty cases.

The system of administration is briefly as follows:

Under the general direction of the Colonial Secretary the administrative functions of Government are discharged by some thirty departments, all the officers of which are members of the Civil Service.

152

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VG KONG PUBLIC LIBRAR

品

Botanic Gardens

哥

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Choi Ching.

Trade, Finance and Development

Since 1938 the Financial Secretary has assumed a purely administrative function in the Colonial Secretariat and under his direction the Treasury is responsible for the public accounts, all of which are subject to the supervision of the Director of Audit. The assessment and collection of rates are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation; and the collection of miscellaneous indirect taxation and of the direct taxation levied under the Inland Revenue Ordinance of 1947 are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. The Director of Commerce and Industry (formerly Superintendent of Imports and Exports) is charged with the collection of import and excise duties and with the direction of preventive work. The Director of Supplies and Distribution (formerly Director of Supplies, Trade and Industry), who was appointed after the war to handle the large volume of supplies imported by Government after the re-occupation of the Colony, now deals with the importation of a small range of important bulk foodstuffs and controlled commodities and also administers an elementary rationing system and a system of price control. Normal procurement for government requirements is the responsibility of the Controller of Stores. The control of enemy property and property abandoned during the war is in the hands of the Custodian of Property.

Four departments, originally set up under the Develop- ment Secretariat, deal with fisheries, agriculture, forestry and public gardens respectively.

Social Services

The Secretary for Chinese Affairs is a senior administrative officer and has a wide and general responsibility in all matters affecting the Chinese community. The Commissioner of Labour is responsible for ensuring that the conditions in factories and workshops, particularly with regard to health and safety, are in accordance with the requirements of exist- ing legislation, for providing conciliation machinery for the settlement of disputes about wages and other terms of service, for the encouragement of modern trade unionism, and for the implementation of such International Labour Conventions as can be applied to the Colony. The Social Welfare Officer operates under the general direction of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and among his duties are included the protec- tion of women and girls, the inspection of emigrant ships, the supervision of child and juvenile welfare and the general co-ordination of all welfare activities in the Colony.

153

The Director of Medical Services, whose department is divided into the hospital, health and investigation divisions, assisted by the Head of the Sanitary Department is respon- sible for the general health of the Colony and for the provision of vital statistics. The Head of the Sanitary Depart- ment is ex officio the Chairman of the Urban Council which has certain powers, subject to confirmation by the Legislative Council, to originate subsidiary legislation in matters con- cerning public health.

Education is in the hands of the Director of Education who controls government schools and supervises all private schools in the Colony.

Communications

The Director of Marine, the Director of Civil Aviation and the General Manager of the Kowloon-Canton Railway are responsible for sea, air and rail traffic respectively while the Director of Public Works, in addition to his duties in connection with the construction and maintenance of government build- ings, the supervision of other buildings, water works, piers and government transport, is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Colony's roads.

The Postmaster General is responsible for the collection and delivery of mail and also controls Radio Hong Kong. The Observatory is under the charge of the Director of the Royal Observatory.

Law and Order

The Attorney General is the adviser to government on all legal matters and is also the public prosecutor. The Registrar General is the officer responsible for the registration of companies, trade marks, marriages and land deals and is also the Official Receiver and Official Trustee. Watch and ward in the Colony is kept by the Commissioner of Police, while the Colony's prisons are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Prisons. The Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade has an efficient and up-to-date force under his command.

New Territories

The administration of the New Territories is in the .charge of a District Commissioner, assisted by a District Officer for each of the three districts: Yuen Long in the west, Taipo in the north and east, and the Southern District. The District Officers for Yuen Long and Taipo each sit as Magistrates three days a week, on alternative days, and hear debts cases.

154

Much of the time of District Officers is

occupied in hearing disputes concerning land, in which sphere they have powers similar to those of the Supreme Court. With the help of the Medical and Health Officer, the Depart- ment is responsible in the New Territories for much of the work done in the city by the Urban Council.

Other Departments

Since the war a Public Relations Officer has been appointed to transmit news and explain government policy to the public and to keep government informed of public opinion.

The Government Statistician, whose office is equipped with a Hollerith installation for the tabulation of information, is responsible for the production of any statistical matter required by any department of government.

The Quartering Authority is responsible generally for the allocation of accommodation within government and for the requisition of premises.

155

WEIGHTS

MEASURES

Chapter 5.

The weights and measures in use in the Colony consist of the standards in use in the United Kingdom and of the following Chinese weights and measures:

1 fan (candareen).

156

.0133 ounces avoirdupois

1 ts'in (mace)

.133

ounces avoirdupois

1 leung (tael)

1.33

ounces avoirdupois

1 kan (catty)

1.33

pounds avoirdupois

1 t'am (picul)

133.33

1 ch'ek (foot)

pounds avoirdupois Statutory equivalent 14 inches, but in actual practice it varies according to trade from 14ğ inches to

to 111 inches. The commonest value is 14.14 inches. The ch'ek is divided into 10 ts'ün (inches) and each ts'ün into ten fan or tenths.

U.S.$0.1727

H.K. $1

1/3 (stg.)

1/6 d. (Aust.)

(approx).

£1 stg.

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Chapter 6.

PRESS

During the year under review the English-language newspapers published in Hong Kong, which included the China Mail (daily with a Sunday edition, the Sunday Herald), the South China Morning Post (daily, including Sundays), and the Hong Kong Telegraph, (an afternoon paper published daily excluding Sundays and produced by the same company that owns the South China Morning Post), were joined by the Hong Kong (Tiger) Standard, owned by the wealthy Chinese 'Tiger Balm' merchant, Mr. Aw Bun Haw. This last paper sells at 10 cents a copy, half the price of the other English-language papers, and has a circulation of approximately 9,000 copies daily. Of the leading Chinese language papers the Wah Kiu Yat Po, the Sing Tao Jih Pao (which belongs to the owner of the Hong Kong (Tiger) Standard) and the Kung Sheung Daily News are generally much more reliable than other Chinese papers.

The two

There are a total of 53 Chinese-language papers and periodicals published in the Colony, but many of these die out and are replaced or revived from time to time. Chinese papers Wen Wei Pao and Ta Kung Pao which migrated from Shanghai in 1948, went steadily left as the Chinese Communist armies advanced South, and now support the Communist cause. The Hong Kong Times, an extreme right- wing Chinese-language paper, has taken the place of the defunct Nationalist Daily News formerly published in the Colony. English-language papers and periodicals, including the Far Eastern Economic Review which has a circulation of several thousand a week, number sixteen of which three are expected to cease publication shortly.

The history of the English newspapers in Hong Kong is a long one, dating back to the earliest days of the Colony. The earliest paper The Hong Kong Register was a development of the Canton Register, which was printed in Canton about 1827, and was the first English newspaper to be produced in the Far East. In 1850 a daily edition was being produced in Gage Street, but three years later publication ceased.

157

The oldest publication still being produced in Hong Kong is the Government Gazette whose history goes back to the earliest years of the Colony. The Gazette was started in 1841 in Macao for the purpose of publishing such proclamations as the British authorities desired to issue to their merchants who had left Canton. When Hong Kong was ceded, printing presses were imported and a weekly newspaper entitled The Friend of China and the Hong Kong Gazette began publication on 17th March, 1842. In 1845 the newly-founded China Mail became the vehicle for Government Notifications and the name Hong Kong Gazette was dropped by the Friend of China which carried on until 1860 before ceasing publication. The first separately issued Government Gazette appeared on 24th September, 1853, and the first Chinese issue of the Gazette on 1st March, 1862.

The oldest English newspaper still in publication is the China Mail which began as a four-page weekly on 20th February, 1845. In the '50's the paper became a daily publication specialising in shipping. In 1863 the China Mail moved to Wyndham Street behind the old Hong Kong Club (now the King's Theatre) where it remained until 1940 in which year it moved to Windsor House. The same company publishes the Sunday Herald.

The first Chinese paper to be published in the Colony was the Wah Tsz Yat Po (***) which was established very soon after the cession of the Colony, and continued to appear until very recently. Another very old paper, also now out of publication, was the Ts'un Wan Yat Po (@⠀ # ) ·

Another early newspaper was the Daily Press which ceased publication in 1941. This was the first daily morning paper in the history of the Colony and its four pages in the early days were mainly concerned with ships and shipping. The paper appears to have led a somewhat itinerant existence and changes of premises are frequently recorded. The printing establishment in 1941 was near Jardine's Godown at the corner of Hennessy Road and Percival Street, Wanchai. During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong in that year, it was severely damaged by shell fire and burned out. The paper has not been re-established since the reoccupation of the Colony.

The Hong Kong Telegraph was first issued on 15th June, 1881. This paper has changed hands on several occasions and like the Daily Press, though not to the same extent, has led a nomadic existence. Its latest move was in 1925 to the newly erected Morning Post Building in Wyndham Street (which, incidentally, used to be termed "The Fleet Street of Hong Kong"), its interests having in 1916 been merged with the South China Morning Post.

158

The South China Morning Post first made its appearance on 7th November, 1903. The paper was originally founded with considerable support from among prominent local residents to support the Reform Movement in China. The South China Morning Post has been less subject to moves than its contemporaries and predecessors. Originally situated in Connaught Road Central, the offices were moved first to Des Voeux Road and then in 1913 to Wyndham Street. There they have remained since, although the offices originally occupied were demolished to make room for the Morning Post Building which was completed in 1926.

room

new

The English newspapers continued to appear through- out the fighting in December, 1941, in spite of bombing and increasing technical difficulties due to the hostilities. During the Japanese occupation of the Colony the Morning Post Building was taken over by the Japanese Propaganda Department and for 44 months housed three newspapers, Japanese, Chinese and English. On the re-occupation of the Colony in 1945, no time was lost in beginning publication again and the leading units to disembark from the relieving fleet were surprised to find that a British newspaper was already being distributed; this was a single sheet "extra" edition of the South China Morning Post announcing the impending arrival of the relieving forces.

URBACJOJ..

ULBRARIES

159

BIBLIOGRAPHY

OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

Annual, monthly and weekly Publications.

Administration Reports (until 1939) Annual Report on Hong Kong

Blue Book (until 1940)

Civil Service List

...

Departmental Reports

Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure

...

Annual

Government Gazette

Weekly, or more often as required

Hong Kong Hansard

Annual

•

Hong Kong Trade and Shipping Returns Hong Kong Trade and Shipping Returns Meteorological Results

Annual

Monthly

...

Annual

...

Annual

Sessional Papers

Annual

Ordinances of Hong Kong including Proclamations,

Regulations, Orders in Council etc.

...

British Trade in Hong Kong, 1896.

...

Census Reports of Hong Kong. 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931, 1941.

Other Official Publications.

160

Commercial Development of the Port of Hong Kong by J. Duncan.

1924.

Geology and Mineral Resources of the Colony of Hong Kong by

W. L. Uglow. Sessional Paper. 1926.

Historical and Statistical Abstract of the Colony of Hong Kong,

Published in 1906, 1911, 1922, 1932.

Hong Kong Trade Commission Inquiry by M. J. Breen.

Paper No. 3 of 1935.

Sessional

Isotyphs showing Prevalence of Typhoons by T. F. Claxton, Hong

Kong Royal Observatory, 1932.

Journal of the Hong Kong Fisheries Research Station.

Vol. 1 No. 1 February, No. 2 September, 1940, Vol. II No. 1 March, 1949. Printed by South China Morning Post, Hong Kong.

Meteorological Records, 1884-1928 by C. W. Jefferies, (Appendix to Hong Kong Observations). Hong Kong Royal Observatory 1938. Preliminary Planning Report by Sir Patrick Abercrombie, 1949.

Report by Governor of Hong Kong on the Mui Tsai Question. 1930.

Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong by H. R.

Butters. Sessional Paper No. 3 of 1939.

Report of the Committee regarding Marketing in the New Territories

by A. E. Wood, Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1934.

Report on the Water Supply of Hong Kong, by A. R. Woodward,

Sessional Paper No. 3 of 1937.

Salaries Commission Report, 1947.

Street Index. Printed in 1936 by Noronha & Co.

Street Map of Hong Kong.

Street Map of Kowloon.

The Climate of Hong Kong, 1884-1929 by T. F. Claxton (Appendix to Hong Kong Observations) Hong Kong Royal Observatory 1931.

The 1937 Edition of the Ordinances and Regulations of Hong Kong, Edited by the late J. A. Fraser, G.C., M.C., and published in 1938.

Upper Temperatures and the Properties of Air Masses Over Hong Kong by G. S. P. Heywood. (Appendix B. to Hong Kong Met. Results 1940). 1941.

Other Publications of General Interest.

Asiatic Review

Balfour, S. F.

...

1941 Hong Kong before the British.

Quarterly, London.

Being a local history of the

region of Hong Kong and the New Territories before the British occupation. Reprinted from T'ien Hsia Monthly, Shanghai.

Bentham, G. B.

1861 Flora Hongkongensis London, Lovell Reeve.

Brock, R. W.

1943

Weathering of igneous rocks near Hong Kong. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bul. Vol. 54. No. 6 pages 717-738.

Brock, R. W. and Schofield, S.J.

1926 The Geological History and Metallogenetic Epochs of Hong Kong. Proc. 3rd Pan Pacific Sci. Congr. Tokio. pages 576-581.

Bunbury, G. A.

1909 Notes on Wild Life in Hong Kong and South China.

Chater Collection, The

1924

Pictures Relating to China, Hong Kong, Macao, 1655-1860; with Historical and Descriptive Letterpress by James Orange. London, Thornton Butterworth.

Clementi, Sir C.

1936 The Future of Hong Kong. United Empire.

161

1946

The Birds of Hong Kong-Field Identification. Hong Kong, South China Morning Post.

1930 The Hong Kong Naturalist. Illustrated Quartery. Vols. I-X Hong Kong, The Newspaper Enterprise and South China Morning Post.

to 1941

1948 Food and Flowers. Hong Kong, South China Morning Post. Herklots, G. A. C. and Lin, S. Y.

1940 Common Marine Food-Fishes of Hong Kong. 2nd edition

Enl. Hong Kong, South China Morning Post.

Hertslet, L.

A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions and Reciprocal Regulations between Great Britain and Foreign Powers. H.M.S.O. London. Vol.4 P.76 Vol.6 P.222 Vol.11

P.113.

Hinton, W. J.

1941 Hong Kong's Place in the British Empire. London, Colonial

Office. Far Eastern Pamphlet.

Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce Report

Hong Kong Dollar Directory

...

Annual

Hurley, R. C.

1925 Picturesque Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Commercial Press.

Kershaw, J. C.

1905 Butterflies of Hong Kong and South-East China, Hong Kong,

Kelly & Walsh.

Little, A.

1905 The Far East. Pages 141-152.

London.

Mayers, W. F. Dennys, N. B. and King C.

1867 The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. A complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hong Kong and Macao. London: Trubner & Co., and Hong Kong, L. A. Shortrede & Co.

Middleton Smith, C. A.

1920 The British in China and Far Eastern Trade London.

Constable & Co., Ltd.

Mills, Lennox A.

1942

British Rule in Eastern Asia. A Study of Contemporary Government and Economic Development in British Malaya and Hong Kong. Oxford University

Press.

London:

Humphrey Milford.

Moran, H. N.

162

1947 Police Law Finder (Guide to Legislation of Hong Kong).

Hong Kong, Local Printing Press.

Northcote, Sir G.

1941 Hong Kong: the Story of a Century. Crown Colonist, Jan. Norton-Kyshe, J. W.

1898

The History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong. 2 Vols. London: T. Fisher Unwin; Hong Kong: Noronha.

Davis, S. G.

1949 Hong Kong in its geographical setting. Collins, London. Des Voeux, Sir G. William

1889 Report on the Condition and Prospects of Hong Kong and on Recent Events in the Colony. Hong Kong, Noronha and Co. 1903 My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong, 2 Vols. London, John Murray.

Directory and Chronicle of China, Japan, etc.

pages 469-682. Hong Kong. 1941.

Dunn, S. T. and Tutcher, W. J.

1912 Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong,

Stationery Office.

Eitel, E. J.

London H.M.

1896 Europe in Asia (History of Hong Kong). Hong Kong, Kelly

and Walsh.

Endacott, George B. and She, Dorothy E.

1949 The Diocese of Victoria, Hong Kong.

Fabian Colonial Bureau.

1946 Strategic Colonies and their Future. Fabian Pub. Ltd.

Research Series No. 100. pages 7-11 London.

Far Eastern Economic Review

Weekly, Hong Kong.

Financial and Other Statistics showing Development of Hong Kong.

1897-1926. Colonial Office, London.

Eastern Pamphlet.

Forster, L.

1927.

1933 Echoes of Hong Kong and Beyond. Hong Kong, Ye Olde

Printerie.

Gibbs, L.

1927 Common Hong Kong ferns. Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh. Gull, E. M.

1943

British Economic Interests in the Far East, Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Oxford University Pres. London; Humphrey Milford. 1941 Hong Kong Centenary Commemorative Talks.

Heanley, C. M. and Shellshear, J. L.

1932 A Contribution to the Prehistory of Hong Kong and the New Territories. (Communication faite au Premier Congrés des Préhistoriens d'Extrême-Orient, le 27 janvier, 1932, Hanoi).

Herklots, G. A. C.

1937 Flowering Shrubs and Trees-(First Twenty) Hong Kong, The Newspaper Enterprise. (Second Twenty) South China Morning Post, 1938. Orchids, (First Twenty) Hong Kong, The Newspaper Enterprise.

1941

Vegetable Cultivation in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, South China Morning Post. 2nd edition 1947.

163

Nunn, J. H.

1931 Analysis of Hong Kong Trade 1924 and 1930. Spec. Circ.

Washington Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

Owen, Sir D. J.

1941 Future Control and Development of the Port of Hong Kong.

Noronha.

Peplow, S. H. and Barker, M.

1931 Hong Kong, Around and About.

Hong Kong, Ye Olde Printerie.

Sayer, G. R.

2nd Ed. Rev. and Enl.

1937 Hong Kong Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age. Oxford,

The University Press.

Schofield, W.

1938 Hong Kong's New Territory. Asiatic Review, Oct.

Selwyn-Clarke, P. S.

1946 Hong Kong Faces the Future. Health Horizon. Pages 13-18

July.

Sketchly, S. B. J.

1896 Our Island, Hong Kong.

Thorbecke, Ellen.

(N.D.) Hong Kong Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

& Walsh.

Tutcher, W. J.

Kelly

1913 Gardening for Hong Kong. 2nd Ed. Hong Kong, Kelly &

Walsh.

Williams, M. Y.

New

1943 The Stratigraphy and Palaeontology of Hong Kong and the Territories. (Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Third Series, Section IV, Vol. XXXVII, 1943, pages 93-117).

Williams, M. Y. et al

1945 The Physiography and Igneous Geology of Hong Kong and the New Territories. (Transaction of the Royal Society of Canada. Third Series, Section IV, Vol. XXXIX 1945, pages

91-119).

Wood, Winifred A.

1940 A Brief History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong, South China

Morning Post.

Wright, Arnold (Editor) and Cartwright (H.A.)

NOTE:

1908

London, Lloyd's Greater

Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China. Britain Publishing Co., Ltd.

So far as is known publications which were printed before 1941 have not been reprinted since the war.

164

Year

No.

APPENDIX I

Colonial Development and Welfare Schemes Locally Administered Schemes

Title

Grant

Loan

Amount spent

from C.D. & W. Funds up to

31.12.49

1947/48 D. 759

Visit of Town Planning Expert

1,250

759A

D. 924

Reclamation at Aberdeen

50,000

D. 925

Landing Facilities-Kennedy Town

10,000

41,793

6,849

61,250

48,642

1948/49 D. 994

Village Agricultural Depots

18,375

9,375

4,860

D. 998

Mechanisation of Fishing Fleet

10,000

40,000

NIL

D.1060

Upper Air Reporting Station

25,780

NIL

D.1066

Lorries for Vegetable Marketing Scheme

9,375

9,375 (G)

9,375 (L)

63,530

58,750

23,610

Research Schemes

1946/47 R. 94 1947/48 R. 282

Fisheries Research

500

Fisheries Research Station

135,000

135,500

498

114

612

165

1.6.6

Year

No.

Title

1946/47 D. 697 Scholarship D. 697A Scholarship

Scholarship Schemes

Grant

2,000

350

Amount spent

from C.D. & W. Funds up to

31.12.49

D. 697B Scholarship

10,000

12,350

1947/48 D. 768

Apprenticeship Scholarship for Graduates

1,000

D. 829

Training of Social Science Students

3,630

4,630

Grants applied for

Feeder Roads in the New Territories Piers in the New Territories

Irrigation in the New Territories

£50,000

£45,000

£145,000

167

APPENDIX II

SELECTED INDICES OF ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The following index figures, selected from those included in Supplement No. 4 to the Gazette or calculated from figures therein, are presented as affording from different angles an indication of the economic position in the Colony at the end of the year 1949 as compared with the position in 1947. The base in the majority of cases is the monthly average for 1947, and indices on this base (printed in heavy type) may therefore be compared with one another.

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

Base

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

December

1948

1949

Immigration

Monthly Average, 1947 (129,069 persons) 100

168,620 persons 130.6

144,717 persons 112.1

62,444 persons 48.4

Emigration

Monthly Average, 1947

(137,846 persons) 100

181,130 persons 131.4

148,850 persons 108.0

61,783 persons 44.8

Employees in

Total Dec., 1947

Dec., 1948

Registered

Factories and

Workshops

Factories

Registered

(64,499 persons) 100

Monthly Average, 1947

43 factories)

100

63,873 persons 99.0

81,571 persons 126.5

24 factories

55.8

19 factories

44.2

17 factories

39.5

Tonnages of

Vegetables

Marketed

Monthly Average, 1947 (1413.5 tons)

100

1582.2 tons

111.9

Animals

Slaughtered

Monthly Average, 1947 (41,249 animals) 100

49,273 animals 111.4

1721.5 tons

121.8

48,091 animals 116.6

3454.3 tons

244.3

45,866 animals 111.2

Production of Fluid Milk

Monthly Average, 1947 (32,544 gals)

100

42,987 gals. 132.1

63,076 gals.

193.8

73,547 gals. 226.0

168

Reference

No. of

Base

Relevant

Table

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

Tonnages of Fish Marketed

Monthly Average, 1947 (1361.45 tons)

100

2252.2 tons.

165.4

2813.6 tons

206.6

4224.5 tons

310.3

126

Production of

Cement

Monthly Average, 1947 (2,852 tons)

4435 tons

100

155.5

4889 tons

171.4

5519 tons

193.5

166

Production of Electricity

Monthly Average, 1947 (7,587,303 k.w.h.) 100

12,526,000 k.w.h. 165.1

18,138,733 k.w.h. 239.1

20,899,778 k.w.h. 275.4

167

Gas Manufacture & Distribution

Monthly Average, 1947 (18,361,959 cu. ft.) 100

23,955,708 cu. ft. 130.5

32,775,633 cu. ft. 178.5

42,251,300 cu. ft. 230.1

171

Railway: Upward

& Downward

Passengers:-

Local

Monthly Average, 1947

(71,420 persons) 100

103,060 persons 144.3

270,117 persons 378.2

455,779 persons 638.1

Foreign

Monthly Average, 1947 (158,386 persons

100

203,909 persons 128.7

125,840 persons 79.4

Railway: Upward & Downward

Goods:

Local

Monthly Average, 1947

(368,672 kgs.) 100

220,657 kgs.

59.8

2,380,579 kgs. 645.7

13,166,450 kgs. 3571.3

* Kowloon-Canton Railway through traffic was suspended on the 15th October, 1949, and had not been resumed at the close of the year.

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

Foreign

Base

Monthly Average, 1947 (10,646,666 kgs.) 100

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

7,240,364 kgs. 68.0

1,226,019 kgs. 11.5

181

Tonnage of

Shipping (over

Monthly Average, 1947 (669,424 tons)

60 tons net)

100

774,732 tons

115.7

976,736 tons

145.9

1,040,548 tons 155.4

cleared

182

Passengers

Monthly Average, 1947

arriving &

departing by

(98,225 persons) 100

120,430 persons 122.6

139,149 persons 141.6

122,156 persons 124.3

shipping (over

60 tons net)

183

Foreign Trade

Conducted by

Junks and

Launches:-

Tonnages of

Cargo

Monthly Average, 1947

(45,456 tons)

100

36,499 tons

80.3

37,539 tons

82.6

27,385 tons

60.2

Tonnages of Vessels

Monthly Average, 1947 (200,990 tons)

100

229,722 tons

114.3

206,766 tons

102.8

95,010 tons

47.3

Number of Passengers

Monthly Average, 1947 (3,489 persons) 100

6,807 persons 195.1

6,975 persons 199.9

85 persons

2.2

169

* Kowloon-Canton Railway through traffic was suspended on the 15th October, 1949, and had not been resumed at the close of the year.

170

Reference

No. of

Base

Relevant

Table

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

184

Commercial

Cargo Tonnages,

Monthly Average, 1947

Ocean and

River Vessels

(237,451 tons)

100

297,763 tons

125.4

419,148 tons

176.5

537,170 tons

226.2

186

Arrivals of

Monthly Average, 1947

Aircraft at

(229 aircraft)

Kaitak

100

596. aircraft

260.2

1062 aircraft

463.7

365 aircraft

159.3

211

Value of Imports Monthly Average, 1947

($129,160,121)

100

212

Value of Exports Monthly Average, 1947

($101,402,797) 100

$131,894,976

130.0

$173,128,218 134.0

$229,183,483 177.4

$193,241,916

190.5

$286,665,075 221.9

$279,214,357

275.3

229

Exports of certain

commodities

manufactured

in Hong Kong

* (i) Preserved Ginger

Monthly Average, 1947

excess of exports ($278,453) over imports 100

$792,479

284.6

$844,488

303.3

$805,927

289.4

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports ($471,264) over imports 100

$385,726

81.8

* Note:

*(ii) Preserves (excl.

Ginger)

$200,931

(excess of imports

over exports)

These indices are not indices of production, but simply of the excess of exports over imports.

$492,576

104.5

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

Base

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

*(iii) Soy

Monthly average, 1947 excess of exports ($78,738) over imports 100

$257,611

327.2

$269,127

341.8

$391,190

496.8

*(iv) Boots & Shoes

(Canvas &

Rubber)

*(v) Electric

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports ($826,262) over imports 100

$1,033,796

125.1

$1,284,501

155.4

$1,453,945

175,9

Torches &

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports

Flashlight

Batteries

($1,447,848) over imports 100

$1,721,549

118.9

$3,419,088

236.1

$3,153,842

217.8

*(vi) Rattan

Monthly Average, 1947

Furniture

excess of exports

($157,709) over imports 100

$177,857

112.8

$341,386

216.4

$556,061

352.5

*(vii) Rope

Monthly Average, 1947

excess of exports

($82,242) over imports 100

$96,193

117.0

$115,478

140.4

$5,765

7.0

*(viii) Trunks and

Suitcases

Monthly Average, 1947

excess of exports ($266,258) over imports 100

$302,691

105.2

$333,078

125.0

$402,670

151.2

* (ix) Lamps

and

Lamp-

ware

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports ($363,060) over imports 100

$247,888

68.2

$251,084

69.1

$135,484

37.3

171

* Note:

These indices are not indices of production, but simply of the excess of exports over imports.

172

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

Base

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

*(x) Hats and Caps

(Foreign

Style)

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports ($103,639) over imports 100

$220,927

213.2

$238,565

230.2

$426,714

411.7

*(xi) Umbrellas

Monthly Average, 1947

excess of exports

($248,409) over imports 100

$490,341

197.4

$403,816

162.5

$283,869

114.2

*(i)-(xi) Totals

Monthly Average, 1947 excess of exports ($4,323,883) over imports 100

$5,727,058

131.9

$7,993,190

184.8

$7,414,536

171.4

233

Rice Received Under Allocation

Monthly Average, 1947 (6,774.70 met. tons) 100

9,164.39 met. tons 135.3

5,909.05

8,657.10

87.2

127.8

239

Imports of Cotton Piece Goods

240

Exports of Cotton Piece Goods

Monthly Average, 1947 (4,895,493 yards) 100

Monthly Average, 1947 (7,281,106 yards) 100

6,682,076 yds. 136.5

6,321,213 yds. 129.1

10,404,430 yds. 212.5

11,025,049 yds. 151.4

9,245,253 yds. 126.9

11,908,845 yds. 163.5

241

Imports of Rayon and Rayon Mixtures

Monthly Average, 1947 (149,621 yds.) 100

477,674 yds.

319.2

1,363,605 yds. 911.3

1,221,938 yds. 816.7

242

Imports of Cotton Yarn

Monthly Average, 1947

(990,268 lbs.)

100

2,520,010 lbs.

254.4

2,136,885 lbs.

215.8

5,589,305 lbs. 564.4

* Note:

These indices are not indices of production, but simply of the excess of exports over imports.

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

Base

Monthly Average

1948

INDICES ON BASE

Monthly Average

1949

December

1949

244

Trade with East Asia:

Imports from

Exports to North East Asia

271

Food & Fuel-

Costs of Selected

South East Asia...

Exports to South East Asia

Imports from North East Asia

Monthly Average, 1947 ($23,588,046)

100

Monthly Average, 1947 ($39,420,509)

100

Monthly Average, 1947 ($31,839,967)

100

Monthly Average, 1947 ($22,239,874)

100

($12.8461)

$28,786,472

122.0

$53,029,843

134.5

$39,357,248

123.6

$28,230,441

126.9

Monthly Average, 1947

$13.0367

$14.1102

Commodities.

100

101.5

109.8

$33,768,329

143.1

$49,731,122

126.1

$57,117,475

179.3

$59,039,544

265.4

$51,692,547

162.3

$134,803,713

606.1

$15,4988

120.6

$59,674,640

252.9

$43,112,443

109.3

273

Retail Price

March, 1947

Index

291

Hong Kong

Cleaning House

Figures

293

Bank Notes in

Circulation

100

323

Post Office

Revenue

100

Monthly Average, 1947

($549,587,015)

100

December, 1947

($675,162,086)

Monthly Average, 1947

($624,946)

December, 1947 88

December, 1948 92

112

$688,971,976

125.3

$917,138,568

166.9

$769,154,069

(July-Dec.,)

し

113.9

$839,329,774

124.3

$946,435,949

172.2

$802,924,076

118.9

$805,582

100

128.9

$1,081,310

173.0

$1,448,785

231.8

173

174

Reference

No. of

Relevant

Table

APPENDIX III

SUMMARY OF TOTAL FIGURES FOR THE YEARS 1947, 1948 and 1949.

1947

1948

1949

Immigration

Emigration

1,548,828 persons 1,654,152

Employees

Registered

Factories and

Workshops

64,499

Factories Registered

factories

Tonnages of Vegetables Marketed

Animals Slaughtered

Production of Fluid Milk

Tonnages of Fish Marketed

126

Production of Cement

166

Production of Electricity

167

Gas Manufacture and Distribution

171

Railway: Upward and Downward

Passengers:-

516

16,962

tons

494,988

animals

2,023,440 persons 2,173,560

(Dec.)

63,873

288

18,986

(Dec.)

factories

tons

591,276 animals

1,736,604 persons 1,786,200

81,571

(Dec.)

factories

tons

animals

228

20,658

577,092

390,528

gallons

515,844 gallons

756,912

gallons

16,337 tons

27,029 tons

33,763 tons

34,224

tons

53,220 tons

58,668 tons

91,047,636 220,343,508

k.w.h.

cu. ft.

150,312,000

k.w.h.

217,664,796

k.w.h.

287,468,496

cu. ft.

393,307,600

cu. ft.

Foreign

Local

Foreign

181

Local

Railway: Upward and Downward Goods:-

Tonnage of Shipping (over 60 tons net) cleared

857,040

1,900,632

persons

1,236,720 persons 2,446,908

3,241,398

persons

1,510,080

4,424,063 kgs. 127,759,992 kgs.

2,647,884 kgs. 86,884,368

28,566,947 kgs.

kgs.

14,712,230 kgs.

8,033,088 tons

9,296,784 tons

11,720,832 tons

182

Passengers arriving and departing by shipping

(over 60 tons net)

1,178,700 persons

1,445,160 persons

1,669,685

persons

183

Foreign Trade Conducted by Junks

and

Launches:

Tonnage of cargo

Tonnage of Vessels

545,472 tons 2,411,880

437,988 tons 2,754,664

450,481 tons

2,481,185

Number of Passengers

41,868 persons

81,684 persons

83,704 persons

Reference

No. of

1947

Relevant

Table

184

Commercial Cargo

Cargo Tonnages, Ocean and

River Vessels

2,849,412

186

Arrivals of Aircraft at Kai Tak

tons

2,748 aircraft

211

Value of Imports

$1,549,921,452

212

Value of Exports

$1,216,833,564

229

1948

1949

3,573,156 tons

7,152

5,029,770

tons

aircraft

12,740 aircraft

$2,077,538,616

$2,750,201,801

$1,582,739,712

$2,318,902,992

Export of Certain Commodities Manufactured

in Hong Kong (Excess of Exports over

Imports): -

(i) Preserved Ginger

(ii) Preserves (Excluding Ginger)

(iii) Soy

(iv) Boots and Shoes (Canvas and Rubber)

(v) Electric Torches & Flashlight Batteries (vi) Rattan Furniture

(vii) Rope

(viii) Trunks and Suitcases

(ix) Lamps and Lampware

(x) Hats and Caps (Foreign Style)

$3,341,437

$9,509,748

$10,133,856

$5,655,169

$4,628,712

$5,910,912

$944,857

$3,091,332

$3,229,524

$9,915,145

$12,405,522

$15,414,012

$17,374,177

$20,658,588

$41,029,056

$1,892,509

$2,134,284

$4,096,632

$986,905

$1,154,316

$1,385,736

$3,195,097

$3,632,292

$3,996,936

$4,356,721

$2,974,656

$3,013,008

$1,243,669

$2,651,124

$2,862,780

(xi) Umbrellas

$2,980,910

$5,884,092

$4,845,792

(i)-(xi) Totals

233

Rice Received under Allocation

239

Imports of Cotton Piece Goods

240

Exports of Cotton Piece Goods

87,373,272 yds.

$51,886,596

81,296 met. tons 58,745,916 yds.

80,184,912 132,300,588

$68,724,696

$95,918,244

109,973 met. tons

yds.

70,909 met. tons

75,854,554 yds.

yds.

110,943,036

yds.

241

242

Imports of Rayon and Rayon Mixtures Imports of Cotton Yarn

1,795,452 yds.

5,732,088 yds.

16,363,261 yds.

11,883,216 lbs.

30,240,120 lbs.

25,642,617 lbs.

244

Trade with East Asia:-

Imports from South East Asia Exports to South East Asia

$283,056,555

$345,437,668

$405,219,946

$473,046,113

$636,358,123

Imports from North East Asia

$382,079,614

$472,286,980

$596,773,469

$685,409,705

291

323

Exports to North East Asia

Hong Kong Clearing House Figures Post Office Revenue

$266,878,489

$338,765,298

$708,474,538

$6,595,044,180

$8,267,463,712

$11,005,662,816

$7,499,352

$9,666,984

$12,975,720

175

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