港史文本 - HK In Texts: Hong Kong Yearbook - Annual Report for the Year 1951

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Hong Kong

Annual Report

KONG

1951

PUBLIC LIBRAR

CROWN COPYRIGHT RESERVED.

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HONG

ONG

香港中央

圖書館

CENTOLIBRARY

Hong Kong Annual Report

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圖

PUBLIC

市政局公共圖書館UCPL

1951

3 3288 02638941 3

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due to copyright restrictions. To view the image, please contact library staff for a printed copy of the copyright work.

Pak Tai Temple, Cheung Chau.

URBAN COUNCIL PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Photo: Serge Vargas.

Acc. No. 58241

Class.

HK 95125

Author

HON

HKCr

PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG PRINTED BY YE OLDE PRINTERIE, LTD., 6 DUDDELL STREET,

HONG KONG.

APRIL 1952.

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CONTENTS

Page

}

102

113

115

118

121

PART I

Review of the Year -

PART II

I. Population

II. Occupations, Wages and Labour Organization

III. Public Finance and Taxation

IV. Currency and Banking

V. Commerce

VI. Production

Fisheries

Agriculture Cooperatives Forestry

Industrial Production

VII. Social Services

Education

Health Housing

Social Welfare

VIII. Legislation

IX. Justice, Records, Police and Prisons

X. Public Utilities

XI.

Communications and Broadcasting

XII. Research

XIII. Religion

XIV. The Arts

XV. Sport

PART III

I. Geography and Climate II. History

III. Hong Kong Trees

IV.

Administration

V. Weights and Measures -

VI. The Press

Bibliography

}

129

133

142

146

150

151

- 154

The Government of Hong Kong wishes to express its thanks to Mr. A. de O. Sales for his contribution to the Sports chapter of this Report, to Mr. Francis Wu, F.R.P.S., for taking photographs specially for the Report, and to all those who have kindly contributed photographs and whose names are acknowledged in each case. Photographs without acknowledgment were taken by Government photographers.

KONG PUBLI

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PART I

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NG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARI

香港公共圖書館

ONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARI

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

The extent to which the British Commonwealth is participating in the war in Korea has been kept constantly before the Hong Kong public by the numerous occasions during the year on which troops on their way to and from Korea have passed through the Colony.

There were two occasions, in April and May, when a great welcome was given to units of the British Army on their way back from serving in Korea under the flag of the United Nations. The first of these was the return of the 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with supporting units, and the second, the return of the 1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment. On each occasion the troops were welcomed at the wharf by the Commander, British Forces, Hong Kong, Lt.-General Sir Robert Mansergh, K.B.E., C.B., M.C., and were after a few days reviewed in the New Territories in a march past at which the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, G.C.M.G., took the salute.

The presence of so many troops in the Colony, many of them sent to the Far East for the Korean hostilities, enabled what was probably the largest military parade in the history of the Colony to be held on the King's Birthday, 7th June. The parade took place in Kowloon and it was unfortunately a day of steady downpour. In spite of the bad weather however the streets were packed with thousands of people to see the parade.

In November there was a more stern reminder of the Korean war when about 600 members of the 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, many of them replacements for those lost during the Battalion's magnificent stand on the Imjin River in April, passed through Hong Kong on their return to the United Kingdom in time to re-join their families for Christmas.

At the same time, the Korean war has indirectly had a serious effect on the Colony's economy, and for Hong Kong's business men and industrialists 1951 has been a year of difficulty and depression. Hong Kong industries, which have developed and expanded with extraordinary rapidity since 1945, were early in December 1950 faced with the most serious crisis they had yet run into in their short history

when in view of active Chinese intervention in the Korean hostilities the United States Government placed a strictly enforced and virtually complete embargo on all shipments of goods to China. Hong Kong, in conformity with the policy of His Majesty's Government, had at that time already introduced certain restrictions on the export of goods of strategic value to China (petroleum and its products for instance had been prohibited from export to China since July 1950) but notwithstanding these restrictions the United States Government clearly considered that the colonies of Hong Kong and Macao might prove to be weak links in the economic chain they intended to throw around the China coast and accordingly included them in the effective area of the embargo. In the initial application of the American restrictions. furthermore practically no distinction was made between Hong Kong and China, and almost all commodities, including harmless and non- strategic consumer goods required for use in the Colony, were refused export to Hong Kong, shipments already en route to the Colony being off-loaded at various intermediate ports.

Hong Kong merchants naturally suffered severe losses, and many industrial undertakings, notably those which had depended on American supplies of tinplate and other metals, chemicals and cotton, were specially badly hit.

Some of the commodities affected were subsequently obtained with Government assistance by the Colony's resourceful merchants from the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Japan, where the authorities concerned were prepared to accept guarantees by the Hong Kong Government that the goods in question were solely for the legitimate requirements of Hong Kong industries; but even so, owing to rearmament and world shortages the void could not by any means be completely filled, and many of the Colony's factories were forced to close down or work shorter hours, thus giving rise to unemployment which ultimately assumed serious proportions. In order to come to some understanding with the U.S. Government, Mr. A. G. Clarke, now Financial Secretary, and then Director of Commerce and Industry, was sent to Washington in February. Largely as a result of his negotiations there a certain measure of relaxation was achieved, consumer goods and small quantities of industrial goods being eventually released by the American authorities. During the course of the year, the Colony was visited by various U.S. Government officials and as a result of these visits a better understanding of the problems involved on both sides was achieved. At the end of the year certain essential commodities such as lubricating oil, chemicals, raw cotton and tinplate were still subject, however, to severe restriction.

On 18th May 1951, a Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations called on all member countries to impose an embargo on the shipment of strategic goods to China and in conformity with

this Resolution and the action taken by the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, Hong Kong extended its export controls. over an even wider range of commodities and introduced import licensing over all these controlled goods. Trade, which is the life- blood of the Colony and which had already been considerably curtailed by the previous restrictions, was inevitably even more seriously affected, and the economic activity of the Colony generally suffered a serious setback.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Korean war and the world events following it have put Hong Kong in an economically impossible position. Trade in the few non-strategic commodities still permissible has been hampered by the insistence of the Chinese authorities wherever possible on barter arrangements. Towards the end of the year, stresses in the trading structure were beginning to make themselves felt, and many of the smaller trading and shipping firms were in financial difficulties; others, including some factories, were considering transferring their activities and capital to other areas. Attempts at smuggling naturally increased, which entailed increased Government expenditure on preventive measures.

Despite the opulence which was still apparent to the casual observer as he walked through the streets and admired the displays in shop-windows, and the remarkable building activity going on all over the Colony, unemployment began to assume serious proportions as more and more of its inhabitants were reduced to a bare subsistence level.

The

Viewing events in a longer perspective an equally serious and possibly more lasting threat to the Colony's industries was the reappearance during the year of Japanese goods in markets of the Far East which had until recently been an easy Hong Kong preserve. quality and range of post-war Japanese products and the low prices at which these are being sold, due to overhead expenses including wages being lower in Japan than in Hong Kong, have given the Japanese undeniable market advantages. The Sterling Payments Agreement concluded with Japan in September considerably facilitated trade in Japanese goods and of course this trade was not without profit for some of the Colony's merchants. The really hard hit were the Colony's textile manufacturers who, compelled by the embargo to use expensive grades of cotton, now found themselves competing with Japanese factories supplied with lower priced cotton from the United States.

On the brighter side attempts were made, and not without success, by Hong Kong manufacturers to develop markets for their produce in those parts of South-East Asia on which they had not hitherto bestowed much`attention, and to extend those markets already developing, as in Thailand for example. An Exhibition of Hong Kong Products was

organized in Singapore to coincide with the first E.C.A.F.E. Conference on Trade Promotion, which was held in that city during November, and the success of this exhibition was followed up by delegations of Hong Kong Chinese traders to Indonesia and Thailand. The usual Annual Exhibition of Hong Kong Products, held in Hong Kong during December, coincided with a visit to the Colony by the Rt. Hon. Oliver Lyttelton, D.S.O., M.C., M.P., Secretary of State for the Colonies, who, in opening the Exhibition, announced that His Majesty's Government were resolved to maintain their position in Hong Kong, and would "discharge to the utmost of their ability their responsibilities towards the Colony as regards both the defence and the welfare of its population".

Public Works: an important year of development and planning

The year has been remarkable for the number of major public works on which Government has embarked. These include a new reservoir at Tai Lam Chung in the New Territories, new central offices of Government, and two important new urban reclamations, in the Central District and at Causeway Bay. In addition, a scheme to build a new City Hall has been approved in principle. The total cost of these projects is estimated at £5 million, and they will not be completed until the end of 1956.

The City Hall project may be said to have been initiated in May 1950 when the Sino-British Club, the Colony's principal cultural society, appointed a sub-committee to consider the matter and formulate the public's requirements. The interest aroused was so considerable that it soon led to the formation of a large City Hall Committee under the chairmanship of the Rev. Thomas F. Ryan, s.J., its members repre- senting no fewer than 55 different organizations and societies. This Committee received the encouragement of Government and in June 1951 put forward proposals that the new City Hall should contain a meeting hall for 2,500 persons, a banqueting hall, a small theatre, a public library, a museum, two or three smaller halls and several committee rooms.

The City Hall Committee ran into immediate difficulties over the question of finding a suitable site. It was agreed that a City Hall should properly be situated in the central district of Victoria, but here there is no area available for building, and expansion of the city eastwards, which would have been desirable for this purpose, is barred by the Royal Naval Dockyard, Murray Barracks and Victoria Barracks, an area extending almost a mile along the waterfront and about 2 mile inland. The solution of the site problem was found in the Govern- ment's plans to undertake a further reclamation in the central district between the Dockyard and the passenger ferry. Government has

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agreed to provide nine acres of land on this new reclamation, which will be in the heart of the city, and build a City Hall there at an estimated cost of £1,000,000.

The reclamation itself will cost

£350,000 and is expected to be completed in 1955.

The shortage of land in the urban areas suitable for playing fields was the main reason for the other large reclamation scheme, in Causeway Bay. This scheme involves filling in the existing typhoon shelter and building a new breakwater to enclose a new typhoon shelter to seaward of the area to be reclaimed. It will provide 54 acres of land at a cost of nearly 1 million, towards which the Hong Kong Jockey Club has made a generous donation of £155,000 on condition that the area will always be an open space. The lay-out has been planned by a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. D. Benson.

The new central Government offices, covering an area stretching from Garden Road westwards to include the site of the present Colonial Secretariat, will house most of the Government departments, many of which are now occupying rented offices in various parts of the town. They have been designed by the Public Works Department and are to be built in three sections at a total cost of £700,000. The first section will be completed at the end of 1952, the last in 1955.

After many years of consideration and delay due to various causes the long-projected reservoir at Tai Lam Chung, between Tsun Wan and Castle Peak, is to be constructed.

The urgent need for this further reservoir is shown by the fact that for the last three months of 1951 the supply of water has had to be restricted to 5 hours per day, a restriction which will have to continue until the rains start in May 1952. When completed, in 1956, this reservoir will provide storage for an additional 1,150 million gallons, an increase of nearly 20% on the existing storage capacity of the Colony's reservoirs. The site chosen is about 18 miles from the Kowloon urban area and the total cost will be not less than £2 million.

Hospitals and Schools

The Secretary of State for the Colonies mentioned in his speech mentioned above that the Colony's medical and educational services were being taxed to the extreme by the doubling of the population which has taken place in the last three years, and commented favourably on the efforts the Government has made to deal with this difficult situation. Medical staff in the hospitals has been seriously overworked and as an emergency measure the Medical Department has allowed doctors to practise in the Colony whose degrees are not generally recognized in British territories, a proviso being that such doctors must be directly employed by the department. Having more doctors at its

I I

disposal has enabled the Medical Department to extend the hours of its main clinics in the urban area, and in most of these day and night services are now operating, the night services being from 6

midnight.

p.m. till

It is remarkable to record that in spite of serious overcrowding the Colony has been free from epidemics and not a single case of any of the major diseases on the quarantine list has been recorded. The death rate is low and there is little evidence of malnutrition among any section of the community. The medical authorities put this down largely to the steady work which has been going on in connexion with mass inoculation and vaccination and to the Colony's pure water supply.

Hong Kong's greatest medical problem remains that of combating tuberculosis. A new tuberculosis clinic was opened during the year in Kowloon and provisional plans were started for a mass B.C.G. inoculation scheme aided by U.N.I.C.E.F., starting if possible in 1952. The year has also seen the beginning of a determined effort to improve medical services in the rural areas. The country hospital at Yuen Long was re-opened during the year giving facilities for Western and Chinese medical practice, the Government has taken over full charge of the hospitals at Shatin and Cheung Chau, and a small village maternity home and clinic has been opened at Silver Mine Bay with money raised by the local kaifong association.

Concurrent with the demand for more medical facilities has been the urgent need to provide more schools. Since 1947 a very consider- able number of new schools has been built and arrangements have been made in densely populated areas for existing school buildings to be used by one school during the morning and by another in the afternoon. From 1947 to 1950 the number of children attending school increased at an annual rate of 20,000; in 1951 this figure was surpassed and 25,000 more children were found places in schools.

Impetus to educational improvement was given by the visit in 1950 of Mr. N. G. Fisher, Chief Education Officer, Manchester, whose "Report on Government Expenditure on Education in Hong Kong' was published during 1951. Mr. Fisher stressed the need to expand primary school facilities and train more primary school teachers. The second of these needs was recognized as being so urgent that the Grantham Training College, named after the Governor and intended for primary school teacher training, was established in temporary accommodation which will have to suffice until the proper college buildings are completed. These are due to be ready for occupation in

1952.

Towards the end of the year two important committees were set up, one under the chairmanship of the Principal of the Technical College

I 2

to investigate the Colony's needs in the field of technical and vocational training, and the second under the chairmanship of Mr. John Keswick, C.M.G., to examine how far the present facilities for higher education fall short of the Colony's needs and to make recommendations for improvement. The work of these two committees is considerable and it is not expected that either of them will be in a position to report to the Governor before the middle of 1952.

The problem of higher education has been aggravated by the fact that those sections of the community which formerly sent their children to China or the United States for university education are now in most cases unable to do so. Many of the students who would ordinarily have been sent to Chinese universities are unable to enter the University of Hong Kong because their standard of English is not high enough, and there is consequently no alternative for them but to seek employment immediately after leaving school.

Road Traffic

A matter which has been engaging the attention of the Police to a considerable extent during the year is the Colony's unprecedented traffic problem. The number of licensed motor vehicles rose during the year from 16,028 to 16,746, excluding Service vehicles, and a traffic census carried out by the Police disclosed that there are now 38.9 motor vehicles for every mile of road in the Colony, the density of traffic at some junctions being quite as heavy as at some of the major road junctions in London. The chief traffic difficulties are lack

of parking space and the extreme congestion, particularly in the centre of Victoria, during rush hours. The remedy would of course be to construct new highways through the city centre in accordance with a modern traffic plan, but this could not be done without resuming land and demolishing property to an extent the Government could not possibly consider. The situation has had to be met therefore by improving road surfaces, enlarging and improving (with slight resumptions of land) certain particularly dangerous and obstructive corners in central Victoria, notably those round the Cricket Club Ground and at the bottom of Garden Road, and taking increased Police measures to organize vehicle and pedestrian traffic. That these measures have met with success is shown by the remarkable reduction in the number of road accidents which fell from 8,327 in 1950 to 6,859 this year, fatal accidents among these being reduced from 129 to 104.

Mining

The very high world prices of wolfram and lead have had their repercussions in comparatively remote parts of the New Territories where hundreds of persons started prospecting illegally in the early part

of the

year and came across fairly rich veins of these ores. This illicit mining was at one time threatening to cause serious erosion of the hills in the New Territories and pollution of the water supply. Superintendent of Mines was therefore appointed to the staff of the Commissioner of Labour in September and emergency legislation introduced shortly afterwards. This legislation has enabled the Police to clear the areas most seriously affected which are now being mined under strict control by the holders of temporary mining licences. Permanent legislation is now being drafted to supersede the present temporary Emergency Mining Regulations.

Royal Hong Kong Defence Force

His late Majesty King George VI was graciously pleased to approve the use of the style Royal by the Hong Kong Defence Force.

The introduction of a Compulsory Service Bill, which became law in September and affected all British subjects of whatever race resident in Hong Kong, has provided the mechanism whereby the Defence Force, which had formerly been recruited on a voluntary basis, could be brought up to strength, and the assimilation of persons directed into the Force under this new Ordinance has on the whole been very successful. Training has proceeded steadily and satisfactorily and three well-organized annual camps, each lasting 15 days, were held in the autumn providing an excellent opportunity for intensive and continuous training and giving members of the Force a chance to get to know each other better and develop a proper esprit de corps.

The Royal Hong Kong Defence Force is constituted as a combined Force comprising a naval arm, the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, a military arm, the Hong Kong Regiment, and an air arm, the Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force. Apart from the annual camps, the Force is organized on a part-time basis, the bulk of the training being done by members after office hours and in their spare time. small cadre of full-time personnel, mostly seconded from the regular Forces, provides the necessary day-to-day control of routine affairs.

External Relations

Hong Kong's relations with other countries are extensive. Consulates General are maintained in the Colony by Belgium, France, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Panama, Thailand and the United States, and Consulates by Argentina, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal and Switzerland. Canada and Australia have Trade Commissioners resident in Hong Kong and there is also a United Kingdom Trade Commissioner appointed by the Board of Trade. The trading interests of several other countries are represented by honorary consuls. In the latter part of the year the Indian Repre- sentative in Singapore, whose district includes Hong Kong, paid a short

visit to the Colony. For its part, Hong Kong maintains a Government Representative in Tokyo and a Government Agent in London with an office in Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, W.C.2.

Relations with Thailand, Burma and Indo-China have, as in former years, been principally devoted to the negotiations of rice purchases. Due to the fact that normal diplomatic relations have not yet been established between Great Britain and the Central People's Government of China, it has been impossible for any official relations to be developed between the Government of Hong Kong and the Chinese authorities in Kwangtung.

The traditional friendly relations between Hong Kong and its neighbour, the Portuguese Colony of Macao on the western side of the Pearl River estuary, have been maintained as in previous years, and the retiring Governor of Macao, Commander Albano de Oliveira, passed through the Colony during the year on his return to Portugal.

Relations with United Nations

The Seventh Session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East was held in January at Lahore, Pakistan, but coming as it did shortly after the imposition of the American embargo when Hong Kong's economic position was particularly uncertain it was reluctantly decided not to send a delegation to the conferences. This was the first session of E.C.A.F.E. at which Hong Kong has not been represented since the Commission first met at Shanghai in 1947.

Later in the year, in November, the Commission organized its first Trade Promotion Conference, a step which the Hong Kong delegation to the Sixth Session at Bangkok in 1950 had warmly supported. The conference was held at Singapore, and Hong Kong sent a strong delegation of representative businessmen led by an official of the Department of Commerce and Industry.

A mobile x-ray unit was donated to the Medical Department by U.N.I.C.E.F. and has been put into extensive use in connexion with anti-tuberculosis work.

Development and Welfare

Only half of the £1,000,000 allocated to Hong Kong by His Majesty's Government under the terms of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1945 has yet been spent. It had originally been decided to spend £500,000 on rural projects but in view of the steady and satisfactory progress made by the farming and fishing community it is now considered that the Colony's most pressing need is the provision of adequate housing in the urban areas, and it is therefore

URBAN COUNCIL PUBLIC LIBRARIES

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE SCHEMES ADMINISTERED LOCALLY

YEAR

No.

TITLE

Grant

Loan

Amount

spent from C.D. & W. funds up to 31.12.51. (Stg.)

NOTES

RESEARCH SCHEMES

1946/47 R. 1947/48 R. 282 1951/52 R.

Fisheries Research

500

Fisheries Research Station

135,000

498

114

480

Fisheries Research Unit in Hongkong University -CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

31,200

Completed 1949.

Cancelled 1951. See R.480.

Approved December 1951.

480

Fisheries Research Unit in Hongkong University -RECURRENT EXPENDITURE

6,800

173,500

612

DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES

1947/48 D. 759

924

Visit of Town Planning Expert Reclamation at Aberdeen

1,250

50,000

1,250

49,528

Paid in London but charged against Hong Kong allocation. Completed 1950.

D. 925

D. 988

Landing Facilities at Kennedy Town

10,000

6,849

1949.

Mechanization of the Hong Kong Fishing Fleet

Cancelled 1949. See D.1435.

10,000

40,000

71,250

40,000

57,627

1948/49 D.

994

Village Agricultural Depots-

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

9,000

846

D. 994

وو

D. 1060

D. 1066

Village Agricultural Depots-

Upper Air Reporting Stations

Vegetable Marketing Lorries

7,315(G)

RECURRENT EXPENDITURE

9,375

7,315(L)

25,780

8,851

9,375(G)

9,375

9,375(L) Completed 1949.

See also D.1066A.

53,530

18,750 43,077

YEAR

No.

TITLE

Grant

Loan

Amount

spent from C.D. & W. funds up to 31.12.51. (Stg.)

NOTES

1949/50 D. 1242

D. 1243

Irrigation in the New Territories

(Interim Scheme)

Piers in the New Territories (Interim Scheme)

5,000

1,055

Cancelled 1951.

5,000

See D.1661.

10,000

1,055

وو

1950/51 D. 1362

D. 1435

New Broadcasting Studios Mechanization of Fishing Fleet

15,625

Completed 1951.

20,000

Approved August 1950.

35,625

1951/52 D. 1066A

Vegetable Marketing Lorries

وو

دو

D. 1243A D. 1602

D. 1661

Piers in the New Territories (Complete Scheme) Hong Kong Housing Society Pilot Scheme Maintenance of Survey Party

9,375

48,883

13,500

5,500

15,625

5,949

100

Approved September 1951. Loan portion to be met from loan in D.1066, repayment of which has been extended to 1955.

77,258

6,049

D. 1557

Interim Scheme for the Rehabilitation & De-

velopment of certain University Buildings

D. 1557A University of Hong Kong.

50,000

200,000

50,000

200,000

114,827

This is being met from Colonial and Middle Eastern Services funds.

250,000 250,000

229,654

likely that a great part of Hong Kong's unspent allocation under the Act will be devoted to housing. The only remaining project still under consideration which would effect the rural population is the proposal to set up a compost factory in the New Territories to produce cheap fertilizer from nightsoil and city garbage. A preliminary investigation into this proposal has been made but the scheme was still in an immature stage at the end of the year. One of the chief problems connected with it is that the factory would have to be able to handle the whole of the waste matter at present dumped by the Sanitary Department into the sea off Kau I Chau, since it will not be an economical proposition for the Sanitary Department to have to organize two methods of disposal involving extra towing craft and increased personnel. This means that if a compost factory is set up to handle the amount of waste available it will be the largest plant of its kind in the world. It is thus all the more difficult for the Government to obtain the required technical advice on it, and it was on this particular aspect of the scheme that the Government was engaged when the year ended.

Of the schemes mentioned in last year's Report the equipment for Radio Hong Kong's new broadcasting studios and offices in Electra House, the Far Eastern headquarters of Messrs. Cable and Wireless Ltd., was installed and the new studios were brought into use in April. The Colonial Development and Welfare grant of £20,825 was not quite sufficient to cover the cost of all the equipment, another £6,322 being met from public funds.

The scheme to produce a new type of fishing vessel based on Chinese methods of construction but suitable for mechanical propulsion proceeded slowly. In view of the considerable amount of mechan- ization already undertaken by the more prosperous fishermen and fishing companies it was decided to concentrate on producing a design for a smaller type of craft, the purse seiner, most of the operators of which will find it financially difficult to mechanize their craft and will thus stand to benefit most by the Colonial Development and Welfare scheme, the second part of which is expected to consist of providing loans to fishermen to assist them to build vessels on the lines of the new type of purse seiner now under consideration. Extensive advice was sought by the Fisheries Department from members of the fishing community about the specifications required for the experimental vessel and at the end of the year the Government was in a position to forward these specifications with a request for further technical advice to the Fisheries Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Considerable progress was made in the long-term scheme for the improvement of pier facilities in the New Territories. This scheme is

being financed partly by the Government and partly from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. In the spring the Government constructed a pier at Silver Mine Bay on the eastern coast of Lantao Island. This has been an important development for Lantao which, because of its mountainous character and the difficulty of transport from one village to another, has hitherto been somewhat neglected. Silver Mine Bay is the most natural point of communication for villagers wishing to go or send their produce to Hong Kong and it is hoped that the island's production, particularly of pigs and to a lesser extent vegetables, will be stimulated. Conversely the additional ease with which Hong Kong residents can reach Silver Mine Bay is expected to lead to building development in the area which is already famous for its splendid bathing beach. In the second part of the year, after the typhoon season, work was started on a new pier at Cheung Chau, a small island with a population of over 22,000, one of the most important fishing centres in the New Territories. The pier is being built with Colonial Development and Welfare assistance and its construction is being combined with a piece of reclamation to improve the overcrowded little island's harbour frontage which at present, when there are many junks in port, becomes seriously congested. It is hoped to have the Cheung Chau scheme completed before the 1952 typhoon season. Preparatory work has begun on the other pier to be built with Colonial Development and Welfare assistance, which is at Tai O at the western end of Lantao Island. The main work will commence there in the autumn of 1952.

In 1950 the Secretary of State for the Colonies advanced £5,000 to enable the Government to carry out borings preparatory to submitting full estimates of the cost of these new piers. This money was not used, the Public Works Department having found it possible to carry out the borings economically from their existing votes, and as a consequence a request was made to London for this money to be used for a different purpose. The Secretary of State approved of the recommendation the Government put forward and the £5,000 is now being used to maintain a small survey party to examine the immediate hinterland of the various new pier sites and make recommendations for new roads and small town lay-outs, with a view to making the maximum use of the improved communications.

An irrigation engineer, recommended by the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, was employed to submit proposals for improving existing irrigation throughout the New Territories and extending areas of cultivation wherever this is possible. As a result of the engineer's work the Government hopes to be able to submit before the summer of 1952 a detailed request, complete with

estimates, for Colonial Development and Welfare assistance for village irrigation projects.

The facilities of the Vegetable Marketing Organization were extended during the year by the establishment of more village depôts in the New Territories. These depôts are operated by farmers as village units to which they can bring their produce for weighing and from which they receive supplies of baskets and fertilizer. The depôts have been of great assistance in improving the efficiency of the arrangements made for transporting vegetables from the rural areas to the wholesale market in Kowloon. A further 15 diesel-engined lorries are to be added to the Organization's fleet replacing outworn military trucks which had been in use since the Organization came into being in 1946. The lorries will be purchased with assistance in part from a Colonial Development and Welfare loan, and the Marketing Organization has been materially assisted in financing their part of the cost by the extension of the period of repayment of an existing loan.

Assistance was given to enable a site formation to be worked out for the construction of several blocks of small flats for workers in the lower income groups, the area chosen for these flats being close to one of the Colony's main industrial areas in Kowloon. The cost of building the flats will be met by a low interest loan to the Hong Kong Housing Society from the Colony's own Development Fund.

A radio sonde station for weather reporting at very high altitudes. was completed at the Royal Observatory with the aid of a Colonial Development and Welfare grant and this will be of great value to the Colony when more of the new high-flying aircraft start operating on commercial routes.

An earlier project to establish a Fisheries Research Station in Hong Kong with its own buildings and research vessel capable of operating over a wide area in the China Sea and the Pacific was abandoned and, with the Secretary of State's approval, replaced by a scheme of more moderate financial dimensions to set up a fisheries research unit in the University of Hong Kong under the direction of the University's new Professor of Zoology. Colonial Development funds will meet the capital cost of equipping a laboratory and constructing a research vessel and the Government will make a grant to the University to meet recurrent costs.

The tables on pages 16 and 17 give a financial summary of Colonial Development and Welfare expenditure up to the end of 1951.

PART II

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香港公共圖書館

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POPULATION

The population of the Colony is believed to be slightly over 2,000,000, but until a census can be held any estimate given must of necessity be regarded as tentative.

A census has not been held in Hong Kong since 1931 when the population was found to be 849,751. Another census should have been held in 1941 but with the Japanese assault on China in 1937 conditions became unsettled and Hong Kong became subject to a long succession of fluctuations of population which have only very recently shown indications of subsiding.

The first of these fluctuations occurred as a result of the initial Japanese successes against the Chinese forces, causing a considerable influx of refugees into Hong Kong. This influx increased in 1938 when the Japanese attacked Canton.

In 1941, when Canton was still occupied by the Japanese but before Great Britain had been drawn into open warfare with Japan, an unofficial census was carried out by the air raid wardens of Hong Kong who assessed the population at slightly over 1,600,000. Shortly after this, in December of the same year, the Colony was attacked and overrun by the Japanese, and a great number of erstwhile refugees together with many long-established Hong Kong Chinese families began leaving the Colony in an attempt to reach either their ancestral homes. or free China. This, combined with a systematic policy of the Japanese to reduce the population of Hong Kong, lowered the population by over a million and it is thought that there were not much more than 500,000 people left here when the Colony was liberated from the Japanese in 1945.

From then on the population rose steadily and by the end of 1946 was estimated at its immediately pre-war level of 1,600,000. By the end of 1947 the estimate was 1,800,000 and then, as a result of unsettled conditions in China caused by the civil war and the increasing successes of the Communist armies, yet another influx of refugees from the mainland commenced. This reached its height in the spring of 1950 when the estimated population was 2,360,000.

In the latter months of 1950, for the first time since the war, the direction of migration was outward, largely due to the return of more normal conditions in China resulting from the conclusion of the civil war. At the beginning of 1951 the estimate stood at 2,060,000 and there are indications of a very slight fall-off since then throughout the year.

These post-war estimates of population are based on the population surveys made by the Statistical Department in 1947 and 1948 and assessed thereafter from the figures of arrivals and departures by land, sea and air, checked against numbers of recorded births and deaths.

The registration of the population, commenced in 1949, was completed in September 1951, and the total of persons registered afforded a useful cross-check against the Statistical Department's population estimates. The total was 1,627,608 and the Commissioner of Registration estimated that there were between three and five thousand people in the Colony still for various reasons unregistered. To this approximate total of 1,632,000 should be added the children under 12, who did not have to be registered under the registration scheme. The 1931

census showed the age distribution of the population under 12 years of age to be 19.6 per cent; on that basis the total population would be 2,030,000, which coincides with the Statistical Department's estimate made in the spring of 1951 and may be taken as reasonably accurate.

The overwhelming majority of the population is of Chinese race. The number of Europeans and Americans permanently resident, excluding Service personnel and their dependants, is about 14,500, including some 9,500 British subjects from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, 3,000 British subjects of Portuguese origin, and 1,660 aliens permanently resident. There are some 2,770 aliens temporarily

resident.

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 on the eastern side of the peninsula 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 side. of the New Territories down into the south-west 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,

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The Hakka

(stranger families) have through

several centuries

moved gradually

southwards,

and although

-except for the young girl's

headgear-

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they are more or less

indistinguishable

from the local

Cantonese

they still preserve,

in their language

and diet,

distinct traces

of their more

northern origin.

UPL

Photos: Shell Photographic Unit.

Photo: Russell Spurr.

Sign-painters and

professional letter-writers

(bottom picture)

work in Chinese and English,

but English

is more expensive.

hotos: South China Morning Post.

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•

Photos: South China Morning Post.

Most of the flowers and over three-fifths of all the vegetables on sale in markets and street stalls are grown in the New Territories.

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港

圖

KANG F

BLI

Photo: South China Morning Post.

Two things typical of Hong Kong: a hardy Cantonese boat family, and tree-denuded hills,

a legacy of the Japanese occupation.

to the north-west of Taimoshan, is populated chiefly by Hakka of the Tang clan, who undoubtedly chose that locality because of the existing predominant 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. Such 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 huts 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, has introduced a new element of Shanghai labourers. The reopening of pre-war mines, and post-war mining activity, has attracted a heterogeneous conglomeration of men from many parts of China, including the north-west. New road construction has brought in numbers of hardy Hakka, especially from the Ng Wah District of Kwangtung Province.

OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION

Apart from the farmers of the New Territories and the fairly considerable fishing community the working population relies for its livelihood mainly on one or other of the branches of commerce of this great entrepôt, though several thousands are engaged in industry of which there are now more than 170 types.

The employment returns for the third quarter of the year (which are discussed in greater detail in a later section) show an increase of some 8,000 over the previous year. In actual fact however the employment situation became increasingly difficult as the result of shortage of raw materials and increased prices. The introduction of a system of essential supply certificates for raw materials from the United States and later from other sources only mitigated the severity of the Colony's economic difficulties, which have been reflected in increasing numbers of unemployed, particularly among the workers in small unregistrable factories whose numbers are not shown in the employment returns.

Labour Department

This department, of which the Commissioner of Labour is the head, carries out statutory duties in the registration and inspection of factories and workshops and the registration of trade unions, provides conciliation officers to deal with trade disputes and complaints about such matters as arrears of wages or wrongful dismissal and advises trade unions on questions of management and finance.

During the early months of the year Mr. R. G. D. Houghton, C.B.E., a senior official of the Ministry of Labour, was seconded to the ' department to consult with and advise the Commissioner on numerous labour problems in the Colony. His recommendations will be of great value in the framing of local labour policy.

The range of the department's work was enlarged towards the end of the year by the establishment of a mines sub-department under a Superintendent of Mines to deal with the difficult situation which had

arisen in the Colony owing to extensive illegal mining, to facilitate the grant of temporary mining licences and to oversee the health and working conditions in the mining industry.

Labour Advisory Board

The Board, under the chairmanship of the Commissioner of Labour, consists of four representatives each of employers and workers, two in each group being elected and two nominated by the Governor. An observer on behalf of the Services, at present the Chief of Staff, Headquarters, British Forces, also attends.

In the course of the year the Board examined the report of its sub-committee on the draft Workmen's Compensation Ordinance and forwarded its views to Government. The Board also considered the question of unemployment and the possibility of providing some form of relief. Meetings were held with Mr. Houghton and consideration was also given to a scheme put forward by the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council which, however, was deemed to be overambitious and impracticable in existing circumstances.

Legislation

The statutory powers referred to above are derived from the Factories and Workshops Ordinance and the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance, while the mines sub-department is responsible in the first instance for the enforcement of the Control of Minerals Regulations, which were enacted in October under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance. Claims for arrears of wages or wages in lieu of notice, which cannot be settled by negotiation between the parties concerned, are referred to the magistrates' courts for decision under the Employers and Servants Ordinance. The Illegal Strikes and Lockouts Ordinance was kept in force for a further twelve months from the end

of 1950.

Legislation is designed not only to meet local requirements, but also to give effect as far as practicable to international labour conventions on such matters as minimum age of employment at sea and in industry, seamen's articles of agreement, medical examination of young persons before employment at sea, night work by women and young persons, underground work for women and minimum-wage-fixing machinery. Reports are sent to the International Labour Organization every year on the application of those conventions which have been ratified by the United Kingdom and applied to the Colony.

Labour Organization

At the beginning of the year 280 unions were on the register. The 12 new registrations during the year were almost balanced by

cancellations, dissolutions or amalgamations and the year closed with a total of 284 registered organizations of which 206 were workers' unions. Twelve further applications for registration, three from employers and nine from workers, were in hand at the end of the year. The applications from workers include three break-away organizations of workers who have become dissatisfied with the excessively political character of existing unions.

Another year's work has only served to show that development towards anything like sound trade unionism is still impeded by many of the failings mentioned in the previous report. In many unions members are still too ready to leave everything to officials, who in their turn tend to leave affairs in the hands of paid clerks. Finance has proved to be particularly difficult. While it is true that increasing unemployment has made the regular collection of contributions difficult, so that many unions could only just balance income and expenditure, at the other end of the scale certain well-to-do organizations have been found to have spent money lavishly on inessentials such as entertain- ment, without any attempt at building up reserves or giving real benefits to members. A number of unions did, however, follow the advice of the department to have their financial statements prepared by professional auditors. This step has been useful in producing clearer accounts than in previous years, but unfortunately some accounts were set out in a form too complicated to be understood by the union officials themselves, to say nothing of the ordinary members. Towards the end of the year the Accountant General and the Director of Audit kindly gave the benefit of their advice in the preparation of new model accounts, which will be distributed to unions for their guidance.

The department is also indebted to the authorities of Hong Kong University, who undertook the organization of a short course of lectures on trade unionism at the University during two weeks of December and provided two of the lecturers. This course was the first of its kind in the Colony and was designed for officials of such English-speaking organizations as the Teachers' Association and the Chinese Civil Servants' Association and welfare officers of large industrial concerns. The subjects dealt with were trade union law, the administration of trade unions, collective bargaining and negotiation and, in particular, trade union finance.

During the year many defects in the present Trade Union Ordinance became apparent and preparations for extensive revision are in hand.

In May the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions organized at Karachi the first Asian Trade Union Conference. The local federation known as the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union

Council was invited to send a representative, but declined on the grounds of expense. They contrived nevertheless to send their secretary and an interpreter to the annual meeting of the I.C.F.T.U. at Milan. After this meeting they were enabled, through the kindness of the British Trades Union Congress, to visit England where they met English labour leaders and discussed various labour problems.

In November a delegation consisting of the Secretary of the Employers' Federation, an official of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council and a Labour Officer attended the seminar on labour statistics organized by the International Labour Organization at New Delhi.

Labour Disputes and Stoppages

The year has been noticeable for the comparative absence of any major disputes or stoppages.

Unfavourable trade conditions and the consequent threat of increasing unemployment have, no doubt, served to prevent disputes being pushed to extremes.

were

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd., which own some of the largest hotels in the Colony, were compelled through unfavourable business conditions to dispense with the services of a number of their employees during the course of the year. The Union of Chinese Workers in Western Style Employment, whose members principally affected, fostered a Committee to "Safeguard Employment and Avoid Unemployment". The committee, which was composed of workers in the hotels concerned, had a series of meetings with the Managing Director who tried to explain the reasons for reduction of staff. The committee refused to accept these explanations and pressed for the immediate reinstatement of all the workers, if necessary by introducing a rotational system of work, or, failing reinstatement, the payment of a substantial discharge bonus. At the same time certain

sections of the local Chinese press published grossly distorted versions of the meetings and the reasons for retrenchment. The result was that the company, which could not accept the workers' demands, broke off all negotiations with the committee. The committee then appealed to the Labour Department to arrange joint meetings but by this time no mediation of this kind was possible. The committee were advised to refer the negotiations to the Union, on the grounds that it was essentially the business of the Union officials to take up such matters on behalf of their members and, if they could not secure an entirely favourable settlement, to advise their members on the proper policy to be adopted by the Union. The Union, however, consistently refused to accept this responsibility, and merely reiterated that it was the duty of the Commissioner of Labour to instruct the employers not to dismiss. these men.

Requests were made to the Labour Department by the committee to introduce the dismissed men to fresh employment or provide unemployment relief. Although a number of vacancies were notified to the men through the committee, it was later discovered that some men had rejected the jobs. The committee also demanded that each worker should receive a personal introduction to work. As this could not be accepted and there was no means of providing unemployment relief, the Labour Department was forced to advise the committee that the department could do no more.

The activities of this union and its committee are typical of much of the present trade union activity in the Colony. In the first place the union left all negotiations to an unofficial committee which had no standing and also no experience in negotiations. Negotiations were carried on to an accompaniment of violent attacks on the management in certain sections of the vernacular press. The appeal to the Labour Department for mediation was left until relations had become so strained that it was virtually impossible to procure a settlement.

The unions have also encouraged a distorted version of what constitutes a legal termination of service. Strangely enough, although both workers and unions appear prepared to accept summary dismissal for cause, they endeavour to maintain the position that no employer may terminate a contract of service by giving due notice or paying wages in lieu thereof unless at the same time he furnishes explanations which are accepted as satisfactory by the workers. They also consider that, failing such explanations, it is the duty of the Labour Department to order the employer not to terminate a contract. The Labour Department has been at pains to correct these misapprehensions but without success. What the unions will not recognize is that this is a matter of employer-worker relations and as such it is one in which the union must accept the responsibility of doing its best for its members within the law. If a healthy employer-union relationship can be established, it will go far towards eliminating any tendency on the part of employers towards an arbitrary or discriminatory exercise of their legal rights.

The demand for some form of unemployment relief is natural and deserving of sympathy, but the workers have no conception of the enormous difficulties inherent in the circumstances of the Colony with its vast refugee population which stand in the way of setting up any form of unemployment insurance on a contributory basis. In fact, they

do not envisage any form of contributory insurance, but expect the Government to provide food or money for all who may be unemployed. The most that it has been possible to offer up to date is assistance to enable unemployed persons to return to their native villages, but this has not proved acceptable.

As an alternative to reduction of staff, some managements have introduced systems of rotational work. It is doubtful whether this can be more than a temporary solution since only a restricted number of trades can work such a system, and a further decline in business might reduce wages below the minimum necessary for subsistence.

Collective Agreements

•

A number of collective agreements were negotiated and signed in the Labour Department during the year. The agreements generally contain details of wage rates, hours of work and holidays as well as providing for revision or settlement of difficulties arising from the terms of the agreement.

By that

The rattan furniture-making trade, which produces chiefly for export to the North American market suffered from bad business in the last summer season. As a result there was a sharp reduction in piece- rates and much dissatisfaction amongst the workers, who are mainly Hakka. A group of exporters, manufacturers and two workers' unions tried to negotiate new piece rates. Little progress was made until the unions approached the Labour Department for mediation. time many of the several thousands of workers in the trade had stopped work, because they claimed they could not earn a living wage. Frequent meetings were held and after much hard work a new agreement was drawn up which provided a new scale of piece rates. The workers went back to work at the new rates but at the last moment the exporters refused to sign the agreement, unless two of their competitors would also sign. As the two competitors have refused to sign, despite persuasion by all parties, negotiations have now broken down completely although the new rates are still in force. It is to be feared that any decline in business may produce fresh disputes in the coming year.

A total of over twenty disputes and stoppages was dealt with in the course of 1951.

Minor Wage Disputes

In view of bad trade many small and undercapitalized firms have run into difficulties and the Labour Department has had to devote more and more time to settling by mediation numerous small disputes over arrears of wages and dismissals without proper notice.

Cost of Living

There has been a gradual increase in the price of most staple commodities, after a brief period of relative stability in 1950. The rehabilitation allowance which is a cost of living allowance for manual

workers chiefly in European employment, and is based on the cost of certain essential items of food and fuel, rose from $84 in January to $93 for the month of November and then fell to $90 in December. The cost of living allowance for higher-paid government servants, which is adjusted in accordance with the Retail Index, had also to be increased on several occasions. The cost of living of nearly all classes of the community continues to be affected by the acute shortage of housing.

Wages

There has been little change in the wage-rates paid to the employees of the larger and more westernized undertakings. Average daily earnings, including rehabilitation allowance, in the majority of European firms and in the few Chinese firms which pay that allowance, were as follows:-

$6 - 8.50

Skilled tradesmen and skilled workmen $6- Semi-skilled workmen Unskilled workmen

5- 6.50 3.50-5

An additional nine firms paid an extra allowance of $1 per day for workers in each of the three categories. Although there have been only slight changes in the gross earnings of government servants, a portion of the cost of living allowances for daily and monthly paid workers has been consolidated into basic wages, thus acknowledging the permanent increase in cost of living since the war, and materially increasing both overtime pay and retiring gratuities.

Chinese firms generally pay a basic wage without any cost of living allowances. In addition most of the skilled or semi-skilled employees are paid on either a daily or a piece-rate basis, apart from a nucleus of permanent monthly-paid staff. Average daily earnings for men range from $2 to $12, and for women from $1.50 to $7.

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, although other days may be allotted as convenient. An increasing number of spinning factories are adopting the three-shift system of working, while all observe a six-day week. Holidays vary between 12 and 18 days a year.

The majority of Chinese concerns still work at 7-day week with a working day of 9 hours as a rule, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There are breaks for tea in the morning and afternoon as well as at lunch-hour. The longer hours are offset to some extent by the less hurried tempo of work. Workers are generally granted holidays on important Chinese

festivals and on holidays peculiar to the trade.

Overtime is common,

and in periods of good business almost regular. It is generally worked from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.-occasionally later for men-at the same piece- rates, but at increased rates for the daily-paid workers and in a few cases for monthly-paid workers.

Factories and Workshops

At the beginning of the year there were 328 applications for registration under the Factories and Workshops Ordinance outstanding and during the year 406 further applications for registration were received. Of these 120 were from manufacturers on Hong Kong Island and 286 were from Kowloon and the New Territories. 293 registration certificates were issued and 39 applications were refused. 193 registered factories ceased operating and their certificates were surrendered for cancellation, and 54 illegal factories, found operating in unsuitable premises, were closed down. The number of applications for registra- tion was the lowest since 1946.

On 31st December 1950 there were 1,244 registered factories. At the end of 1951, there were 1,344 registered factories and workshops and 402 applications under consideration. This steady expansion includes the New Territories where there are now 105 factories, many of which are large, modern and well equipped. In addition, there were over 100 small or borderline establishments which the department has kept under constant observation to ensure that health and safety Such establish- provisions were maintained at a reasonable standard. ments are recorded but not formally registered.

Although the year has been an anxious one for most manufacturers, there has been a fairly steady increase in the numbers of establishments, employees and types of industries. Employment figures for the last quarter of 1951 are not yet available. On 30th September 1950 there were 55,176 men and 31,945 women employed in 1,692 registered or recorded factories and workshops comprising 150 types of industry. On 30th September 1951 these figures were: 61,802 men, 34,025 women in 1,873 establishments covering 175 types of industry. The above figures include returns from factories operating pending registration, but do not take into account hundreds of small cottage-type industries not registrable under the Factories and Workshops Ordinance.

The year has been marked by the apparent anomaly of an increase in the number of factories and marked fluctuations in employment. Most industries were affected at one time or another, but for the reasons stated below, this was not always reflected in the quarterly employment returns submitted by employers on request. It is estimated that at the end of the year approximately 30,000 workers, or about 30% of the labour force from registered factories and workshops, were

unemployed, and about 20,000, or 20%, are under-employed. addition a further estimated 20,000 workers consisting of out-workers, cottage industry employees and miscellaneous workers on the fringe of industry have been affected.

Work in the bulk of the factories has been spasmodic, and large orders have been shared out by exporters to many factories of various sizes. Consequently, a factory may have been operating for one week or so during a month, or may have been working rotation shifts or working at a third to a half capacity. In such instances and particularly if limited operation has not coincided with the forwarding of employ- ment returns, full employment has been returned.

Early in 1951, when the American restrictions on the shipment of certain raw materials to the Colony and the world shortages and high prices of raw materials were first felt, many small factories became bankrupt and many larger factories were forced to close down temporarily, though some were able to weather the storm. have thus been lost, and it is feared that the competition from Japanese production and export drives will make recovery of these markets very difficult.

Markets

The spinning industry continues to expand and the 13 mills in operation have a combined total of 194,000 spindles. Several mills have weaving sections with a total of 1,200 new automatic or semi- automatic looms. There is a total employment force of 5,359 males and 2,635 females in this industry. The weaving industry has also expanded and there now 154 sheds employing 11,016 workers, as against 148 sheds with 9,708 workers on 31st December 1950.

Mining has also developed and one large wolfram ore mine and one lead mine have been re-activated. There are now 4,500 miners employed in the three registered mines. The rise in price of metals has encouraged extensive illegal mining activity in various districts of the New Territories.

Employment in shipbuilding and repairing dropped from 8,180 on 31st December 1950 to 7,700 on 30th September 1951 and as fewer ships are using the harbour facilities it is unlikely that figures for the last quarter, when compiled, will show an increase.

The inspectorate made a total of 12,738 visits during the year. Of these, 635 were weekend visits to young persons in industry, 691 were night visits to factories and workshops, and 1,763 were in connexion with industrial and occupational accidents and injuries and compensation. The remainder were routine inspections of factories and workshops.

During the year 665 accidents (52 fatal) involving 677 persons were reported, 424 (23 fatal) being in factories and workshops. It is satisfactory to record that this represents a further decrease in the accident rate to 4.5 per thousand workers as against 4.9 and 6.9 per thousand in 1950 and 1949 respectively.

Payment of workmen's compensation has not yet become compulsory but, with few exceptions, employers are prepared to pay full wages to injured workers during temporary incapacity and compensation in respect of fatal accidents and permanent disability. A total of $128,124 was paid in compensation during the year.

Despite the steady expansion of industry, the extra work caused by unemployment and a constant shortage of staff, the inspectorate carried out planned improvements in the field of safety, health and welfare. Two women inspectors passed the Royal Sanitary Institute examination for sanitary inspectors in October. The departmental training of the inspectorate continued.

Women & Young Persons

On 30th September 1951 there were 34,025 women employed in factories and workshops as against 31,945 on 30th September 1950 and 29,088 on 30th September 1949. Women are employed in most industries and with few exceptions are on daily or piece-work rates. They enjoy freedom of movement, can take short breaks for tea at any time during working hours, provide substitutes should they require a day off, and, since discipline is of the mildest, do not normally work at a very high tempo.

Most women are semi-skilled and many can work at several different trades such as weaving, rubber shoe making and hand torch assembly. When one of the largest rubber factories reopened after a closure of some months caused by bad business, nearly half of the 900 women formerly employed there had found work in weaving or torch factories.

Women are also employed as coal and earth carriers, as general workers on building sites, as stone breakers and at other casual work of an unskilled nature.

During the year 635 visits were made to young persons between the ages of 14 and 18 employed in industry to ensure that regulations regarding their employment were being observed. 879 young persons reached the age of 18 and were removed from the register and 92 were found and registered, bringing the total on 31st December 1951 to 932.

III

PUBLIC FINANCE AND TAXATION

The Revenue and Expenditure figures since 1st May 1946, are as

follows:-

1946/47 (11 months)

1947/48

1948/49

1949/50

1950/51

1951/52 (Estimates)

Revenue

Expenditure

85,624,391

Surplus

82,141,556 164,298,310 127,701,174 36,597,136 194,933,955 159,954,023 34,979,932 264,250,543 182,121,726 82,128,817 291,728,416 251,684,523 40,043,893 234,669,050 13,130,800

247,799,850

Deficit

3,482,835

The cumulative surplus at 31st March 1951 amounted to $192,906,704.

Present indications are that the surplus for 1951/52 will be higher than the figure of $13,130,800.

Revenue

The principal revenue items for 1949/50 and 1950/51 in round figures were:

(a) Duties on Liquor, Hydrocarbon Oils, Tobacco, Proprietary Medicines, etc.

(b) Rates (Assessed Taxes)

(c) Internal Revenue, including Enter- tainment Tax, Estate Duty, Stamp Duties, Meals & Liquor Tax, Betting & Sweeps Tax, Earnings

1949/50

1950/51

68,797,000 71,653,000

19,286,000 27,253,000

& Profits Tax and Dance Hall Tax 72,580,000 85,552,000

(d) Water Revenue

(e) Postal Revenue

(f) Kowloon Canton Railway

7,657,000

8,155,000

12,235,000 14,547,000

7,678,000 10,251,000

1949/50

1950/51

(g) Miscellaneous Fees, Payments for Services and Sales of Government Property

22,677,000 22,065,000

(h) Miscellaneous Licences, Fines and

Forfeitures

13,292,000 16,453,000.

(i) Miscellaneous Receipts, including

Royalties

10,553,000 16,482,000

(j) Revenue from Land, Rents, etc. - 7,690,572 13,011,654

Once again revenue exceeded the estimate by a very substantial margin, the excess amounting to the large sum of $87,588,936 as compared with the previous year's excess of $84,099,173.

The main reasons for this are firstly that in view of the enormous increase in the Colony's population many of the sources of the Colony's revenue have been correspondingly enlarged, and secondly that due to the unsettled conditions in the Far East since the war and the difficulty of foreseeing with any accuracy how Hong Kong's trade would fare it has been considered advisable to budget on a conservative basis.

Expenditure

The major items of expenditure during the year 1950/51 were, in round figures:-

(a) Miscellaneous Services (including cost of living allowance $33,188,855: contri- bution towards the cost of reinforcing the garrison $16,000,000 and Loan Expenditure $49,887,457)

(b) Education Department

(e) Medical Department

(f) Pensions

(g) Police Force

(h) Post Office

(i) Prisons Department

(j) Public Works Department, Recurrent &

Non Recurrent

$109,873,948

$ 4,739,488

$ 4,442,260

$ 5,177,469

$ 11,974,333

A A A LA GA 6A 6A 6A

$ 7,996,909

$ 14,149,970

$ 6,065,067

$ 3,379,485

$ 38,338,581

(k) Sanitary Department & Urban Council $ 7,047,233

(1) Social Welfare Office

(m) Stores Department

(n) Subventions.

$ 2,191,004

$ 3,192,151

$ 14,254,864

The total expenditure for the year was $251,684,523, a net increase on the estimate of $50,845,440. The gross increase however was $76,142,939, which figure was partially offset by savings amounting to $25,297,499.

A word of explanation is required about the high figure given above for miscellaneous services. Excess expenditure under this head was $72,352,448. The principal item responsible for this excess was $49,887,457 spent on works projects previously charged to an advance account. $16,000,000 was paid to His Majesty's Government as the Colony's contribution towards the cost of reinforcing the garrison, not provided for in the estimates, and an increase in cost of living allowances for Government servants accounted for another $2,188,855. The sharp rise in the cost of paper and printing and an unusually large amount of printing and binding required during the year caused an excess of $1,241,292 under the sub-head concerned, while increased orders for, and quicker delivery of, ten and five cent coins accounted for $958,027.

Public Debt

The public debt of the Colony at the 31st December 1951 totalled $62,703,000 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 £264,760. 7s. 4d. on the 30th September 1951.

$ 4,838,000

31% Dollar Loan raised in 1934

31% Dollar Loan raised in 1940

These two loans are redeemable by 25 annual drawings. During 1951 bonds to the nominal value of $1,032,000 were redeemed, and further bonds were purchased to the nominal value of $200,000.

31% Rehabilitation Loan 1973/78

$ 4,280,000

•

$ 6,602,000

•

$ 46,983,000

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 £262,996. 16s. 1od. on the 30th September 1951. During the course of the year the loan schedule was revised from $150,000,000 to $100,000,000.

The $50,000,000 had been fully expended before the end of 1947/48 and additional expenditure totalling $27,609,094 had been

incurred by the 30th September 1951 from the Colony's surplus balances in addition to the sum of $49,887,457 charged off to expenditure as referred to above.

Earnings and Profits Tax

This tax, introduced for the first time in 1947, falls short of a full income tax. It comprises four separate taxes:

Property Tax,

Salaries & Annuities Tax, Profits Tax,

Interest Tax.

Tax is chargeable at the full standard rate (121% in 1951) on the profits of corporations and on interest payments, but in other cases there is provision for allowances or for tax to be assessed at a proportion or a multiple of the standard rate. An individual may elect to be personally assessed on his total income, in which case he receives the advantage of personal allowances for which he might not otherwise be eligible.

The personal allowance for an individual liable to Salaries Tax, or who elects for personal assessment, is $7,000. Allowances are also made for a wife and up to nine children. Tax on salaries and on personal income is levied at rates varying from one fifth of the standard rate on the first $5,000 of chargeable income to twice the standard rate on chargeable income over $45,000.

Revenue derived from the four taxes in 1950/51 together with amalgamated tax under personal assessment was as follows:-

Property tax

$ 8,156,590

Profits tax:

Corporation profits tax

Business profits tax

Salaries and annuities tax

Interest tax

Personal assessment

TOTAL

$24,569,281

$ 6,262,804 $30,832,085

$ 7,341,048

$ 1,964,123

213,409

$48,507,255

Assessment Tax (Rates)

There is a general rate of 17% on assessed rateable value. $27 million accrued from this tax in 1950/1.

Import and Excise Duties

Over

The description of Hong Kong as a free port sometimes causes confusion. The "free" refers to the fact that Hong Kong has no general tariff, and that only five main classes of commodity are taxed. Import duty is payable on liquor, tobacco, hydrocarbon oils, toilet preparations and proprietary medicines, and table waters.

Excise duty, when these articles are produced in the Colony, is at the same rate.

In addition, a special registration fee of 15% of the value is payable in respect of motor vehicles not produced within the British Commonwealth. Accessories and tools are not taken into account in

assessing this fee. It should be noted that except in special cases it is no longer possible to register a vehicle with left-hand drive for use in the Colony.

The duties on imported liquor range from $1.50 per gallon on beer to a minimum of $4 on Chinese liquor and to $44 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 per lb. on the lowest taxed Chinese-prepared tobacco to $7 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 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.

There is a sufficiency of bonded warehouses, and drawback on export is allowed on duty-paid materials used in local manufacture.

New Measures

There were no important new taxation measures introduced during the year.

CURRENCY AND BANKING

At the time of Hong Kong's foundation in 1841 China's currency was on a basis of uncoined silver but the usual standard unit for foreign trade was the Spanish or Mexican dollar. These coins were the first legal tender in the new Colony and apart from one unsuccessful experiment in using United Kingdom coins alongside it the Mexican dollar became and remained until 1895 the standard coin. In 1895, in pursuance of Her Majesty's Order in Council dated 2nd February of that year, a British trade dollar, equivalent to the Mexican dollar, was minted and production of the Mexican dollar ceased, although it remained the standard by which others were judged. Its sterling or gold value varied with the price of silver, giving Hong Kong a variable exchange relationship with London and the world at large but reasonable stability with China. In 1853 the Chartered Bank of India issued the first Hong Kong banknotes, followed in 1866 by those of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Although not legal tender these notes became more and more the customary means of payment and from 1890 onwards they were established by convention as practically the sole medium of exchange apart from subsidiary coinage. An Ordinance passed in 1895 had the effect of restricting the right of issuing banknotes to the three banks named. In 1935 the silver standard was abandoned, and by the Currency Ordinance an exchange fund was set up, to which note-issuing banks were obliged to surrender all silver previously deposited against note issues and to Since that date deposit full sterling cover for all subsequent issues. the value of the Hong Kong dollar has been maintained at approximately 1/3d. sterling. At the end of 1950 its value in U.S.$ was 0.1725, and in Australian currency 1/63d.

Note Issues and Banks

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

and one cent denominations and coins of fifty cent, 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-four banks including the three note-issuing banks mentioned above, are authorized to deal in foreign exchange. Some of these banks have branches or correspondents throughout the world and are thus able to offer world-wide comprehensive banking facilities to the public.

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, enacted in 1948, no company may carry on banking business without being licensed. 125 licences have been issued, many of them to small Chinese banks.

COMMERCE

In 1951 the total value of the Colony's trade amounted to $9,303m. (£581m.) as compared with $7,503m. (£469m.) in 1950. This large apparent increase in the total value of trade is however some- what misleading and does not reflect with any accuracy Hong Kong's general economic position, the value figures being considerably inflated by rising world prices and by industrial concerns in the Colony being obliged to purchase raw material supplies from abnormal sources.

a volume basis the Colony's trade was over a million tons less than in the preceding year, cargo discharged and loaded by ocean and river vessels being 4,889,066 tons in 1951 compared with 6,307,646 tons in 1950.

The Colony's trading position during the year deteriorated considerably mainly as a result of the Colony's export controls over strategic materials. The first of these controls were imposed in July 1950 and were followed in December of that year by the American The Hong embargo on shipments to China, Hong Kong and Macao. Kong Government's restrictions were periodically augmented and by arrangement with H.M. Government were considerably tightened in June 1951 when a wide system of import licensing was introduced as a result of the United Nations Resolution of 18th May 1951 concerning to China. The American embargo chiefly shipments of strategic goods to China. affected the Colony's industries.

There was a progressive decline in the value of imports and exports from $1,091m. in March to $592m. in September, and from May onwards imports exceeded exports. This was due in part to goods coming forward from alternative sources to make good shortages created by the embargo, and in part to the inability of local merchants to cancel orders placed early in the year before the United Nations Resolution on trade with China. Many of these goods are now frozen in Hong Kong by the new trade control regulations. Considerable amounts of trading capital are tied up in goods that can only gradually be absorbed locally or re-exported to approved destinations at reduced prices.

The table on page 46 illustrates the movement of trade throughout the year.

The total trade with China amounted to $2,467m., made up of $862m. of imports and $1,604m. of exports. These figures represent in terms of value an increase of 1% in imports and approximately 10% in exports over the corresponding figures for 1950. Here again the value figures are misleading, since prices, particularly of exports, increased in many cases by as much as 100% or more, the actual volume of trade being in fact a good deal less than in 1950. There was a very marked decline in exports even on value figures after the first quarter of the year. Imports did not fluctuate to the same extent, although they were abnormally low during the middle of the year. The overall position is shown in the table on page 47.

Imports from the United States of America declined by 43% from $655m. in 1950 to $373m. in 1951. Imports dropped from $795m. in December 1950 to $29.5m. in January 1951 and to $20m. in February, and it was some months before cargoes off-loaded en route when the embargo came into force began to come forward. Exports to the U.S.A. also declined considerably from $308m. in 1950 to $162m. in 1951. A major factor in this decline was the American ban on imports of China produce.

Overall trade with members of the British Commonwealth showed an increase of 40% in imports and 37% in exports over the 1950 totals, amounting to $1,631m. (£102m.) and $1,370m. (£86m.) respectively. Imports from the United Kingdom rose from $404m. to $619m., an increase of 53%. Exports to the United Kingdom also rose by $46m. to $214m., a figure which might have been higher had China produce and raw materials for the Colony's industries been more easily obtainable. The most striking increase was in exports to Malaya which jumped by $200m. to $740m.

Imports from Japan at $392m. were up by no less than 71%. A marked increase was noticeable in the last quarter of the year following the Colony's inclusion in the Sterling Payments Agreement in September 1951. Exports also rose from $120m. in 1950 to $192m.

There were considerable increases in imports from Belgium (273%), France (173%) and Germany (478%) due in the main to the fact that raw materials were more promptly obtainable from these countries than from traditional sources of supply.

In order of value the main item in the trade figures is textiles, with imports at $953m. and exports at $1,098m. Next come foodstuffs and beverages, imports of which were valued at $1,001 m. and exports at $557m. Chemicals accounted for $656m. in imports and $676m. in exports.

$ MILLION.

600

VALUE OF

TRADE

Total Imports

Total Exports

500

Imports from China

· Exports to China

400

300

200

100

MAR.

JUNE

SEPT.

DEC.

MAR.

JUNE

SEPT.

DEC

1950

1951

996

452

794

109F

924

835

778

IMPORTS

EXPORTS TOTAL TRADE

HONG KONG'S TRADE

(MILLION HK$)

1951

635

594

592

544

556

535

496

428

427

408

404

374 362

346

693

736

631

457

419

390

331

317

273

272

274

279

261

241

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

334

303

291

235

233

222

221

204

180

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

TOTAL TRADE

HONG KONG'S TRADE WITH CHINA

(MILLION HK$)

1951

145

141

149

155

147

136

139

133

102

73 78

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

SECTIONS

SUMMARY OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

Total 1950

Total 1951

Total 1950

Total 1951

HK$

I. Food products, beverages and tobacco

901,100,921

1,001,233,892

525,285,444

556,682,936

II. Fatty substances and waxes, animal and vegetable III. Chemicals and allied products

301,293,215

256,025,524

274,069,932

216,591,661

439,366,294

656,021,298

444,758,081

675,597,540

IV. Rubber

234,185,531

353,790,285

236,146,124

350,610,004

V. Wood, cork

63,284,765

88,404,035

15,252,494

25,175,820

VI. Paper

101,636,205

182,868,004

92,574,619

164,734,924

VII. Hides, skins and leather and manufactures thereof VIII. Textiles

30,654,654

42,297,345

35,520,621

33,780,465

687,427,750

873,662,809

773,375,602

810,515,272

IX. Articles of clothing of all materials and miscel- laneous made-up textile goods

92,376,117

79,364,466

279,840,514

287,975,577

X. Products for heating, lighting and power lubricants and related products -

139,608,812

156,701,796

85,540,689

27,251,420

XI.

Non-metallic minerals and manufactures thereof

46,882,577

68,868,728

36,817,337

49,858,768

XII.

Precious metals and precious stones, pearls and articles made of these materials

11,982,758

27,166,586

6,847,930

11,836,091

XIII.

Base metals and manufactures thereof

244,394,004

378,805,401

343,801,765

449,576,070

XIV. Machinery, apparatus and appliances and vehicles

185,282,098

275,509,733

149,980,945

235,192,495

XV.

Miscellaneous commodities

308,185,952

429,594,634

415,740,276

537,648,662

Total

3,787,661,653 4,870,314,536 3,715,552,373

4,433,027,705

Despite trade

depression

commercial

building activity

goes on unabated,

while (below)

the first block

goes up in the

Model Housing

This image is unavailable for access via the Network due to copyright restrictions. To view the image, please contact library staff for a printed copy of the copyright work.

Society's

$3,500,000

scheme for

housing

small families.

Photos: Francis Wu.

This image is unavailable for access via the Network

due to copyright restrictions. To view the image, please contact library staff for a printed copy of the copyright work.

自

This image is unavailable for access via the Network

due to copyright restrictions. To view the image, please contact library staff for a printed copy of the copyright work.

The Bank of China, now the Colony's highest building, opened in November, has been designed and built by leading British firms.

KIES

Photo: Francis Wu

SOURCES

SUMMARY OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

SOURCES AND DESTINATIONS

Total 1950

DESTINATIONS

Total 1951

Total 1950

Total 1951

HK$

404,712,710

619,056,609

168,283,403

214,598,413

300,212,826

394,069,156

542,795,846

740,623,416

462,966,767

617,964,406

288,359,335

414,628,231

17,903,383

9,879,401

23,318,447

40,928,885

37,516,894

214,278,034

48,865,500

33,027,168

355,740,833

326,585,278

677,204,476

524,131,897

136,138,080

53,332,217

361,321,427

78,705,297

366,072,050

483,182,323

422,616,375

1,000,958,165

62,366,778

139,379,130

104,405,096

30,189,712

229,985,517

182,133,355

655,258,165

504,426,285 1,013,853,334

103,594,594

208,382,885

228,353,320

50,769,126

22,602,526

34,032,992

392,262,340

120,681,944

192,526,923

155,597,339

98,475,031

891,771,310

373,523,601

308,690,819

162,546,601

423,954,359

538,815,957

United Kingdom

Malaya

British Commonwealth, Other

Burma

Germany

China, North China, Middle

China, South

Formosa

Macao

Indo-China

Japan

Thailand

U. S. A.

All Other Countries

3,787,661,653

4,870,314,536 3,715,552,373

4,433,027,705

Figures for Formosa included in totals for Middle China.

Total

PRODUCTION

Fisheries

The main primary product of Hong Kong is fish, the Colony having probably the largest fleet of any fishing port in the Colonial Empire. It is estimated that there is a seafaring population of about 60,000 engaged in this industry and the figures for quantities marketed given below also indicate the magnitude of the operations.

The fishing fleet is essentially owner-operated and consists mainly of sailing junks of Chinese type constructed locally from China fir and hardwoods imported from outside sources.

The waters around Hong Kong being susceptible to typhoons, wind-driven off-shore fishing craft, such as trawlers, are compelled to tie up during the typhoon season between July and September. Because of this, fishermen realize the great advantage to be gained through mechanization of their craft. 56 vessels were mechanized during 1950 and 28 vessels during 1951, the total mechanized fleet. being 139 vessels at the end of December 1951. The decrease in the

number of vessels mechanized during the year is mainly due to the fact that practically all the long-liners in the fleet have already installed engines. The majority of the 28 vessels mechanized during 1951 are vessels which collect fish from sail-driven craft at sea, thereby increasing greatly the fishing time of such vessels.

The desire to mechanize has recently spread to fishermen owning small craft such as purse seiners. A considerable number of these vessels installed outboard petrol-driven motors which are illegal owing to fire risks in the congested anchorages around the shores of Hong Kong. There is therefore a growing demand for small diesel engines suitable for small craft and already a number of such engines have been installed.

One great obstacle stands in the way of effective mechanization. Chinese fishing vessels are essentially sailing craft and it has been found that they need higher powered engines to propel them mechanically than it is really economical to install. The possibility of producing a

fishing vessel built according to Chinese standards of fishing vessel construction but at the same time suitable for economic mechanization has been under consideration by Government for several years and in the spring of 1951, as the first result of a grant for this purpose from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund, a decision was taken that in view of the small fisherman's desire to mechanize his vessel the proposed experiment in construction should be based on the purse seiner type of fishing craft.

The main types of fish landed are mackerel, scad, anchovies, lizard fish, golden thread, croaker and yellow croaker.

The amount of fish marketed in Hong Kong for the years 1946/51 is as follows:-

FRESH FISH

QUANTITY

WHOLESALE VALUE

1946

1947

1,904.05 tons 2,653.79

$ 3,120,457

وو

3,355,513

1948

7,251.07

دو

8,651,356

1949.

10,822.38

17,689,028

وو

1950

16,425.48

24,414,750

1951

22,138.33

وو

30,424,549

SALT/DRIED FISH

1946

12,592.79 tons

$18,476,431

1947

11,266.19

وو

11,166,576

1948

14,644.76

وو

11,941,515

1949

16,108.63

18,740,370

1950

16,304.28

13,873,411

1951

8,016.79

دو

8,687,688

Fish Marketing Organization

•

The wholesale marketing of all fish except pond and shell fish is controlled, the fish being auctioned at Government-organized wholesale markets. These markets are situated at Kennedy Town, Shaukiwan and Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island, at Yaumati in the Kowloon area, and at Taipo in the New Territories. Fish sold at Aberdeen is used chiefly for making sauce.

The Organization undertakes the collection and transport of fish to the wholesale markets from the collecting depôts and posts which have been established in the main fishing villages all over the Colony. Fishermen who operate through these depôts and posts may either leave their produce in the hands of the Organization's staff who look after it until it is sold, or accompany their own fish to the markets.

Once

there, the fish is sorted and put up for public auction. Fisherfolk may collect the proceeds of sale (less a 6 per cent commission charge which covers all services) directly after the sale if they are present at the market or from their local depôt after the proceeds have been transported safely back early next day. The Organization also undertakes the transport of fish after sale to the buyer's place of business.

It was formerly the custom for at least 60 per cent of the fish caught by the Hong Kong fishing fleet to be salted, dried and sent up river to Canton where there was a considerable demand for it at good prices. Increased mechanization of the Hong Kong fleet has meant that fish can be transported more quickly from the fishing grounds and in consequence less fish has had to be salted. At the same time the Kwangtung authorities have placed restrictions on the import of salt fish from Hong Kong. These two factors have caused a notable change in the amounts of fresh and salted fish marketed in Hong Kong as the figures given above show. Since 1950 there has been a marked and welcome increase in the amount of fresh fish on sale and a reduction

by half of the amount of salt fish landed. In consequence the general average price of fresh fish has been slightly lower than in previous years.

Facilities are provided by the Fish Marketing Organization for fishermen to borrow money at reasonable rates of interest. Most of the loans are short-term, mainly for the repair of gear and boats, but a few loans of larger amounts have been granted for mechanization of craft. The Organization also subsidizes schools which have been established for fishermen's children and awards scholarships to recognized schools.

At the collecting depôts fishermen's requisites are sold at wholesale prices. The depôts also act as distributors of rationed rice and other commodities to fisherfolk and are used as centres where the various problems confronting the fishing community may be discussed.

The whole Organization is self-supporting and has been planned so that it may eventually be taken over by fishermen and run as a cooperative organization.

Fish Fry

A considerable amount of fish fry used for stocking fish-ponds is exported each year by air to Malaya, Thailand and, to a lesser extent, Formosa. In 1951, 661,000 fish fry valued at $83,647 were exported. The fry are brought to Hong Kong by boat chiefly from the West River region of Kwangtung; they are placed in hermetically sealed 4-gallon petrol tins which are filled 3/5 with well water and 2/5 with oxygen. Consignments generally consist of 10 to 20 tins each containing 500 to 1,000 fry according to size, which ranges from 1" during summer and autumn to 2" in winter and spring.

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 suitable has already been brought under cultivation. The 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. Some of the terraces and irrigation channels date back many years. On the higher slopes of

mountains such as Taimoshan are remains of terraces for tea cultivation long since discontinued probably due to high winds in summer and the cold experienced during winter.

The

The Chinese farmer of the New Territories is primarily a rice producer and generally speaking any other crop grown is subsidiary to rice although vegetable growing is becoming increasingly popular. Practically all the rent of farm land is paid in terms of rice. average rental per acre is 1,600 lbs. which is just about 40% of the total annual rice yield per acre. Except for the lands irrigated with brackish water, where only one crop is obtained, most of the paddy fields of the Territories produce two crops a year, water supply being the limiting factor. The main area for salt-water paddy is the district

around Mai Po.

The local rice straw is short and the grains are small, narrow and of excellent quality. It is difficult to estimate the amount of milled rice produced annually but the figure of 20,000 short tons is considered a fair estimate of the annual production. This of course represents a very small proportion of the total annual consumption of the Colony.

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 in recent years when the demand for, and consequently the price of, vegetables has increased. A great deal of sweet potatoes is also grown during winter for pigfood-an essential product of the New Territories. During the summer, vegetables are cultivated on a limited scale and Hong Kong is dependent to a greater 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, their wood being used for making plough frames. Lung-ngan timber is also valuable for use in junk building. Lemons and grapefruit do well and it is hoped in due course to be able to extend their cultivation.

As far as livestock is concerned the farmer keeps cattle and buffalo purely for draught purposes. There is hardly any dairy farming except

near Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island. Cattle for slaughter is almost entirely imported except for the occasional beast sold by local farmers because of old age or injury. The postwar increase in poultry farming and pig keeping has been maintained although poultry farmers are finding it difficult to make a living owing to uncertain supply and high price of feeding stuffs and to competition with imported birds and

eggs.

Agricultural Department

The Agricultural Department was only formed in 1946 but its growth and development have been rapid and it is in contact with practically all agricultural areas. The Colony has been divided for agricultural purposes into six districts each having an agricultural demonstration station. These stations are situated at Tsun Wan, Sheung Shui, Taipo, Shatin and Sai Kung on the mainland and at Silver Mine Bay on Lantao Island. The purpose of these stations is demonstration of new and improved agricultural and animal husbandry technique, and distribution of improved seed and stock. Contact with farmers is maintained by means of regular monthly meetings when farming problems are discussed.

In addition to the agricultural field stations a main agricultural experimental station has been built at Castle Peak. Here new and introduced varieties of crops, breeds of livestock, insecticides, and methods of cultivation are being tried out before being demonstrated at the district stations.

The Berkshire breed of pigs is being used to cross with the local Sow. This cross has been most successful and has aroused the interest of the pig farmers in the Colony. Boars are stationed throughout the Territories for boar service.

At the poultry station, pens of pedigree birds of introduced breeds are kept. Work is being done on the crossing of these breeds with the local Ĉantonese hen in an attempt to produce a fast-maturing hybrid suitable for the local market. It has been found that the New Hampshire crossed with the local Cantonese bird makes an excellent hybrid for meat production. Feed trials are also being undertaken. Inoculation of all cattle against rinderpest using lapinized vaccine is another activity undertaken by the department and these inoculations are now compulsory.

Vegetable Marketing Organization

All

In September 1946, a vegetable marketing scheme similar to that started for the marketing of fish was introduced on the mainland. vegetables produced in the New Territories mainland or imported into

that area are sold, wholesale, by a Vegetable Marketing Organization, the aim of which is to ensure fair and steady returns to vegetable producers and reasonable selling prices to consumers. It is intended that in due course this organization, like the Fish Marketing Organiza- tion, will become a cooperative enterprise.

The Organization undertakes the collection and transport of vegetables from collecting points in the New Territories to a central wholesale market in Kowloon. In the main production areas collecting depôts have been established, and farmers operating through them may leave their vegetables in the hands of the Organization's staff who look after the vegetables until they are sold in the market. The proceeds of sales (less a 10 per cent commission charge) are taken back to the depôts and collecting points by the same staff for distribution to the

farmers.

During the year, the quantity of vegetables handled by the Organization increased considerably. In 1947, the first full year of its existence, it handled 19,427 tons of local vegetables and 7,658 tons of imported, the total wholesale value being $7,348,690. Trading has increased steadily each year and the corresponding figures for 1951 were 39,775 tons and 13,639 tons respectively, with a total value of $18,960,670. Increase in local production is particularly noticeable and local producers are now supplying a considerable proportion of the Colony's requirements.

The establishment of collecting centres run entirely by farmers is strongly encouraged by the Organization and four such centres have been started at Kutung, Fanling, Taipo and Sheung Shui. The centres at Fanling, Taipo and Sheung Shui were subsequently registered as cooperative vegetable marketing societies.

The Organization has received valuable aid from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Grants and loans from this fund have been used to purchase a fleet of 16 diesel-engine lorries and helped in the establishment and running of small village vegetable collecting centres in outlying districts. Up to the end of the year a total sum of $689,722 had been disbursed from the Colonial Development and Welfare funds for the purchase of transport equipment, construction of depôts and the provision of numerous rural services.

Cooperative Department

The newly-formed Cooperative Department started operations early in the year.

Its activities so far have been concentrated mainly on the welfare of the primary producers-the farmers and fisherfolk- and the department has worked in close cooperation with the two Marketing Organizations.

Farmers generally have shown great enthusiasm for cooperative enterprises. Three vegetable marketing societies have been registered and several more are almost ready for registration. Pig breeders and poultry farmers are also showing interest.

Among the fisherfolk where cooperative education schemes, banks and marketing schemes are badly needed, progress has been much more difficult. This is chiefly because at the moment the Hong Kong fishing community is far from stable and not until international conditions have settled down can any large-scale improvement be expected.

Work in other fields, especially in cooperative education, is progressing favourably and many other sections of the community, including those in the urban areas, are being contacted and are already asking for advice on various cooperative schemes.

Forestry

Hong Kong is not a timber producing territory; it is in fact the largest timber importer in the Far East. The Colony's hills are covered with grass, scrub and sparse pinewood. The grass on the hillsides is of great importance to villagers who are largely dependent on it for fuel for cooking purposes, the cutting of wild wood being strictly controlled throughout the Colony. There are large areas, particularly to the west of the New Territories, which are badly eroded, some of the hillsides having no protective covering at all.

One of the main activities of the Forestry Department is the afforestation and protection of the catchment areas for the Colony's 13 reservoirs on which the water supply of the entire population depends. Most of the hillsides are very steep and rainfall is principally in the summer months. This makes the maintenance of a proper forest covering in catchment areas of great importance not only to prevent the silting up of the reservoirs but also to increase the seepage which, if proper planting is carried out, can be extended after the rainy season is finished.

Extensive

The legacy of the Japanese occupation of the Colony during the war which will take more time to remedy than any other is the wholesale despoliation of the Colony's trees. One place where this was particularly obvious was in the neighbourhood of Kowloon reservoir where severe surface erosion was taking place in the catchment areas. planting of eucalyptus and tristania was carried out shortly after the war to establish a forest covering on the lowest slopes near the reservoir and this planting continued in each successive year, being gradually extended up the hillsides, this particular process being followed because weather conditions on the hilltops are too severe to support any

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共

At Aberdeen and other fishing villages drying cuttlefish and making

shrimp paste are important subsidiary industries.

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Photos: Shell Photographic Unit.

BRAK

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圖

Ploughing for the autumn paddy crop takes place as soon as the summer crop is off the field,

the stooks of the first crop being carried off to the village for cattle-fodder.

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Photos: South China Morning Post.

Concrete threshing-floors are mainly used for the summer crop, but in the autumn small bamboo field threshers are used

and the stooks are left in the field till harvesting is over.

GKONG PU

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港

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圖書

The fishing community ranges from solitary trappers to the thousands living

afloat in congested harbours and typhoon shelters.

Photo: Russell Spurr.

Photo: South China Morning Post.

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IBR

vegetation at all unless it receives some partial protection from trees lower down. The area in question has been considerably improved but it will be a long time before these scars of war are healed.

Another interesting area is the catchment around the great Jubilee Reservoir at Shing Mun. Here a large part of the surrounding area consists of paddy fields which had to be vacated when the reservoir was built for fear of possible pollution of the water. Naturally, in an area of this kind the question of erosion and seepage is not so important as that of finding a productive use for the land on which Government has The Forestry unfortunately been obliged to prevent cultivation. Department has planted melaleuca here, a species which thrives under damp, water-logged conditions. Extensive planting has also been

carried out on the hillsides.

Restoration of a forest covering can only be achieved if the strictest possible protection is given to the vegetation both from woodcutters and from fire. Lack of protection can rapidly annihilate several years' intensive planting. Protection against woodcutters has always been a difficult problem in Hong Kong in view of the close proximity of such a large population to the forest areas and the high price firewood fetches. The Department organizes patrols of foresters who when they are on duty live in small groups, sometimes in isolated parts of the New Territories, and carry out extensive searches for woodcutters despoiling the hillsides.

This patrol work has had to be concentrated principally in the catchment areas of the reservoirs since to protect all the hillsides in the New Territories would be impossible without an uneconomical increase in the number of foresters employed. In the areas which the foresters do not patrol endeavours have been made by the department to persuade villagers to carry out their own protective work, and in the eastern part of the New Territories around Sai Kung this system has been most effective, the result being that the whole of the Sai Kung valley area will in time become one of the most productive forest areas as well as the most beautiful. The scheme works on an understanding between the Forestry Department, the district authorities and the various village communities concerned. If a village is interested, it is given the right to use its adjacent and frequently unproductive hillsides as forestry plantations, the Forestry Department provides seed and young trees and sometimes helps villagers with planting, and in return the villagers have to undertake to control cutting and carry out proper protective work in the new forests. One reason for its success in the Sai Kung area is undoubtedly that this part of the New Territories is off the main circular road and consequently a more settled district. Another area where similar schemes might be undertaken is Lantao Island, but the Forestry Department has not yet tackled this.

To combat the fire menace a lookout post was established on Kowloon Peak. Outbreaks can be seen from this post over very large areas of Hong Kong and the mainland and are immediately reported by telephone to Forestry headquarters 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, and fire barriers are being made throughout all the more important catchment areas. During 1951 approximately 300,000 trees were planted and at the end of the year the stock of seedlings in the nursery was over 760,000.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

The embargo

1951 was a difficult year for local manufacturers. imposed by the U.S. Government created serious difficulties in the supply of raw materials, which had in many cases to be obtained from alternative sources at higher prices. These in turn affected the costs of the finished products and made competition with Japanese goods even more difficult. To appreciate the difficulties of supply it must be remembered that few local factories carry stocks of raw materials. The usual practice when an enquiry is received is to obtain the raw material locally, the price of the product being related directly to the ruling market price for the raw material. For this reason, also, it is difficult for a local manufacturer to forecast his needs. Except for a few items such as enamelware and torches he does not produce for stock.

Imports of raw materials of a strategic nature are now subject to strict control by means of a system of Essential Supplies Certificates. This method of control has presented many difficulties in an economy such as Hong Kong's, but has ensured a certain level of supply, and gained the confidence of the countries which provide the raw material for the Colony's industries.

The 9th Annual Exhibition of Hong Kong Products, held under the auspices of the Chinese Manufacturers' Union, was opened on 14th December by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and proved that despite their difficulties local manufacturers are capable of producing a wide variety of goods of high standard. The Colony was again represented at the British Industries Fair, some 120 local merchants travelling to London for the occasion.

Certificates of Origin (and Imperial Preference Certificates) were issued in 1951 for goods valued at $311m. (£19,437,000) an increase of $115m. over 1950. Of this figure $39m. represents goods exported to the U.S.A., the U.S. Government having made a Certificate of Origin mandatory since April in respect of locally manufactured goods. These figures do not however represent the total quantity of locally

manufactured goods exported, since for some countries Certificates of Origin are not required. The figures also do not cover all exports to the United Kingdom as in certain cases H.M. Customs approve costings for a factory over a stated period, and consequently do not require Imperial Preference Certificates for each shipment. It should also be mentioned that these are figures of value; costs have risen, and with them the price of finished goods; the resultant increase in value does not represent a corresponding increase in volume.

SOME HONG KONG INDUSTRIES

Cotton Spinning

Some 200,000 spindles are now in operation in 13 mills, the largest of which operates 38,000 spindles. The mills worked almost to full capacity during the year and the yarn produced was of a high quality with wastage reduced to a minimum by the installation of modern suction machinery.

Weaving & Knitting

The high price of yarn and Japanese competition, particularly in grey sheeting, have combined to make 1951 a poor year generally. By December only one weaving factory was working to capacity, some 80% were working at intervals, and one large factory had gone into liquidation. Of the knitting factories some 60% had closed down, the remainder working only 15 days in the month.

Enamelware and Aluminium ware

The enamel and aluminium industries had a fair year, considering the many difficulties of supply, although none of the factories worked to capacity. Competition in Asian markets is keen, but there are encouraging signs, particularly in the Indonesian market.

Rubber wares

The rubber manufacturing industry was faced with high prices for raw rubber and few factories worked at full capacity. Raw materials became a little cheaper towards the end of the year, with a resulting improvement in business.

Torches

Most factories operated below capacity during the year, due in part to a shortage of British and American brass sheets.

Plastics

The first half of the year saw difficulties in supply of raw material, but once these had been overcome a fair volume of business was done. The state of business varied; one small factory went into liquidation while at the same time good results were enjoyed by a leading factory equipped with modern machinery and capable of producing its own moulds.

Heavier Industries

These continue to develop. Hong Kong now has rolling mills for brass and aluminium sheet, and factories making printing machinery and textile equipment. One metalware factory is building all its own machinery for the setting up of branch factories at Jesselton, North Borneo, and at Singapore. Other products include diesel engines for marine craft, and complete diesel generator sets.

Sugar Refining Refining

瓜

The Colony's one refinery has been rehabilitated and is now in full al production.

Ginger

1951 was not a particularly good year for the ginger industry; although the principal distributors reported an increase of 20% in turnover as against 1950. The best post-war year was 1949, 1951 being some 30% below this. In volume the 1951 trade was some

2,700 tons, valued at $6 million.

Raw materials showed an increase in price of some 10%, with buying offers generally at some 10% below former prices.

PUBLIC

VII

SOCIAL SERVICES

EDUCATION

Government expenditure on education has risen from $9 million for the financial year 1947-8 to an estimated $19 million for the year 1951-2. In addition the Government made its usual grant of $1,500,000 to the University. Fees payable in Government and grant-aided secondary and primary schools remained unchanged during

1951.

The University

The University of Hong Kong, which developed from the Hong Kong College of Medicine founded in 1887, was incorporated in 1911 and formally opened in 1912.

By ordinance the Governor of Hong Kong is Chancellor of the University of which the governing body is the Court presided over by the Chancellor and including, apart from nominated and ex-officio members, certain life members among whom are some of the University's principal benefactors. On the Council, which is the executive body, the Deans of the Faculties, the Colonial Secretary, the Financial Secretary and prominent members of the community as appointed by the Chancellor are represented, and in the Senate the Director of Education is an ex-officio member.

The academic year 1950-1 saw the beginning of large-scale development in the University. A grant of £250,000 was made from Colonial Development and Welfare funds, which, together with a previous Treasury grant of £250,000, will cover the capital needs of a programme of development supported by the Inter-University Council for Higher Education in the Colonies. A further grant by His Majesty's Government of £1,000,000, from Japanese assets in the Colony, was announced for addition to the University's Endowment Fund.

The total enrolment is 871 students, compared with 715 in the previous year.

Of these 423 are studying Medicine, 216 Arts, 83

Civil Engineering, 74 Architecture, 62 Science, and 13 are training in Chinese languages in the Language School of the British Institute of Far Eastern Studies. The students of the University are of 19 different nationalities originating from 28 different countries.

During the year Lady Ho Tung Hall, for which Sir Robert Ho Tung had generously donated $1,000,000 and which is a residential hall accommodating over 80 women students, was opened by Lady Grantham. A new Lodge for the Vice-Chancellor was completed and the foundations laid for a new block of eight flats.

On 1st September a new Faculty of Architecture was inaugurated, and the Court of the University approved the institution of the degrees of D.Sc., M.Sc., B. Arch., M. Arch., B.A. (Hons.), B.Sc. (Hons.), and of a Diploma and a Certificate in Social Study. Plans have been made for the raising of entrance qualifications in 1954.

Schools and Colleges

The Colony's education is under the general control of the Director of Education but much of the work of education is in the hands of private individuals, missionary and philanthropic bodies.

By the Education Ordinance, 1913, amended in 1947 and 1948, all schools unless specifically exempted are required to register with the Director of Education, to be open to his inspection, and to comply with regu- lations concerning staff, buildings, number of pupils, syllabuses, text books and health.

Since 1920 a Board of Education has advised the Director on the development and improvement of education in the Colony. At the beginning of the year the Board was reconstituted so that, with the exception of the Director of Education who is chairman, it is composed entirely of unofficial members representing the various groups in the Colony interested in education. When desired, education officers attend meetings of the Board in an advisory capacity.

For administrative purposes, schools in the Colony may be classified as follows:-

(1) Government schools, which are staffed and maintained by the Education Department; in this category may be placed the two teachers' training colleges and the Technical College;

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

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

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

(5) All other private schools.

In Chinese schools, Cantonese is most commonly used as the language of instruction but a small number of schools teach in Hakka and Mandarin (Kuo-yu), the latter being a compulsory subject in Government Chinese schools. In Anglo-Chinese and English schools the medium of instruction is English with Mandarin a compulsory subject in the former type of school.

Chinese schools, in which English may be studied as a language subject, have divided a 12-year school course into 6 years of primary and 6 years of secondary or middle school. Arrangements have been made to institute a Hong Kong Chinese School Certificate examination in the summer of 1952 when more than 1,100 candidates are expected to present themselves for the examination. Post-secondary education is given at the teacher training colleges and at the Evening School of Higher Chinese Studies which was opened in March 1951 and gives 3-year courses in general arts, commerce and journalism. beginning of its second academic year, 323 students were enrolled in the school. In November of this year the Governor appointed a Committee on Higher Education to report on the changes advisable in the provision of post-secondary education other than that given at the teacher training colleges and the University of Hong Kong.

At the

As a result of reorganization commenced in September, Anglo- Chinese schools which formerly gave an 8-year course after either 4 or 6 years of primary school, will within approximately three years conform to a system of a 6-year primary course followed by 5 years of secondary education leading to the Hong Kong School Certificate examination. Students who wish to sit for Hong Kong University Matriculation spend an additional year at school. It is anticipated that improved methods of Chinese language teaching coupled with the earlier introduction of English in the primary schools will permit the shortening of the Anglo-Chinese school course without detriment to scholastic achievements and at the same time enable students either to obtain adult employment or to enter the University at an earlier age. The increasing popularity of Anglo-Chinese education is shown by the number of candidates sitting for the School Certificate examination. In 1950, 570 students presented themselves for examination, this year the number rose to 850, and preliminary estimates mentioned above indicate that the 1952 entry will exceed 1,100.

English schools are similar to their counterparts in England. Junior schools accept children from the age of 5, and give infant and primary school education. The King George V School in Kowloon

provides secondary education up to the level of the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate. Children under II whose parents are in one of the three Services normally attend military schools.

There are 20 grant schools, some of which have facilities to accommodate boarders. All of them give primary education and the majority have secondary classes as well. They are administered under a system of grants-in-aid started in 1873 and subsequently revised several times, the latest revision being in 1945. The present arrange- ment is that after the Education Department has approved a grant school's annual expenditure the Government provides the school with financial aid to cover those running costs which are not met from tuition fees. Grants are also made to cover 50% of the cost of any new equipment or building which may be approved. A grant-aided school which owns its own buildings may be given a building depreciation grant to replace old structures and interest-free loans normally repayable in ten years may be made for new buildings. Under the terms of the Grant Code the salaries of local teachers are the same as those of teachers with similar qualifications in Government schools, teachers with approved British, American or Commonwealth qualifications receiving salaries as overseas-trained teachers, irrespective of race or nationality. The number of children attending these schools has risen from 12,000 in 1946 to almost 14,000 of which more than 8,000 were girls. Since these schools are closely linked with the Church of England, or with particular missions and religious Orders, a strong tradition of Christian service exists in all of them.

There are 313 schools subsidized by the Government. Most of them are situated in the rural areas, where only 43 out of a total of 247 non-government schools can maintain themselves without a subsidy. The large majority of these schools provide primary education for boys and girls and use Chinese as the medium of instruction. The schools are administered under the Subsidy Code, a recent revision of which improved teachers' salaries by 400%, the salaries being now two-thirds of those paid in Government and grant schools. Were it not for the subsidies many of these schools would be compelled either to charge higher school fees, or to pay inadequate salaries with consequent lowering of standards. The number of schools receiving subsidies has increased from 291 in 1950 to 313 this year. Each subsidy is at least half the difference between a school's expenditure and income, and usually a good deal more, sufficient to cover the whole financial deficit. The fact that the amount spent annually on subsidies is rising is an indication that schools welcome this form of assistance in spite of the greater measure of control it involves. During the year enrolment in subsidized schools increased by almost 8,000 to 38,222 and a Subsidized Schools Council, whose members represent the various types

of schools and the various districts in the New Territories, was formed. This council, based on the model of the Grant Schools Council, will help to break down the present isolation of many of the schools, will maintain close liaison with the Education Department and should facilitate the diffusion of modern educational ideas.

It is the Government's hope that these rural schools when equipped with radio and cinema will become centres of community life, a hope which may well be realized in view of the practical assistance and financial support given by village elders in the expansion of rural schooling. During the year new primary schools were opened at Shek O on Hong Kong Island, and at Nam Wai and Ma On Kong on the mainland. The Ma On Kong school was built by the private subscriptions of villagers in collaboration with the Government on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Pupils and teachers from a one-roomed school in a neighbouring village were transferred to the new school, and thus one large school with greater educational facilities replaced two small, uneconomical schools. Pupils from rural primary schools are given the opportunity of secondary education at Yuen Long Public Middle School and at the recently extended Roman Catholic Mission School, Sai Kung.

Private schools, of which there are 611 in the urban areas and 43 in the rural districts, comprise 64% of the schools in the Colony and provide education for 65% of the school population. The number of private schools increased by 56 during the year and their enrolment from 108,000 to 120,954. The majority of these schools give only primary education in Chinese but there are 169 with middle school classes, 34 Anglo-Chinese day schools, and 48 Anglo-Chinese night schools. The private schools vary considerably in size and efficiency Visits but play an important part in the Colony's educational system. by inspectors are more frequent than formerly and income and expenditure accounts are carefully examined before monthly fees are agreed upon.

The schools have learned to welcome and value the advice given by the inspectors.

The Education Department has increased the number of schools and pupils directly under its charge to 35 schools with almost 14,000 pupils. As a result of the reorganization of Anglo-Chinese schools, six Government junior Anglo-Chinese schools are gradually becoming Chinese primary schools while, in September, King's College was restored to its pre-war status as an Anglo-Chinese secondary school.

Progress has been made in education for citizenship. Schools are encouraged to take their senior pupils on visits to Government departments, commercial undertakings and the Law Courts, and every assistance has been given in these ventures by the departments and firms concerned. A complete course in Civics has been published for use in

Chinese primary schools and another is in preparation for use in secondary schools. For the first time, Civics became a subject in the Hong Kong School Certificate examination in 1951. Steps have been taken to ensure that the course is practical rather than theoretical and schools are encouraged to maintain their tradition of social service by organizing free schools for poor children during the long summer vacation. The training colleges not only direct their students towards a conscious appreciation of civic rights and duties but also assist the Social Welfare Officer in the training of youth leaders.

During 1951 the Hong Kong School Sports Association was formed to organize and conduct inter-school games; school association football and basketball leagues exist, inter-school swimming and athletic sports are held. An honour much coveted by schoolboy foot- ballers is selection for the school interport team against Manila.

Two other extra-curricular activities merit comment. The Schools Music Association has done much to develop interest in music of all kinds an interest clearly demonstrated at the annual schools music festival, while enthusiasm for dramatic art has found expression in the annual inter-school dramatic competition during which both Cantonese and English plays are presented.

Adult education is carried out mainly through the Evening Institute classes organized by the Education Department, and by private night schools. The Evening Institute provides for classes in commercial and technical subjects and in English, the course in Elementary English being extremely popular. Private night schools offer a wide choice of subjects, including foreign languages, economics, law and journalism, but the standard of teaching varies considerably. Adult classes aimed principally at the removal of illiteracy were organized in the New Territories.

Where technical education is concerned the Junior Technical School offers a general education in preparation for the work of the Technical College which gives full-time day courses in building, wireless telegraphy and mechanical engineering, and evening courses in building, engineering, surveying, shipbuilding, diesel fitting and wireless operating. Close contact is maintained with local employers and representatives of organized labour. The visit of Dr. F. J. Harlow, Assistant Educational Adviser on Technical Education to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the formation of a Technical Education Investigating Committee have demonstrated the lively interest of the Government in technical and vocational training. The Committee, appointed in November, will collate information on all forms of technical training at present available in Hong Kong and will make recommendations for improvements.

The Aberdeen 'Industrial School, subsidized by the Government, and the St. Louis Industrial School are both operated by the Salesian Society; the former, a residential school for orphans or children of poor parents, gives primary education and 5 years of trade training; the latter offers special classes in printing and bookbinding and received from the Government during 1951 an interest-free loan of $600,000. A number of private technical schools supply instruction in radio, electrical, telegraphic and automobile technology, but often their teaching standard is low and their equipment poor.

Full-time training for students and refresher courses for practising teachers are given at the three training colleges. At the Northcote and Rural Training Colleges courses last for two years, whereas the newly instituted Grantham Training College, the premises of which are not yet completed, gives a one-year course specifically directed towards teaching in urban Chinese primary schools. No tuition fees are paid at the colleges and subsistence allowances for students are granted in

At the end of the year there were 107 cases of proved need.

teachers in training at Northcote Training College, 61 at Grantham Training College and 45 at the Rural Training College.

The Rural Training College, opened in 1946, continues to achieve excellent work in the training of old and new teachers for village schools. Students live a full life, the curriculum including two hours' practical work each day in biology, animal husbandry, horticulture and farming, four hours of lectures and practical teaching, and one hour of supervized study. The College cooperative farm raises poultry, pigs, goats, cows and vegetables, and pays a 100% profit per annum. The services of · college graduates are eagerly welcomed in the country and several have started cooperative farms in their village schools.

The College, however, has not yet found a permanent home.

Besides giving generous subsistence allowances for students at the training colleges, the Government provides scholarships to the University of Hong Kong where 39 students are entirely or partially maintained. One scholarship, tenable at any British or Commonwealth university, is awarded every three years. Scholarships for overseas universities are also provided under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, by the British Council, and by the Federation of British Industries.

Although the year 1951 has witnessed many activities and considerable progress, the Colony is still faced with many educational problems, the majority of which can only be solved by increased expenditure. The number of children receiving schooling has shown an annual increase since 1947 of more than 20,000, the increase during 1951 being 25,000. Mr. N. G. Fisher, whose "Report on Government Expenditure on Education in Hong Kong" has been recently published,

recommends the building of 5 Government schools annually during the next 6 years, a programme which will require the training of approximately 100 teachers each year. The establishment of the Grantham Training College will go far to solving the problem of a supply of teachers trained for primary school work, but it is still necessary to obtain money for building schools and to site them where they are most needed.

HEALTH

The statutory responsibility for the health of the Colony is shared by the Medical Department, the Urban Council and the District Commissioner, New Territories.

The Urban Council is the responsible authority for administering the public health laws governing sanitation, food inspection, food establishments and offensive trades within the urban district which comprises Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon.

The District Commissioner, New Territories, is responsible for administering the laws concerning the same subjects in the New Territories. They are advised by the Director of Medical and Health Services and assisted by health officers and inspectors.

Urban Council

The Urban Council consists of a Chairman (usually an adminis- trative officer appointed by the Governor), the Deputy Director of Health Services who is the vice-Chairman, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Director of Public Works, the Commissioner of Police and 8 unofficial members. Of the unofficial members, 2 are elected. The remaining 6, of whom 3 must be Chinese, are appointed by the Governor. The Deputy Director of Health Services is the coordinating link between the Medical Department and the Urban Council. A member of the staff of the Medical Department, he is the professional adviser to the Council as well as being the vice-Chairman. He is responsible, too, for superintending enforcement and observance of the various ordinances, byelaws and regulations pertaining to public health.

In addition to presiding over the Urban Council, the Chairman is the administrative head of the Sanitary Department, comprising a staff which includes 186 professional and technical officers, and nearly five thousand skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. The Chairman of the Urban Council is responsible for seeing that the policy and decisions of the Urban Council are carried into effect by the officers and staff of the Sanitary Department.

Health Inspection

The Urban District is divided into five areas. A Health Officer is responsible in each area for health and sanitation 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 sixty-two health districts in the urban district of which thirty-seven are on the Island and twenty-five 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 the islands. previously mentioned, the District Commissioner, New Territories, is advised by the Director of Medical and Health Services and is assisted The latter by a Health Officer and the District Health Inspectors. are seconded for the purpose from the Sanitary Department.

Refuse Disposal

Approximately 800 tons of domestic refuse are removed daily from the Urban District by the departmental refuse lorries. This refuse is carried by barges of special design and is used as filling for reclamation on the north-east side of the harbour, at Kuntong.

Conservancy

A daily average of 200 tons of excremental wastes are removed from 41,000 domestic floors in the Urban District. A small proportion is made available to the Department of Agriculture for use as fertilizer by farmers in the New Territories. Before release for distribution it is matured for 28 days in closed tanks to destroy harmful pathogenic organisms. The remainder is jettisoned at sea at a position in the waters of the Colony where tidal action carries the waste matter to sea without danger of pollution to the shores of the Colony and or to the adjacent coastline.

Although many of the more modern buildings are provided with water closets, removal of nightsoil from the majority of buildings is by the pail conservancy system. This service requires a departmental staff of approximately 1,300. A scheme is now under consideration for producing fertilizer by composting organic refuse with excremental waste. The conservancy collection service of the future must of necessity fit in with the scheme for composting.

Personal Hygiene

The Chinese working man is accustomed to take daily baths, but as few tenement houses have bathrooms he cannot do so unless facilities.

are provided either at his place of work or publicly. The Urban Council maintains 4 bath-houses in Hong Kong and 3 in Kowloon and New Kowloon. Each year, approximately 500,000 baths are provided. free of charge for men, 250,000 for women and 250,000 for children. The 7 bath-houses now in existence were built when the urban population was one quarter its present figure, and long queues now form at the end of a day's work. It is proposed to spend $470,000 on public bath-houses and latrines over the next 4 years.

Markets

There are 17 retail markets on the Island of Hong Kong and 14 in Kowloon and New Kowloon. These markets contain a total of 1,749 stalls for the sale of fresh meat, fresh fish, poultry, fruit and vegetables. In addition there are nearly 350 food shops licensed for the sale of fresh food. Licensed hawkers may sell fruit and vegetables, but fresh meat, fresh fish and poultry must be sold either at a market stall or a licensed food shop. These restrictions are necessary to ensure that supplies are wholesome. The only fresh meat which may be sold in the urban area is that which has been slaughtered in one of the two government abattoirs and bears the official mark to show ante- and post-mortem examination. During the year these abattoirs handled 602,900 pigs, 6,250 cattle and 8,500 sheep or goats; during the same period the carcases of nearly 6,000 pigs, 110 cattle and sheep were destroyed as unfit for human consumption. The war years resulted in total destruction of 5 markets, only one of which has been rebuilt to date.

It is proposed to spend $1,000,000 in the next 3 years on

market construction.

Veterinary

In addition to maintaining the two abattoirs, the Urban Council is responsible for the licensing of dogs and the control of animal diseases, particularly rabies. This work is supervised by a Senior Veterinary Officer.

During the year a determined attack was made on the rabies problem by seeking out and destroying unlicensed dogs, of which great numbers existed in the New Territories and in the rural fringe of Hong Kong and Kowloon. This campaign resulted in 14,055 dogs being licensed and inoculated and 588 unlicensed dogs destroyed. As a result no case of animal rabies was reported after 28th June 1950, the only case of human hydrophobia occurring in February 1951 in a man who had been bitten outside the Colony.

Medical Department

The Medical Department, with a staff of 2,875, is administered by a Director assisted by three deputies. This department is responsible for the medical care and treatment of the Colony's entire population; it consists of three main divisions dealing with hospitals, health and investigation.

The treatment of accidents, maternity, infectious diseases (including tuberculosis), mental and general cases is the responsibility of the hospital division and for this purpose 11 hospitals with a total of 1,860 beds are available. In addition 18 dispensaries, 3 polyclinics and 3 dental clinics are provided for the treatment of out-patients. The Tung Wah group of hospitals, the Nethersole Hospital and the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association's Ruttonjee Sanatorium are also partly financed by the Government and these provide approximately In addition various private and charitable hospitals 1,410 beds. provide another 885 beds, making a total of 4,155 beds in the whole Colony.

Anti-epidemic measures such as port health control, vaccination and inoculation are the responsibility of the health division. This division is also responsible for the care of expectant and parturient mothers and for the neo-natal care of infants, inspection and treatment of school children, malaria control, a tuberculosis service, public health education, prevention and treatment of social diseases and the regis- tration of births and deaths.

The pathological laboratories, one on each side of the harbour, the clinical laboratory at Queen Mary Hospital, the chemical and bio-chemical laboratories and public mortuaries are the responsibility of the investigation division.

General Health

Indeed Once again the Colony has been free from any epidemic. not a single case of any of the major quarantinable diseases was recorded for the whole year.

There was little evidence of malnutrition during the year as evidenced by the comparative absence of deficiency diseases.

Enteric diseases of the typhoid group caused some concern during the warmer months, being widespread all over the Colony, and were engendered by the bad sanitary conditions amongst squatter colonies; poliomyelitis was more in evidence this year; but in the main general health was excellent as shown by the low death rate figure.

There would appear to be justification for the belief that this standard and record has been achieved by the steady work accomplished by mass inoculation, vaccination, sanitation, and a good water supply.

Maternity Services

In view of growing public demand the Medical Department's maternity services have been extended. Private maternity homes. increased from 114 to 122 during the year and this together with the maternity beds in Government and private hospitals increased the number of beds in the Colony from 880 to 940. Only trained mid- wives registered with the Midwives Board are permitted to practise, and their number has risen during the year from 861 to 903. All private maternity homes must register with the Medical Department and they are subject to inspection by the Supervisor of Midwives.

The maternity mortality figure for the year was 1.59 which is an improvement on the 1950 figure of 1.7.

Child Health

The infant mortality rate for the year was 91.8 which was 7.8 lower than that for 1950. Facilities for treating sick children are provided at 16 clinics throughout the Colony and the number of children attending increased from 190,913 in 1950 to 195,992 in

1951.

Communicable Diseases

In 1951 there was no case of the quarantinable diseases, cholera, plague, smallpox, epidemic typhus, yellow fever, or relapsing fever.

2 cases of scrub typhus fever were notified from the Royal Army Medical Service.

The continued high morbidity in both intestinal and respiratory diseases may be ascribed to overcrowding and to unsatisfactory environment especially in squatter communities. More thorough

notification was however one of the causes of the increase in these figures which consequently do not indicate an increase of morbidity.

Pulmonary tuberculosis increased in cases (50%) and deaths (30%). These increases may again be partly due to better service and more thorough notification.

The leading causes of death from communicable diseases are:

Diseases

Cases

Total

Deaths

Fatality rate

Chinese

Non-Chinese

1. Tuberculosis

13,855

13,886

4,190

30.2%

2. Enteric Fever

1,015

७

1,024

134

13.1%

3. Diphtheria

569

574

121

21.1%

4. Measles

390

138

528

5. Malaria

7.4%

482

526

6.7%

6. Bacillary

Dysentery

318

371

7.5%

Vital Statistics

Year

Births

1946

31,098

Deaths

16,653

1947

42,473

13,231

1948

47,475

13,434

1949

54,774

16,287

1950

60,600

18,465

1951

20,580

68,500

Infant Mortality

The deaths of infants under one year of age formed slightly less than one third of deaths for all ages for this year.

Died under 1 year of age

Mortality rate per 1,000 live births

Year

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

Pre-Natal Mortality

2,770

89.1

4,346

102.3

4,324

91.1

5,444

99.4

6,037

99.6

6,285

91.8

The pre-natal mortality rate was 17.2 per 1,000 live births which is the lowest figure ever recorded.

Year

Stillbirths

Stillbirth rate

1946

685

21.6

1947

1,348

30.8

1948

1,251

25.7

1949

1,321

23.5

1950

1,343

22.2

1951

1,180

17.2

Neo-Natal Mortality

The numbers of deaths of children under 4 weeks have been as follows:

Number of deaths Mortality rate

1946

1,001

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1,463 1,433 1,609 1,819

2,141

32.2 34.4 30.2 29.4 30

31.3

Notifiable Diseases

(a) Enteric Fever:

The incidence of this disease has been steadily rising since 1946, as the figures below show:

Year

Cases

Deaths

Mortality rate

1946

221

115

50%

1947

246

25%

1948

311

22.2%

1949

408

21.8%

1950

907

160

17.6%

1951

1,024

134

13.1%

In spite of repeated efforts, no focus of infection could be located. It is believed that carriers are the reservoirs of infection and faeces, flies and food are the means of transmission. Data showed that the squatter population had a higher percentage in both incidence and deaths. The disease continued to be fatal to young male adults in particular.

(b) Dysenteries:

Bacillary dysentery showed 47% increase in incidence, amoebiasis a 13% decrease. There were 154 cases of amoebiasis with 9 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 5.8%, and 371 cases of bacillary dysentery with 28 deaths, giving a case fatality of 7.5%.

As usual the non-Chinese population showed a relatively greater susceptibility than the Chinese population.

This disease has become more serious in this Colony following the trend throughout the world in recent years. There were 28 cases with 3 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 10%, as against 16 cases with 3 deaths in 1950. The non-Chinese population appeared to be disproportionately susceptible. No satisfactory explanation can be made on the methods of transmission and why the cases occurred.

(d) Diphtheria:

The incidence of this disease showed a 10% increase but the mortality rate decreased markedly.

There have been 574 cases with 121 deaths, giving a mortality rate of 21.1% as against 524 cases with 135 deaths giving a mortality rate of 25.7% in 1950.

year

The disease affects mainly toddlers in the second and third life (60%), but the mortality rate is distressingly high among infants below 1 year of age.

The immunization of infants and children proceeds slowly, despite efforts at the various centres. There still remains a great belief in the herbalists, and the high mortality rate is frequently caused by children being brought to hospital too late for operative measures. however, are saved by immediate operation.

(e) Cerebrospinal Meningitis:

Many,

There have been 26 cases with 13 deaths, a case fatality of 50%, as against 49 cases with 26 deaths, 53%, in 1950.

The disease affects Chinese children almost exclusively and the incidence has fallen markedly compared with previous years. (f) Measles:

There have been 528 cases with 39 deaths, a mortality rate of 7.4%.

The cause of deaths was invariably complications of the broncho- pneumonia type among children of poor and ignorant families.

About 11% of the cases were non-Chinese and these all recovered. (g) Pertussis:

It is believed with sufficient circumstantial evidence that the marked increase in incidence of this disease during the last 2 years was largely due to better notifications. The incidence was greatest during

the summer months.

There have been 747 cases with 20 deaths, a mortality rate of 2.6%, as against 306 cases with 16 deaths, 5.2%, in 1950.

(h) Puerperal Fever:

In 1951 there were 7 cases without deaths.

(i) Tuberculosis:

Incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis showed an increase of 50% as compared with the preceding year. Increased services may be the

reason for this. It does not necessarily mean that tuberculosis is

increasing.

Year

Cases

Deaths

Mortality rate

1946

2,801

1,818

64.9%

1947

4,855

1,863

1948

38.4%

6,279

1,961

31.2%

1949

7,510

2,611

34.7%

1950

9,067

3,263

36.0%

1951

13,886

4,190

30.2%

as in 1950 but The malignant

(j) Malaria:

The incidence of malaria remains about the same the case fatality rate has been reduced to less than half. type did not appear so frequently.

In 1951 there have been 526 cases with 35 deaths, as against 502 cases with 89 deaths in 1950.

HOUSING

Due to the overwhelming increase of the population between 1947 and 1950 and to the consequent serious overcrowding in the Colony, the provision of adequate housing, particularly in the urban areas, has become one of the Government's most serious problems.

An encouraging start was made during the year on the project mentioned in last year's Report to build 400 flats for small families at North Point. This scheme is financed by the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation for the Hong Kong Model Housing Society, the directors of which include representatives of the Government and leading charitable organizations. The entire scheme will cost $3,500,000, exclusive of the site which has been provided free by the Government. At the end of the year the first two blocks, containing 100 flats, were nearing completion.

Colonial Development and Welfare assistance was received during the year for the site formation of a pilot scheme for the construction of small flats on the fringe of the densely populated semi-industrial area of Shamshuipo in the northern part of Kowloon. This scheme, mentioned for the first time in last year's Report, is to be implemented through the Hong Kong Housing Society. At the end of the year the site formation work was almost complete and 1952 should see a contract signed for the construction of 270 flats. The cost of building the flats will be met from the Colony's own Development Fund which has provisionally earmarked HK$15,000,000 to be spent on housing. The project also envisages the establishment of an Improvement Trust to supervise future housing schemes of a similar kind.

Other small and privately financed schemes are assisted by the Government by being allowed Crown leases on special low terms.

Over the last six years there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of blocks of modern apartments, some of them buildings of 7 storeys and over, ranging from apartments comparable in luxury with any in Britain and America to small family flats compact in size and with every modern convenience. Even on the Peak several large blocks have been constructed, some by commercial firms which have in some cases combined their resources to provide accommodation for their employees, and some by the Government for housing civil servants and their families.

Where high-standard accommodation in houses and apartments is concerned there is little or no difference between accommodation used

by Europeans and Chinese. In the rural parts of Hong Kong Island, on Victoria Peak and in the mainland suburban area of Kowloon Tong there are large numbers of houses and bungalows of first-rate construction.

In the older residential districts of Kowloon, the lower levels of the Peak immediately above the Central and Western districts of Victoria, and in the Causeway Bay area there are large old houses, many of which to-day accommodate entire Chinese families with their numerous dependants who in some cases use each floor, or sections of each floor, as separate apartments for their own immediate families. Similar arrangements are made by many of the older Portuguese families resident in Kowloon.

The most thickly-populated areas are those consisting of accom- modation of a lower standard, occupied almost entirely by Chinese; Wanchai, the Central and Western districts of Victoria, and a large part of Kowloon consist of row upon row of 4-storey buildings, the ground floors of which are usually shops, while the upper floors are dwellings, each floor consisting of one large room subdivided into cubicles of approximately 64 sq. ft., in which an entire family may live, using a communal kitchen and latrine shared by three or four families. many of the older buildings of this kind, there are no washing facilities, and the inhabitants are dependent upon public conveniences and bath-houses. Many of the defects in this type of housing are due to lack of controlling legislation in the latter part of the last century, when many of these houses were built. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, was the first governmental attempt at improving standards, but of course the standards of those times fell far short of what would be considered appropriate to-day. Control is now maintained under the Buildings Ordinance, 1935, which laid down certain improvements in the lighting and ventilation of old

buildings and the provision of yards, scavenging lanes, latrines and bathrooms. Since this date buildings erected to accommodate the lower income groups have shown a great improvement, and with the advance in ideas about housing this improvement can be expected to continue.

Many of the Chinese who have taken refuge in Hong Kong during the last three years have been unable to obtain accommodation of any sort, and as a result colonies of squatters' shacks have been constructed. Since many of these are built of wood, packing cases, corrugated iron and sacking and are constructed extremely close to one another the dangers of fire and disease are great. Efforts to keep the centre of the city free from squatters' huts have been successful, and special sites have been provided in certain localities where squatters may build for themselves at a low cost huts of a standard design. During the year the Government prepared a large-scale plan for squatter resettlement, which is discussed later in this chapter.

Rural Housing

In the New Territories there are few houses of European type, the largest group of these being along the Castle Peak Road and on Cheung Chau.

Housing for the main population in the New Territories market towns is similar to that of the urban areas, and in most of these towns there is similar congestion of population.

Housing in villages varies considerably. Some villages are surrounded by a wall and moat and still retain heavy gates at their one entrance. The bolting of these gates and the maintenance of the outer walls have, however, lapsed with the increase of security in this area since British administration began.

In these villages the dwellings are built in rows of a dozen or so with the front of one row facing the back of another. The streets between 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.

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 floor level, is a wooden

platform or gallery used for storage or for extra sleeping accom- modation. The roofing consists of rafters and tiles with no room- ceiling or chimney. There are few windows.

rent.

Village houses which have passed from father to son are rarely sublet by the owner, who pays generally about 50 cents a year Crown These houses are constructed of locally made blue brick or roughly cut granite blocks, a tiled roof and, in 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.

Village populations vary considerably; a small single-family village may consist of only about 30 people, while in the larger villages the population may be 2,000 or more.

New Buildings and Repairs

During 1951, 604 plans involving the construction of 1,375 buildings were submitted to the Director of Public Works for approval. These include 404 European type dwellings, 794 Chinese type dwellings, 46 factories, 3 hotels, 13 cinemas or theatres, 10 schools, I church, 2 amusement parks and 72 godowns and stores.

There were

also 2,023 plans covering rehabilitations and alterations and additions, mostly to domestic property, 40 site developments and a large number of plans covering minor construction works such as garages and temporary buildings.

A total of 614 new buildings comprising 194 European type and 377 Chinese type dwellings and 43 other structures were completed during the year.

218 other miscellaneous non-domestic buildings were

also completed.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Before the war social welfare work in Hong Kong was largely in the hands of voluntary associations, and the Colony has always been fortunate in the number of organizations which have interested themselves in practical and constructive work in this field. The setting up in 1947 of the Social Welfare Office of the Hong Kong Government did not create a ponderous official organization for the control of the voluntary associations which had served the Colony so well. On the contrary the Social Welfare Office, as the link between Government and the voluntary organizations, serves to assist each to continue to play its full part in its particular sphere and to encourage all to achieve the necessary coordination by means of consultation and constant liaison.

During the year under review there was no lack of scope for work in the welfare field both by official and voluntary agencies.

As an

indirect result of continued hostilities in Korea the level of economic activity fell so that unemployment and under-employment rose substantially. Increased restrictions on movement between Hong Kong and China caused the population to become somewhat more stable, but the population did not fall and the problem of overcrowded. urban housing continued unrelieved throughout the year. Severe poverty continued to be widespread although there were no signs of economic distress so acute as to result in starvation. A number of serious fires took place in squatter areas and it is calculated that altogether some 16,000 persons were rendered homeless by these disasters. Against this background there was some expansion of official welfare work and an intensification of the efforts of voluntary bodies; over the whole field there was substantial progress towards truly effective coordination of effort.

Community Welfare

The growth of Kaifong welfare associations is the most important single development since the war in the social welfare field. The Cantonese word "kaifong" means "neighbours", or "responsible citizens", or "elders" and the kaifong for centuries played a significant part in urban society in South China. Without much formal organiza- tion they found themselves largely responsible not only for charitable and other similar services, such as the provision of free schools and medical attention for the poor, but also for local public works and other community services which in a differently organized community would have been the direct responsibility of the administration.

In the middle of 1949 there began a striking modern development of the kaifong movement along more formal lines than those described above, and by the end of 1951 there were in existence eighteen Kaifong Welfare Associations, each devoted to the development of local welfare measures in one urban district. These associations organized free schools and free clinics, sponsored the recruitment of local divisions of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, provided and equipped children's playgrounds and other recreational facilities for young people and made lively and well-documented representations to the Government on such local matters as water-supply, street lighting, markets, hawkers and squatters.

At the beginning of the year under review there were fourteen Kaifong Welfare Associations with a total membership of 53,800. During 1951 four new associations were founded and on 31st December 1951, the total membership amounted to 105,395.

That is to say, the membership had doubled and roughly one adult in every fifteen was a member of one of the associations.

Youth Welfare

In Hong Kong early economic and social maturity is forced on the majority of the community, and youth welfare work is carried out chiefly for boys and girls between the ages of nine and sixteen.

One

Early in the year there was an important exchange of letters between the Government and the Standing Conference of Youth Organizations. This resulted in a great measure of agreement as to The Boys' and policy and future aims in the field of youth work. Girls' Clubs movement developed steadily throughout the year and experiments in the establishment of clubs for the 16-21 age group were successfully undertaken. By the end of the year plans had been completed for the establishment in the New Territories of a children's holiday camp, the capital cost of this project to be borne by the Rotary Club of Hong Kong and the recurrent cost by the Government. of the greatest problems facing the Government and voluntary organizations alike has in the past been the lack of trained leaders for every branch of youth work. In September a twelve months' training course for youth leaders was started under arrangements concerted between the Standing Conference and the Government, seven students being accepted for the course. In all these activities and plans the Standing Conference played a major part and as a result of the work of this consultative body close and effective coordination was achieved in all matters pertaining to youth work.

Direct Relief

The Social Welfare Office operates six welfare centres to which The circumstances of application for direct assistance can be made. applicants are investigated by caseworkers and preference is given to persons who were born in Hong Kong or who have lived in the Colony for many years.

The assistance which can be given includes the issue of free meals and clothing and the placing of children in free schools. During the year under review an average of 1,107 free meals per day The Social Welfare Office were supplied at the welfare centres. continued throughout the year to operate three residential camps: of these the one at North Point is a public assistance institution, that at Morrison Hill is a settlement where free communal accommodation without food is made available to selected applicants, and Rennie's Mill Camp is a temporary refugee camp in the New Territories. This last was started in mid-1950 as a partial solution to the problem of refugees from the Chinese civil war. During 1951 no new refugees were admitted and the number of inmates fell from 6,800 to 5,489.

In the field of direct public assistance and the care of vulnerable groups a number of voluntary agencies, both religious and other,

Some 17

continued to serve the community throughout the year. orphanages cared for approximately 2,500 orphans, whilst three old persons' homes, two homes for blind women and a school for deaf and dumb children were in operation. In addition to these institutions, most of which were in receipt of government subventions through the Social Welfare Office, voluntary associations were active in giving direct assistance to needy individuals on a case-work basis. Measures for the more effective coordination of the efforts of such agencies were at the end of the year under consideration by the Hong Kong Council of Social Services.

In general applications for direct assistance became more numerous towards the end of the year. Decreasing economic activity was reflected by many requests for help in finding work, but it was unfortunately not possible either for official or for private agencies to satisfy more than a very small proportion of these requests.

Probation Work

The Social Welfare Office's staff of probation officers was increased during the year and they continued to be concerned primarily with the problems of juvenile deliquency. In mid-1951 the Government decided to set up two new official institutions in connexion with this work, the first being a remand home and place of detention for juveniles and the second an approved school for boys, which would take the place of the existing reformatory and would be under the administration of the Social Welfare Office. Plans to this end were in hand at the end of the year.

Meanwhile the probation officers were gaining experience and confidence and some encouraging results were achieved.

Squatters

A survey of the squatter situation completed in March showed that the Colony had about 300,000 squatters living in 47,000 huts. plan was prepared for the resettlement of these by degrees in a number of areas, of which 16 are permanent bungalow towns and three were designed as semi-permanent hut settlements the inhabitants of which would gradually move out into workers' housing schemes (or back to China when conditions there permit).

In both types of settlement planned lay-outs are being followed in the construction of dwellings, each row of which is being separated by fire lanes. Water and sanitation are provided and arrangements made for policing and administration.

A new sub-department under the Urban Council was set up in July to prepare the resettlement scheme, and at the close of the year the

preparatory stage had been completed. About 800 bungalows and 3,900 semi-permanent huts had been erected leaving an estimated 42,300 to be re-planned or removed during the next three years.

Some interesting social statistics were beginning to be accumulated Resettlement is as a by-product of these resettlement measures. preceded by an investigation of each squatter's circumstances, and by the end of the year particulars of some 21,000 persons had been recorded and analysed. The figures indicated that whilst most squatters are poor, extremely few are destitute and some are quite well-to-do; that whilst there are considerable and growing indications of under- employment amongst those squatters who are casual labourers there are few squatter families without at least one wage-earner with a comparatively steady income; and that the squatters can by no means all be described as refugees since many are old-established Hong Kong families who have been forced to become squatters by the housing shortage.

Fires

There were inevitably a number of fires in squatter settlements On but no large-scale disaster of this kind took place until November. 21st November at Tung Tau Village near Kowloon City some 15 acres of wooden huts and other illegal structures were razed to the ground. Over 10,000 persons were rendered homeless in a matter of hours and two lives were lost. Large-scale emergency relief measures were jointly organized by the Government and the Kowloon City Kaifong Welfare Association, and the public contributed for the relief of the fire victims large quantities of clothing and foodstuffs as well as over HK$225,000 in cash. It was unfortunate that squatter resettlement measures were not at the time sufficiently advanced to permit mass resettlement of the victims in resettlement areas; but it was possible to prevent "re-squatting" on the scene of the fire and to allocate resettlement sites: immediately to about 600 victims who could find no alternative accommodation.

The fire is believed to have started in a small illegal factory of which there were several in the village, all erected in contravention of the conditions under which the land was occupied and not only unlicensed as factories but operating in buildings put up in defiance of the Buildings Ordinance. În order that the ex-squatter settlers in the new settlements may follow their normal occupations without a repetition of the danger brought to light by this fire, portions of some settlements have been set aside where simple non-hazardous industries may be established. The first factory under this plan was already under construction at the close of the year.

VIII

LEGISLATION

During the year forty-three Ordinances were enacted, and certain provisions of the Emergency (Principal) Regulations, 1949, made under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1922, were brought into force. The legislation of the year has again very largely been of an amending character; no fewer than twenty-one Ordinances enacted this year have been Amendment Ordinances, and some thirteen Ordinances have been repealed.

The work of general law revision, commenced in 1948, culminated in the publication of the Laws of Hong Kong (Revised Edition 1950) which came into force on the 1st November this year. The Revised Edition of the Ordinances and of the Subsidiary Legislation is contained in eleven volumes. Volumes VII to XI of the Edition contain the Subsidiary Legislation enacted under the Ordinances contained in Volumes I to V, 'while Volume VI contains both Ordinances and Subsidiary Legislation. The revision has taken the form of a series of chapters numbered seriatim, each containing the complete law on the subject treated, the chapters being so arranged as to include in one volume all chapters on cognate subjects, thus abandoning the chronological method followed in all previous revised editions of the Laws of Hong Kong.

The Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance, 1951, which repeals the Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1938, strengthens the protection already afforded to women and girls, but, as its name implies, also affords protection to juvenile males. Since the establish- ment some three years ago of the new Social Welfare Office within the general framework of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs it has become increasingly obvious that there were a number of gaps and anomalies in the old legislation for the protection of women and girls. A careful scrutiny has also been made of all relevant International Conventions to which the British Commonwealth is a party, in order to insure that Hong Kong is carrying out faithfully its moral and legal obligations to the world. The intention of this new legislation is to insure that Hong Kong continues to meet those obligations, to extend the protection of the law to male juveniles, as well as to women and girls, and to remove other gaps or practical difficulties created by the old legislation.

The Colony's existing substantive law governing the topic of newspapers, printers, publishers, and printing presses, has also been amended, and consolidated by the Control of Publications Consolidation Ordinance, 1951, as has also the law relating to the telephone service of the Colony by the Telephone Ordinance, 1951.

The Emergency (Registration of British Subjects) Regulations, promulgated in January of this year, have now been followed by the Compulsory Service Ordinance, 1951, which came into force in September, and which makes provision for compulsory service, with certain exceptions, by citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, resident in Hong Kong, in the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force, the Special Constabulary, or the Essential Services Corps, recruitment for which had previously been on a voluntary basis.

The two main plans for land reclamation, that at Causeway Bay and Connaught Road Central, have necessitated the passing of three Ordinances this year. The Public Works (Causeway Bay) Ordinance, 1951, and the Public Reclamation and Typhoon Shelter (Causeway Bay) Ordinance, 1951, make it possible to commence reclaiming the existing typhoon shelter of approximately fifty-seven acres at Causeway Bay, and to construct a new shelter of an area of approximately sixty- five acres to the north of the land reclaimed. The first Ordinance authorizes the construction of a breakwater approximately 1,650 feet in length, approximately 810 feet north of and parallel to the existing breakwater, approximately 1,440 feet long which forms the northern boundary of the typhoon shelter in Causeway Bay. The second Ordinance, authorizes the actual reclamation of the area of the existing The third typhoon shelter and the construction of the new shelter. Ordinance, namely the Public Reclamation and Piers Ordinance, 1951, authorizes the reclamation of approximately 388,000 square feet abutting Connaught Road Central, and the construction of a public pier approximately 80 feet long and 200 feet wide, and a ferry pier approximately 360 feet long and 350 feet wide, these piers to be placed on the seaward face of the proposed reclamation.

The Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance 1951, has introduced into the Colony a much needed addition to the Before the enactment existing legislation governing motor vehicles.

of this Ordinance a person who was entitled to recover damages as a result of personal injury caused by another's negligent driving might in fact have been unable to do so, owing to that person's lack of means to satisfy any judgment obtained against him; and therefore the primary object of this Ordinance is to compel, in some degree, owners and users of motor vehicles to take out insurance against the liability to pay compensation to other persons (third parties) which may arise in

the event of road accidents. Compulsory insurance will become effective as from the 1st June 1952.

Reform in this respect was completed by the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Ordinance, 1951, which prevents the rights of any third party being defeated by the rules as to the distribution of assets applicable in bankruptcy, or the winding up of a company and since the enactment of this Ordinance, in the event of the bankruptcy of the insured, the insured's rights against the insurer shall with certain reservations vest in the third party.

A further Ordinance which also brings the law of the Colony into line with English law is the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, 1951. This Ordinance has three main objects; firstly, that on the death of any person all causes of action subsisting against that person, or vested in him, should survive against or, as the case may be, for the benefit of his estate. Before the enactment of this Ordinance, the estate, for example, of a motorist who died after having negligently caused injury to a person or property, would escape liability, also if a person were to die from injuries received through the negligent driving of another, any relief would have been limited within the scope of the Fatal Accidents Ordinance, 1889, which enacted, inter alia, that an action could only be brought by near relatives of the deceased if the deceased had had a right of action had he merely been injured and not killed, and had his relatives suffered pecuniary loss in consequence of his death. To remedy this state of affairs is the first object of the new Ordinance. The second object of this Ordinance modifies the law of contributory negligence. Before the enactment of this Ordinance, if an accident were caused by the negligence of two persons, it was the party who had the last effective opportunity of saving the situation who was liable if he failed to take advantage of that opportunity, and before this Ordinance he was completely liable for the whole of the resulting damage, notwithstanding the other party's negligence. Now however, under this Ordinance the amount of liability, and therefore the claim for damages, is in effect apportioned to the amount of negligence displayed by both sides. Finally this Ordinance abolishes the doctrine of common employment, which briefly meant that, if an employee of a company, for example, was killed or injured during employment as a result of the negligence of a fellow employee of the same company, the Company escaped liability. The explanation to support this doctrine was that one employee must be deemed to have agreed to run the risk of a fellow servant being negligent. This however was a legal fiction, and an unjust one at that, and the third object of this Ordinance is to prevent an employer from setting up this particular defence of common employment in any future. action by an employee.

JUSTICE, RECORDS, POLICE AND PRISONS

THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court consisted throughout the year of the Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges. The post of an additional Judge was approved during the year but was not filled. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction similar to that of Her Majesty's Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer in England, the Judges having the power to hear and determine criminal and civil cases before a jury and to deliver convicts to gaol. The Judges also have jurisdiction in Probate, Divorce, Admiralty and Bankruptcy. It is also a Court of Equity with jurisdiction similar to that of the Court of Chancery in England, and has the same authority as the Lord High Chancellor of England to appoint and control guardians of infants and their estates and keepers of persons of unsound mind who are unable to govern themselves and their estates.

The practice of the English Courts is in force in the Colony, except where, being inapplicable to local circumstances, it has been modified by Hong Kong 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 provisions made in the English Rules of Practice. The laws of England as they existed in that country on 5th April 1843 are in force in the Colony except where such laws are inapplicable to local circumstances or have been subject to local legislative modification.

All civil claims above the sum of $5,000 are heard in the Court's Original Jurisdiction as well as all miscellaneous proceedings concerning questions arising on estates, appointments of trustees and company matters. Civil claims from $5 up to and including $5,000 are heard in the Court's Summary Jurisdiction by the Puisne Judges, as well as 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 a month; these cases are usually divided between three judges.

A right of appeal exists in all these cases. Appeals are heard by a Full Court consisting of two or more judges. Under the Magistrates Ordinance, any person aggrieved may appeal to a judge from the decision of a magistrate. 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.

During the year 679 Original Jurisdiction actions were instituted as compared to 986 in 1950. The fall in this total is due to the fact that late in 1950 the monetary limit in Summary Jurisdiction was raised from $1,000 to $5,000. On the other hand, the number of Summary Jurisdiction actions rose from 562 in 1950 to 915 in 1951.

The Assizes were formally opened on 18th January 1951. The usual service was held at St. John's Cathedral, and was well attended by the members of both branches of the legal profession, as well as by prominent citizens and the heads of the Services. The church ceremony was followed by addresses delivered in the Central Court by the Attorney General and by the Acting Chief Justice.

The present Chief Justice, Sir Gerard Lewis Howe, K.C., arrived in the Colony in March, his predecessor Sir Leslie Gibson, K.C., having left on retirement in March 1950.

During the year, there was a notable decrease in serious crime. While during 1950 there were 402 convictions at the Sessions, only 219 were convicted in 1951. The decrease in armed robberies was particularly noticeable and can partly be attributed to legislation which was passed in 1950 making it an offence punishable with death to be found under certain conditions in possession of firearms.

The Lower Courts

There are four magistrates' courts on the Island and three in Kowloon. The latter hear cases from the whole mainland area south of the Kowloon hills. There is also a Justices of the Peace Court composed of 2 unofficial Justices of the Peace sitting together, one of whom is usually a solicitor. This court, which first began functioning in 1948, has proved a great success, due largely to the cooperation of the Justices who make a point of serving regularly.

Civil Jurisdiction in the New Territories is exercised by the District Commissioner and his District Officers, who have powers similar to those of the Supreme Court. Most of the litigation concerns land.

The respective District Officers sit in the market towns of Yuen Long and Taipo. They also hear debts cases.

While the situation as regards serious crime gives cause for some satisfaction the same cannot be said for lesser crime, and the Magistracies in Hong Kong and Kowloon have had to deal with 20 per cent more cases than in 1950, 201,377 prosecutions having been dealt with as compared with last year's 167,976. Many convictions were registered against persons who had arrived from China only a few weeks, or even days, before committing the offence for which they were charged. This indicates that although the overall population figure has not risen during the year refugees have continued to enter the Colony in some numbers, counteracting in the population figure the decline which would have otherwise been registered due to the gradual return of Chinese families to their homeland.

PUBLIC RECORDS

The Registrar General's Department, which was established under the Registrar General (Establishment) Ordinance and has its offices on the ground floor of the Supreme Court Building, incorporates the Land Office and Deeds Registry, the Registry of Marriages, the Companies Registry, the Trade Marks and Patents Registry, and the Offices of the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy and the Official Trustee.

Land Office

The principal function of the Land Office is the registration of instruments affecting land in Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon. Legally, it is a registry of deeds, not of title, but due to the form in which the records have been maintained over a long period, great reliance is in practice placed on the accuracy of the land Registers, as showing the devolution of title.

All land in private ownership is held under lease from the Crown. The terms vary considerably. Originally, the normal term of lease was 999 years, and much of the most valuable land in Victoria is held on such leases. Except in New Kowloon and the New Territories, the normal term nowadays is 75 years, renewable for a further 75. In New Kowloon and the New Territories the normal term is 75 years from 1st July 1898, renewable for a further 24 years less the last three days, this limitation being required because these areas are merely held on lease from China for a period of 99 years expiring on 30th June 1997. In the last century, many leases of lots in Kowloon were issued for non- renewable terms of 75 years, and 49 of these, now comprising 246 separate properties, expired in 1951.

The strong demand for land and houses noted in last year's Report continued throughout 1951, and the Land Office had in consequence another busy year, a total of 6,600 instruments being registered. The total of the considerations expressed in instruments registered in the financial year 1950-1 was some 14% lower than in 1949-50, but still amounted to the huge figure of $245,000,000. The decline in property values which began in early 1950 was arrested in the late summer of 1951, since when there has been a marked hardening of prices. On the other hand, and possibly reflecting the trend of property values, the usual rate of interest for private mortgages appears to have fallen slightly. Mortgage interest rates are, however, still very high as compared with normal rates in other countries, usually varying between $13 and $17 per $1,000 per month, i.e. between 15% and 20% per annum.

In addition to the registration of instruments affecting land, the Land Office issues Crown leases (146 in 1951) and deals with sales, exchanges, surrenders and resumption of land.

Marriage Registry

Marriage in the Colony is governed by the provisions of the Marriage Ordinance which applies to all marriages solemnized here except non-Christian customary marriages. Under this Ordinance formal notice in writing must be given at the Registry in every case, the marriage then taking place on the authority of the certificate of the Registrar of Marriages after the lapse of a 15-day period of notice prescribed by law, or upon a special licence issued by the Governor. The marriage may be solemnized in any church or place of worship which is licensed for that purpose, by any competent minister of the church, denomination or body to which such place of worship belongs, or it may take place as a civil marriage in the Registry.

In recent years there has been increased appreciation amongst all classes of the Chinese community of the advantages of a properly recorded marriage celebrated in accordance with the formalities prescribed by the Marriage Ordinance, and of the total of 2,092 marriages registered during the year, 1,796 were between persons of Chinese race-1,578 taking place at the Registry, and the remaining 218 in licensed places of worship. Of the 296 non-Chinese marriages 182 were in licensed places of worship and 114 at the Registry.

Marriages of Chinese taking place at the Registry being often the prelude to more elaborate ceremonies prescribed by custom, a variety of ceremonial dress is often in evidence there, full European formal dress being adopted in some cases whilst others follow the colourful Chinese traditional style, the bride and women relatives being attired in elaborate gowns of red and black heavily embroidered in gold and

silver, gold ornaments being worn in profusion. Festival periods and other propitious dates according to the Chinese calendar feature as an important element in the selection of the day for the ceremony.

Companies, Trade Marks and Patents

227 new Hong Kong companies were registered in 1951, and 19 companies incorporated outside the Colony registered the prescribed documents in order to carry on business here. One great advantage of incorporation in Hong Kong is that the maximum fee payable in respect of nominal share capital is only $500.

64 companies went into voluntary liquidation, 46 completed liquidation, and 42 were struck off the Register. This left 2,396 Hong Kong companies on the Register at the end of the year, besides which 433 foreign corporations have registered the required documents to enable them to carry on business in the Colony.

1,017 applications for the registration of new trade marks were received in 1951, and 797 new trade marks were registered. The total number of trade marks on the Register at the end of the year was 7,467.

A new Register of Patents was opened on 1st September 1950, the old Register having been lost during the Japanese occupation of the Colony. During 1951 30 new patents were registered. The total number registered is now 70.

Official Receiver

There were two large bankruptcies in the latter part of the year, and in addition an Order was made for the administration in bankruptcy of the estate of a deceased.

Also in the latter part of the year, Orders were made for the compulsory winding up of three companies, including one bank. These are the first compulsory liquidations since the war.

POLICE

High praise was bestowed on the Hong Kong Police by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in his address to the people of Hong Kong during his December visit.

With

In fact the Secretary of State expressed the feelings of the majority in the Colony when he complimented the Force on its work. a difficult land frontier and a long and varied coastline including many islands, and with thousands of refugees living on a low margin of existence, the satisfactory state of law and order maintained and the

high degree of prevention and detection of crime reflect the greatest credit on the Police Force. The efficiency of the Force was further demonstrated this year by the fact that in spite of the new restrictive legislation on trade which has caused the Police a considerable amount of additional work the Force's earlier planned programme of expansion and training was not interrupted.

At the end of the year the strength of the Force was 4,455, consisting of 39 gazetted officers, an inspectorate of 375, 226 of whom were expatriates, 552 Shantung Police and 3,489 rank and file, the majority of whom were Cantonese but including a small number of Eurasians and 94 Indians. The Force was relieved of all but strictly police duties by a civilian staff of 772.

The Force consists of a headquarters and two main branches, the Uniformed Branch and the C.I.D. The Uniformed Branch operates throughout the Colony which is divided for police purposes into two territorial districts, sub-divided into seven divisions. The branch also deals with traffic, communications and marine police work. addition there are several task forces such as emergency units, water- front,searching units, a railway police unit, a hawker squad and village penetration patrols.

The Marine Police have a fleet of 21 vessels ranging from ocean- going tugs to motor-boats, all fitted with radio telephone. Close cooperation was maintained throughout the year with the Royal Navy.

The C.I.D. consists of the Detective Branch and the Special Branch, the former dealing with identifications, records and statistics, forensic laboratory work, commercial crime, corruption and homicide, the Special Branch being responsible for the prevention and detection of all activities subversive to peace and good order, as well as operating the Immigration Department and the Registry of Aliens and approved

Societies.

Training and Education

The

All ranks on engagement undergo a period of training at the Police Training School, six months in the case of locally recruited inspectorate and four months in the case of the rank and file. 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 543 men passed out of the school during the year and 437 men completed refresher and promotion courses.

Literacy is a condition of recruitment and a knowledge of Cantonese is compulsory. Chinese members of the Force are taught basic English at the Training School so that all recruits in passing out of the school have acquired at least some knowledge of English.

Traffic

The steady increase of vehicles on the roads continued, reaching a total of 16,746, excluding Service vehicles which now number several thousand, as against 16,028 for the preceding year.

A noteworthy feature of the year was the fall by nearly 1,500 in the number of road accidents. Until the middle of 1950 the number of road accidents had risen following the increase in the volume of traffic. The fall is attributed to the intensive study of the causes of road accidents and the rigorous prosecution of those offences. principally contributing to them. Comparative figures were:-

Fatal

Serious Injury Slight Injury Damage only

Total

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

132

119

129

104

226

462

618

603

490

1,738

1,952

2,786

2,976

2,328

3,233

3,871

4,923

4,619

3,937

5,329

6,380 8,446

8,327 6,859

16,746

No. of vehicles registered:-

Developments

9,850 I1,749 14,516 16,028

Amongst the year's innovations were the introduction of the 999 call system for telephone calls from the public to the Police, the appointment of the first Police chemist and a ballistics officer of long experience to the Police forensic laboratory, the recruitment of the first 10 women constables, the creation of a Police driving school and the formation of a Police Band.

Crime

The total number of reports of all kinds was 289,377 as compared with 264,204 in 1950. Of the 1951 total 77,763 disclosed no offence after investigation, leaving 211,614 recorded offences.

There was a notable increase in the number of larcenies, a large proportion of which were however of a trivial nature.

The holding down of serious crime in the present overcrowded state of the Colony was only affected by the most intensive and unremitting preventive work.

季

The very great efforts expended on detective work were rewarded in a rise in the detection rate from 44.72% to 54.78% the highest

since 1945.

PRISONS

There are three prisons in the Colony, of which the largest is at Stanley. Situated on a rocky promontory on the south side of Hong Kong Island, the prison is some ten miles from the city of Victoria. So well planned are the buildings that there is none of the dingy and depressing atmosphere usually associated with prisons; but unfortunately for a modern penal administration it was considered at the time that Stanley Prison was built that it could house all classes of offenders regardless of age, penal history or degree of criminality. The result has been constant overcrowding and extreme difficulty in classification and segregation. The prisoners have now been divided into four main classes-long-term and short-term first offenders and any other prisoners who it is considered should be given special training, and long-term and short-term recidivists or any other prisoners who are not to be included in the first categories. Segregation, though not by any means complete, is the aim for the two main classes.

The policy of providing industrial work for long-term prisoners and manual work on reclamation or similar projects for short-term prisoners has been followed successfully. Every prisoner physically able to work now has a job to do. Output from the workshops has increased remarkably. An educational programme for prisoners has been started on a small scale, and will be developed as teaching staff becomes available.

It is difficult to progress with further classification and education in Stanley until some alternative accommodation is found for prisoners sentenced to terms of less than one year. During the year a scheme for a camp in the New Territories for short-sentence prisoners was considered by the Government but unfortunately had to be laid aside for financial reasons.

Victoria Prison is the original gaol of the Colony. It is likely to remain in use for many years as a remand prison, if only because of its central position close to the Hong Kong Magistracy. The subterranean parts have long been closed, and other buildings which were unsafe have been demolished. The remaining part is just adequate for the large numbers passing through, but there is a great need for remand homes for the younger age groups. The Government was actively considering this problem at the end of the year.

Lai Chi Kok women's prison is on the mainland and is thus somewhat isolated from the rest of the department. It houses all

remands and deportees.

women prisoners, including dation is of dormitory type. but these are very rarely used.

The accommo-

There are cells for separate confinement The staff is entirely locally recruited

and the prison is run in an efficient but humane way.

Stanley Reformatory School in its lovely setting overlooking the bays of Stanley and Tai Tam provides education and simple trade training for over one hundred boys in a refreshingly free and creative atmosphere. Five years of the school's existence have proved that the open type of institution can be successful in Hong Kong, and it is hoped that all future institutions for the training of young delinquents will be of this type.

After-care has received particular attention this year and in conjunction with voluntary societies a start has been made on the formation of an Aid Society. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Family Welfare Society and the Salvation Army are helping with this work, and every encouragement and assistance will be given to workers in the prisons.

During the year 20,409 persons (19,124 men, 1,285 women) were committed to the prisons of the Colony, as compared with 20,090 (18,098 men, 1,992 women) during 1950. Of this number 18,370 (17,257 men and 1,113 women) were sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment, of which 8,529 (men) and 674 (women) were for periods of under a month. In addition, 51 boys were admitted to the Reformatory, as compared with 63 during 1950.

The daily average population was 3,336 (3,135 men, 107 women and 94 reformatory boys). The approved accommodation is for a total of 2,341 persons.

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Waterworks

The supply of water to the Colony is undertaken by the Public Works Department of the Government.

As there are no large rivers or underground sources of water in the Colony the population is entirely dependent for its water supply on collecting rainwater, falling on the Colony's many uplands, into thirteen impounding reservoirs, which are usually filled during the summer when the south-west monsoon blows. As the rainfall for the rest of the year is low the storage necessary to provide water throughout the year for Hong Kong's large population is relatively heavy, the total capacity of the reservoirs being 5,970 million gallons. Of this amount only 2,362 million gallons can be stored on the Island, the remainder being held in the mainland area of the New Territories, chiefly in the Jubilee Reservoir at Shing Mun, which can contain 2,921 million gallons and is the largest reservoir in the Colony, its 275 foot dam being one of the tallest in the Empire. In addition to these works, there are 35 miles of catchwater channels running along the mid-levels of various hillsides to divert rainwater from its natural channels of fall into one or other of the reservoirs.

Slightly over 35% 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 large proportion of the water has to be pumped and in some areas re-pumped, necessitating a number of pumps and service reservoirs. Most of the water supplied is both filtered and sterilized by chemical treatment and a satisfactory standard of purity is maintained. All water is supplied to consumers through meters, with a charge based on the total cost of provision including capital costs. Restrictions on the hours of supply have to be imposed during the greater part of the year to keep consumption within the available resources. The average daily consumption for the year was 32.95 million gallons; peak consumption was 41.99 million gallons.

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Locally-made 13-ton concrete blocks are being used for a new reclamation at Causeway Bay.

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Photo: Shell Photographic Unit.

The China Light and Power Co.'s plant is among the most up-to-date in Asia.

During the year approval was given by Government, and preliminary work was put in hand, for a new reservoir scheme in the Tai Lam Chung Valley. The scheme consists briefly of the construc- tion of a new reservoir about 18 miles from Kowloon, connecting supply mains to the existing waterworks system, filtration plant, a pumping station and two filtered water service reservoirs. These works will take three to four years to complete and will add about 7 million gallons per day to the Colony's water supply.

Improvements to the existing distribution system in the form of larger mains in the urban areas and a new service reservoir at Bowen Road were also put in hand, and a new repair workshop was built on the Island. Arrangements were also made to replace two of the Island's old steam pumps by new diesel and electric pumping sets.

A salt-water fire-fighting system consisting of 6′′ diameter mains and static tanks, fed by diesel-driven pumps, was being installed at the end of the year.

Electricity

Electricity on the Island of Hong Kong is supplied by the Hong Kong Electric Co., Ltd. The amount of electricity generated by this company in 1951 increased by 19.47% over the previous year's output. This is due to continued house-building and other development resulting from the increase in the population between 1947 and 1950. The peak load reached a maximum of 42,000 k.w. in December, the maximum in 1950 being 36,600 k.w.

The Company's programme of expansion continues to be retarded by delays in shipment of essential plant, but one 15,000 k.w. turbo- alternator was put into commission in November, the total capacity of the generating station now being 72,500 k.w., with total steaming capacity 598,000 lbs. per hour.

The number of consumers at the end of the year was 56,637, an increase of 3,163 over 1950, and a total of 163,691,092 units was sold by the company during 1951, an increase of 26,037,025 over 1950.

Electricity in Kowloon and the New Territories is supplied by the China Light & Power Co., Ltd. Despite difficulties experienced by certain local industries in procuring raw materials the industrial demand for the company's services has continued to increase and during the year a further 291 new factories were connected. The erection of new buildings, including cinemas, hotels, private houses and blocks of flats which has continued fast has caused a noticeable increase in consump- tion, and the company has found it necessary to place on order additional plant to meet future requirements on the assumption that the demand will continue to increase.

After the installation of a further new turbine and boiler the total generating capacity of the power station is now 67,500 k.w., the boiler plant capacity being 82,500 lbs. per hour.

Gas

Gas is supplied on both sides of the harbour by the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., Ltd., which was first established in the Colony in 1861. Work carried out on the plants in Hong Kong and Kowloon during the past few years has now brought both works completely up to pre-war standard. Further progress has also been made in regard to enlarging and cleaning mains. The demand for gas is still increasing, the total output for 1951 being 12% above 1950, which was in turn 25.75% above the previous year.

Tramways

The electric tramway service is operated by Hong Kong Tramways Ltd. The track 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, single staircase type intended for single-ended working, the termini having turning circles. The gauge is 3'6′′ and the operating voltage is 500 volts direct current.

A daily service of 117 cars is operated, an increase of 7 over the previous year, providing a car every two minutes or less in each direction. Through the city area in the centre of the system the minimum service provided is a car every forty seconds in each direction.

The total number of passengers carried during the year 1951 exceeded 134 million, the total mileage run being 5 million.

The fare structure is upon a flat-rate basis for any distance over any route-the maximum route length being 63 miles of 20 cents (3d.) 1st class, and 10 cents (1 d.) 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 in May 1888 and 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 transport has provided almost without interruption for over sixty years a reliable funicular service. 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 on the steepest gradient of the track.

During 1950 and 1951 the company has replaced its former wooden cars with new cars of improved design, all-metal construction, lighter and stronger than the old ones and having greater passenger- carrying capacity.

For the third year in succession the service carried more than a million passengers.

Bus Services

Bus services on the Island are maintained by the China Motor Bus Co., Ltd., operating a fleet of 151 vehicles. The total mileage run by buses on the Island was approximately 6.1 million and The number of passengers passengers carried were about 46.1 million. The number of carried per mile dropped from 8.2 in 1950 to 7.5 in 1951.

During the year three new services, one city and two suburban, were introduced, one between North Point and Possession Street, another between Shaukiwan and Shek O, and the third from Victoria to Stanley Fort.

Services in Kowloon and in the New Territories mainland are provided by the Kowloon Motor Bus Co., Ltd., which has throughout 1951 continued its steady policy of improving its services. On the district runs the Company is still obliged to use several vans converted into buses, a relic of the immediate post-war days. It had been hoped to replace these by the end of the year but delays in delivery of new vehicles from the United Kingdom precluded this.

The

Unlike the figures for Hong Kong Island, the number of passengers carried on the mainland has continued to increase. Company's buses covered 144 million miles compared with 13 million the previous year and carried just under 145 million passengers compared with 1234 million in 1950, 90 million in 1949 and 561 million in 1948. Thirty new double-decker buses were added, bringing the total fleet up to 180, and at the end of the year a further 25 double-decker and 20 single-decker buses, to augment services and replace vehicles due for withdrawal, were on order from the United Kingdom.

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 vessels are in service and operate daily for 191 hours. A five-minute service is maintained during the day and a regular service is maintained till well past midnight, the duration of the crossing being eight minutes.

Approximately 38 million passengers were carried in 136,000 crossings during the year, as compared with 37 million passengers transported in 1950, the average daily load being 105,000.

The vehicle ferry service operated by the Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Co., Ltd., was improved during the year by the delivery of two new diesel-engined vehicle ferry vessels of the largest possible size to fit into the existing wharves and capable of carrying 30 vehicles and over 900 passengers each. The vessels were constructed in Kowloon by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co., Ltd.

The passenger services run by the company, which include cross- harbour services from various points and a number of district services to the more populous islands of the Colony, were also improved by the addition of two new diesel-engined steel passenger ferry vessels, each equipped to carry over 650 passengers and built by the Hong Kong Shipyard Ltd.

These improvements have brought the Company's ferry fleet up to 35 vessels, all with diesel engines and of the latest design, and it is now the largest ferry fleet under single ownership in the British Commonwealth.

The 9-minute vehicle ferry service which operated from early morning till midnight has now had its hours of operation extended from midnight to I a.m., and on Sundays, when passenger car traffic becomes abnormally heavy, the service operates at its maximum schedule of one ferry every 7 minutes with five vessels in service. Over 934,000 vehicles were carried in 1951, an increase of 116,000 over the previous year, but even the 7-minute service is not quick enough to obviate motorists being kept waiting, particularly at the time of the week's major rush hour for the service, early on Sunday mornings.

The inclusion of new passenger ferries in the fleet has enabled the company to give more time to repairs and overhauls and the condition of all vessels has been improved. Better lighting has been installed in the ferries and lighting and seating arrangements have been improved on all piers on which, by arrangement between the Government and the company, extensive alterations and additions have been carried out. Passenger traffic, which showed a reduction in the first half of the year, steadily increased again in the last six months and at the end of the year showed an increase of over 2 million over the 1950 figure, the total being just under 67 million.

A further improvement which was under way at the end of the year was the construction of a new double-ended steel ferry larger than the present type used and capable of carrying up to 800 passengers.

100

By December the keel for this vessel had already been laid and the main and auxiliary machinery for it was en route from the United Kingdom.

The popularity of the service to Cheung Chau with its excellent bathing beaches and holiday facilities continued to increase.

It was not possible to increase the usual number of 11 sailings on Sundays and holidays but larger vessels were placed on this run to cope with the increased holiday traffic.

In the spring a 400-foot Government pier was constructed at Silver Mine Bay on Lantao Island, this improvement being primarily responsible for the noticeable increase in holiday traffic on this run. It is expected that the comparative ease of travel between Hong Kong and the eastern end of Lantao Island will induce more people to settle in this beautiful part of the Colony.

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COMMUNICATIONS AND BROADCASTING

Marine

The Port of Victoria is one of the finest natural harbours in the world. The beauty of its scenery in fine weather, with granite hills rising above blue water, is almost invariably a subject of favourable comment by visitors, and its 17 square miles of water are virtually free from hidden dangers. Vessels drawing up to 36 feet can enter the port by the eastern entrance and vessels drawing up to 24 feet can use the Sulphur Channel entrance on the West. The Standard Oil Company's installation at Laichikok can be reached from the West by vessels drawing up to 29 feet by way of a channel north of Stonecutters' Island.

During the year ending 31st March 1951, 80,792 vessels of 26,844,346 net tons entered and cleared. This was an increase of 17,505 vessels compared with the previous year but a decrease of 506,174 net tons. Of the total number of vessels which entered and cleared 42,464 vessels, of 25,455,127 net tons, were engaged in international trade and 38,328 vessels, of 1,389,219 net tons, were junks and launches engaged in local trade. 2,320,679 passengers landed or embarked during the year, which was 259,759 more than the previous year. Of these, approximately one half of the total were from

international trade vessels and one half from local trade.

Cargo is normally handled by the ship's own gear and the handling rate compares favourably with that in most other large ports in the world. Labour troubles affecting the loading and discharge of ships' cargoes have been virtually unknown for many years and the port takes pride in the rapidity with which ships are discharged, loaded and dispatched. On the Kowloon side of the harbour there are 12 deep- water berths accommodating ships with draughts up to 32 feet, and adjoining godowns with a storage capacity of over 770,000 tons. The godowns are fitted with modern electric cranes and lifts. On the island of Hong Kong there is a deep-water berth 1,223 feet in length capable of accommodating vessels with up to 30 feet draught. Storage

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space for 20,000 tons measurement is available at this berth with 110,000 tons storage space in other godowns operated by the same company.

Government maintains for public hire 46 moorings, 17 "A" Class moorings suitable for vessels up to 600 feet in length and 29 "B" Class for vessels up to 450 feet in length. Several of the "A" Class moorings are suitable for use during typhoons.

The port is well equipped with navigational aids, all lights in The Hong Kong waters having been re-established since 1945. lighthouse previously maintained at Gap Rock in Chinese territory has not been rebuilt. In addition to the signal station on Waglan Island covering the eastern approaches to the port, three harbour signal stations provide 24-hour ship-shore visual signals communications covering all the anchorages in the harbour and the western entrance. The signal stations at Waglan and Green Island are fitted with radio telephone enabling information regarding the approach of vessels to be passed through the Marine Office to shipowners and agents so that by the time a vessel reaches its berth everything is ready for off-loading to start immediately.

Although normal sea communications with coastal and river ports have been disrupted by political events, restricted services are still functioning. Sea communications with North and South America, Europe, Australia, the Philippines, Japan and South Africa are operating regularly.

The shipbuilding, ship repair and marine engineering industry is now fully re-established. Building berths are available for new construction up to 500 feet in length and there are seven graving docks, the largest of which will take a vessel of 750 ft. length, 88 ft. beam and maximum draught of 33 ft. There are six patent slipways capable of taking vessels up to 300 ft. length. Ample facilities are available for the repair and overhaul of all types of marine engines and boilers, and yard equipment includes two cranes with lifting capacities of 150 and 100 tons respectively. A well-skilled labour force is available and capable of the highest class of work. Shipyard staffs are adequate for the design and construction of normal or specialized types of vessel. The production of marine diesel engines in the smaller ranges is a new feature of the Colony's industry and foundry work of the highest quality is undertaken by both of the major dockyards as well as by smaller firms.

Civil Aviation

Hong Kong Airport is situated on the mainland at Kai Tak about miles from the centre of Kowloon. Its position on the north shore.

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of Kowloon Bay makes it admirably suited for both land and sea- drome operation under a centralized control. The airport is under the administration of the Civil Aviation Department, which provides facilities for air traffic control, telecommunications, safety services and air-sea rescue coordination. An Air Advisory Board deals with matters. of policy, with the Director of Civil Aviation as chairman. Full customs and immigration facilities are available during flying hours, which are from dawn to dusk. Night landings are only permitted in cases of emergency owing to the mountainous terrain around the airfield and the lack of adequate landing aids.

The proposal to construct a new airfield on the south shore of Deep Bay in the New Territories, which was mentioned in last year's Report, was for various reasons abandoned during the year. In 1950 the two runways at Kai Tak were strengthened by the laying of an asphalt carpet. While this has undoubtedly improved the runways, they are still not considered to be of sufficient length for landings by commercial jet aircraft or the heavier Boeing Stratocruiser types. This is a distinct disadvantage since Hong Kong is geographically situated on several of the world's major trunk routes, but with commercial carriers developing in size and speed as they are at present, unless real improvements can be made at Kai Tak there is a danger of these trunk routes being reorganized by-passing Hong Kong. This serious position regarding the Colony's air future led to the Ministry of Civil Aviation despatching a team of technical experts to the Colony during the summer to carry out a preliminary survey for expanding the airport and its facilities "in order to cater with safety and regularity for modern and larger aircraft".

The number of companies operating services through Hong Kong was reduced in December from 13 to 12 by the suspension of operations by the Scandinavian Air Lines system owing to failure to obtain traffic rights.

Two Hong Kong companies are at present operating airlines, Hong Kong Airways, which has regular flights by DC.3 to Japan via Formosa, and Cathay Pacific Airways, which provides services by DC.3 and DC.4 to Singapore, Bangkok, Manila and airports in North Borneo. B.O.A.C. run frequent and regular services to the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore, and the Colony is also on the routes of Pan American World Airways, Canadian Pacific Air Lines, Qantas Empire Airways (Australia), Braathens S.A.F.E. Airtransport (Norway), Air France, Philippine Air Lines, Siamese Airways, Pacific Overseas Air Lines (Siam) and Civil Air Transport (based in Formosa). There are also several companies, British and foreign, which operate non-scheduled

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and charter flights on licence from the Air Transport Licensing Authority, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong continues to maintain its position as an important centre for maintenance and overhaul of aircraft. The Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co., Ltd. numbers among its customers aircraft operators from India, Pakistan, Burma, Indo-China and Indonesia. has fully equipped workshops and a staff of qualified aeronautical engineers and mechanics. Minor repair work on small aircraft is carried out by the Far East Flying Training School, which also provides training for pilots and aeronautical engineers. Examinations and the issue of licences are the responsibility of the Department of Civil Aviation.

Air traffic has shown no marked change since the cessation of air communication with China in 1949. The number of aircraft on international flights in 1951 was about 5,200, carrying 75,000 passengers to and from the Colony. In addition there was much local flying, particularly military, with a total average of some 85 aircraft movements daily.

There has been no increase in the landing and accommodation charges for aircraft, which continue to be levied in accordance with the Air Navigation (Fees) Directions of 1948. These regulations are, however, obsolescent and are in the process of being redrafted to conform with those in use by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the United Kingdom.

Two major accidents to civil aircraft occurred during the year, both with total loss of life and both to Siamese-registered aircraft. One was a Pacific Overseas Airlines DC.4, which crashed into a hillside on Hong Kong Island in conditions of low visibility during take-off, and the second, a Siamese Airways Dakota which plunged into the sea off the east coast of Hong Kong Island when attempting to land at night in restricted visibility and low ceiling. The first accident was attributed to pilot error; the second is still under investigation.

Meteorological Services

The Royal Observatory was founded in 1883, primarily with the object of providing typhoon warnings for the Colony; this is still its most important function. Storm warning bulletins are distributed by radio to shipping and aircraft whenever a tropical cyclone is located in the northern part of the China Sea or off the China coast. the Colony itself is threatened by a typhoon, the local storm warning system is brought into use, and local warnings are distributed as widely as possible by means of visual signals, radio, telephone, and Rediffusion.

When

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The Observatory also provides all meteorological services for the general public, merchant shipping, civil aviation and the armed forces. The main forecasting office and aviation weather centre is located at Kai Tak airport, and is linked to the Observatory by teleprinter and telephone. As a great seaport and airport, Hong Kong is responsible for providing weather information and forecasts to ships and aircraft over a wide area around the Colony; most encouraging cooperation is shown by the crews of ships at sea and aircraft in flight who voluntarily transmit weather reports to the Observatory.

year.

A grant from the Colonial Development and Welfare fund enabled a new Radio-sonde station to be built near the Observatory during the Meteorological soundings of the upper atmosphere are carried out daily at this station, and the results, besides being of great scientific interest, will be of value to the high-flying commercial aircraft of the near future.

It is still impossible to obtain weather information of any kind from the mainland of China, and as a result it is extremely difficult to issue reliable forecasts for Hong Kong and for the sea and air routes near the China coast.

Some notes on scientific investigations carried out by the Observatory will be found in the chapter on Research.

The Railway

Kowloon is the southern terminal of a railway system extending to Hankow and Shanghai with connexions from these cities to North China. The British Section of the line, which is owned by the Hong Kong Government, is operated between Kowloon and the frontier, a distance of 36 kilometres. Through services were formerly operated to Canton and points further north, but since 14th October 1949, when the Central People's Government took over the administration of Canton, through train services have been suspended. Since that date, all passengers proceeding to and from China have been obliged to change trains at the frontier. It was also necessary to tranship all goods traffic during the first few months of the new régime, but since the latter half of 1950, goods traffic in waggon-loads has been permitted to operate through to Chinese territory without transhipment, only small consignments (in less than waggon-loads) having to be unloaded and carried over the frontier.

Total revenue for the year amounted to $5,505,103, operating expenditure being $4,313,569, leaving a net operating revenue of $1,191,533. There was a very considerable drop in revenue from all sources compared with the previous year. The revenue decrease of 47.82% was due to the restriction on travel to and from China imposed

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by the Chinese Government in February 1951, and the various restrictions which were gradually introduced on goods traffic to the interior. Passengers carried numbered 3,897,032, a decrease of 2,357,326 over 1950, while goods tonnage amounted to 276,669 tons, a decrease of 66,294 tons.

Capital expenditure amounted to approximately $3,631,152. This amount was mainly incurred by the provision of new rolling stock, 57 goods waggons being received during the year.

This

At the close of the year the average number of trains per day over the British Section was 22, with special trains at weekends. was a decrease of about 25% over the previous year and was a measure of economy considered necessary in view of the drop in traffic.

The rehabilitation of the railway workshops, which suffered heavily by looting and damage during the war, has now been completed except for the erection of a new foundry, the materials for this not having arrived from Great Britain. Progress on re-railing the permanent way has fallen behind schedule owing to the difficulty of obtaining sleepers.

Roads

There are approximately 426 miles of roads in the Colony, 181 miles being on Hong Kong Island, 107 miles in Kowloon and 138 miles in the New Territories. About 90% of these roads are of modern metalled construction. The building and maintenance of roads are carried out by the Public Works Department and 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, although fortunately the rock thus blasted is suitable for use as road metal. Heavy rain in the summer months generally causes damage to any road surface falling short of a high standard of maintenance.

The Public Works Department has been confronted with exceptional road problems due to its heavy programme of reconstruction and a phenomenal increase in the density of road traffic during recent years. Bus routes have been given priority for maintenance work since generally speaking these are the roads conveying the heaviest traffic.

Crushed stone and tarmacadam are produced at two Public Works Department quarries to meet the demands of all sections of the Department.

Steady progress has been made on improving roads in the New Territories, and during the year an important new road through the hills was completed joining the fertile Kam Tin valley with Fanling to

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the north. Another road was started from Tsun Wan leading over the western shoulder of Taimoshan, the Colony's highest mountain, into the Kam Tin valley, a feat of construction which rivals the excellent road system connecting the city of Victoria with the summit of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island.

At Au Tau in the New Territories the longest bridge in the Colony is nearing completion. The bridge is 275 feet long and provides a 22-ft. carriageway with two 7-ft. footpaths. It replaces an older bridge. damaged during the war.

The Post Office

Postal traffic has remained at a high level. With heavy building commitments already in hand for other departments, it has been necessary to adopt temporary expedients for dealing with the tremendous volume of postal traffic.

The sorting offices at the G.P.O. and at Kowloon have been completely re-equipped with modern sorting fittings, and speedier handling of mails has been made possible. Three new lifts have been constructed in the G.P.O. and parcels are now handled on the ground floor and not, as formerly, in the basement, where health conditions. for workers were not up to standard.

The difficult position with regard to the exchange of mail with the Chinese authorities continues; the Kowloon-Canton Railway still serves as the only regular means of transport out of the Colony, and all mails sent and received by this route still have to be transferred by hand at the border to and from the Chinese section of the railway.

Christmas postings showed an increase of nearly 40% over the previous year. Over 4,000 bags of mail for local delivery were unloaded from ships during the Christmas week and well over one million items. were posted in that week.

The total number of letter articles posted during the year was 36,036,338 of which 32% were for delivery within the Colony, 46% were for overseas destinations sent by surface means and 22% by air. From other countries 27,023,100 articles were received of which 68% were for delivery on Hong Kong Island and 32% for Kowloon and The total number of registered articles handled during the year was 2,150,000. Parcel post traffic continued to be heavy; the total number of parcels posted for overseas destinations was 228,500 and the number received for delivery within the Colony, 136,340.

the New Territories.

Money order and postal order business showed an all-round increase; money orders issued and paid amounted to $1,742,615 and

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postal orders $769,037, which represented a 52% general increase over

1950.

Sales of postage and revenue stamps during 1951 amounted to $15,346,139. This was a fall from the 1950 record figure of

$17,048,110.

Licensing

The Radio Licensing and Inspection Office, under the control of the Postmaster General, issues all types of radio licences ranging from domestic broadcast receiving licences to amateur wireless stations' and radio dealers' licences.

This office also conducts examinations for the Postmaster General's Certificate of Proficiency in Wireless Telegraphy and in addition undertakes the survey and inspection of ship and aircraft wireless

stations.

Another function of the Radio Licensing & Inspection Office is the enforcement of the regulations made under the International Telecommunication Convention (Atlantic City 1947) and the Hong Kong Telecommunications Ordinance.

A close liaison is maintained between the Hong Kong Communi- cations Board, the Hong Kong Frequency Assignment Committee and the Radio Licensing & Inspection Office on all matters affecting the Colony's internal and external telecommunications.

Many commercial firms-chiefly stevedoring concerns have been licensed, after their schemes were submitted for approval by the General Post Office, to operate very high frequency radiotelephony circuits between their offices and harbour craft.

A similar scheme connecting several mobile units with three fixed stations in the New Territories was approved for the China Light & Power Co., and has proved very successful.

The Radio Licensing & Inspection office has also assisted the Department of Commerce and Industry in regulating the import and export of telecommunications equipment.

Telecommunications

Cable and Wireless Ltd. continued its policy of expansion in Hong Kong during 1951. The Company is responsible for all telegraph and radiophone services between Hong Kong and overseas countries in addition to ship-shore radio services. It is also responsible for the technical maintenance and development of the Colony's broad- casting and aeradio services.

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The buildings of the new receiving station on the slopes of Mount Butler have been completed and modern equipment is rapidly being installed. This new station will shortly be in full operation and will supersede the Peak Station as the main overseas receiving station.

The Peak Station will continue in use for short-distance and local services.

New buildings at the Cape D'Aguilar transmitting site are nearing completion and several new transmitters have been installed to augment the overseas telegraph and telephone services. An extension of the main transmitting hall has been planned to house one of the most powerful telecommunications transmitters in the Far East. This transmitter is to be installed early in the new year and it will be used for long-distance

services.

The aeradio transmitting building at Hung Hom has been considerably enlarged to provide for additional transmitters as part of the aeradio expansion scheme. Some of these transmitters have already been installed and modern equipment has been installed at Kai Tak for the reception of aeradio and meteorological services.

During 1951, new radiophone services were opened to New Zealand and to Jesselton in North Borneo. The existing radiophone services to Europe, America, Australia and most Asian countries continued in full operation. Some additional channels were provided to Macao and other services were extended. Further expansion of the overseas radiophone service is planned for 1952. A local ship-shore radiophone service is to be opened early in 1952.

A telegraph office was opened at Cheung Chau in November for the acceptance and delivery of telegrams to and from Hong Kong and Kowloon, in addition to international. telegrams. This is the first office in the Colony to handle internal telegrams; it is hoped to extend this scheme to other centres of population in the New Territories at a later date.

Telephones

The public telephone service is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Co., Ltd. On the 31st December 1951, the total number of direct exchange lines working on the company's system was 23,198, and the number of extensions 11,430, making a total of 34,628 stations

A considerable quantity of telephone equipment has been ordered to meet the large demand for service throughout the Colony.

Broadcasting

Radio Hong Kong first took the air in 1928 and has until 1951 been under the control of the Postmaster General. On 1st April the

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control of the broadcasting station was shifted from the Postmaster General to the Public Relations Officer, and in the same month the studios, offices and control rooms of Radio Hong Kong were moved from their old and quite inadequate premises in Gloucester Building to new specially designed quarters occupying the whole of the 6th and 7th floors of Messrs. Cable & Wireless Ltd.'s Far Eastern head office, Electra House, completed in 1950.

The equipment of the new studios was largely provided by a grant of £20,826 from Colonial Development and Welfare funds, and Radio Hong Kong in its new home is now one of the most up-to-date broad- casting units in the Far East. The lay-out of the studios and control rooms, designed to B.B.C. specifications, follows the pattern of the B.B.C. continuity system and the greatest care has been taken to combine Situated proper accoustical insulation with air-conditioning facilities. in the centre of the station and occupying both floors is a miniature concert hall with a seating capacity of 150, and grouped around this are the studios and control rooms, the English language continuity suite on one floor and the Chinese language studios on the other. The main administrative offices of the station are on the upper floor and below these are the central control room, the engineers' workshops and offices and a small recording studio equipped for recording on discs, tape or wire.

The walls, floor and ceiling of the concert hall float on rubber and the hall is thus completely insulated from the main frame of the building.

Transmissions are made from two medium wave stations, ZBW (845 k/cs) which is an English-language station with regular weekly programmes in French and Portuguese, and ZEK (640 k/cs) from which broadcasts are made in Cantonese, Mandarin and the Swatow dialect. Shortwave transmissions radiate from a third station, ZBW3, on a frequency of 9.525 megacycles. The programmes of ZBW3 are regularly heard in Japan and Australia, in Europe and on the American

continent.

Radio Hong Kong is staffed by a small team of Government-paid employees, responsible for programme building and selection, who are aided in announcing and other duties by a corps of enthusiastic amateur broadcasters. Technical operation is entirely professional, being handled throughout by Messrs. Cable & Wireless Ltd. whose engineers man the studio control rooms and the transmitters situated at Hung Hom, Kowloon.

In December ZBW and ZEK hours of broadcasting were extended to include early morning broadcasts, and the two stations now have three daily periods on the air, at breakfast time, lunch time and from 6 p.m. until 11.30 p.m. The times of the morning and lunch hour

III

programmes are slightly different for the English and Chinese stations in order to suit the needs of the communities they cater for. On Saturdays the programmes are continuous throughout the afternoon and on Sundays there are continuous programmes from 10 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. On public holidays programmes start at 8 a.m. and run throughout the whole day.

ZBW, the English language station, depends principally on recorded music supplemented by material of high quality made available by the B.B.C. Transcription Service.

Live programmes include sports commentaries, book reviews and other talks, amateur plays of reasonably high standard and recitals by the Colony's principal musicians. ZEK, on the other hand, has recently had great difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of new Chinese gramophone records and has therefore come to depend chiefly on live broadcasts which include plays, studio concerts, recitals, talks and-most popular of all- programmes given by well-known professional story tellers. Three nights each week Chinese operas are relayed from various theatres and on these occasions the broadcasting hours are extended from 11.30 p.m. until midnight.

Rediffusion

Rediffusion (H.K.) Ltd. holds a franchise granted in 1948 permitting the operation of a wire broadcasting system controlled from the company's studios in Hennessy Road. Programmes comprising relays and material originating from the company's own studios are carried to subscribers through three amplifying stations, two on the Island and one in Kowloon, over 500,000 route yards of wire. Two programmes are broadcast simultaneously, one in English and one in Chinese, continuously from 7 a.m. to midnight. A switch on each receiver gives the subscriber a choice of either programme. Relays from Radio Hong Kong, the B.B.C., Manila, Australia, and elsewhere are received at the company's wireless receiving station situated at Shatin in the New Territories. Commercially sponsored programmes are accepted by the company. The fee charged to subscribers is $10 a month, and the company pays the Government a fee of $1 a month in respect of each subscriber. The popularity of the system may be assessed from the fact that in less than three years of operation the number of subscribers has risen from 1,000 on the opening date to over 50,000.

II 2

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due to copyright restrictions. To view the image, please

contact library staff for a printed copy of the copyright work.

PUB

LIBRA

Photo: South China Morning Post.

A popular spot for weekenders is the well-endowed Western Forest Monastery at Shatin, an hour from town.

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KONG PU

In the cross-harbour race

892 out of the 962 entrants

made it

and received the certificate

of the Swimming Association.

The rest

were picked up by boat.

The winner,

Cheung Kin-man,

is scheduled to swim

at the

1952 Olympic Games

at Helsinki.

SAAN ZANLARDA, 1000D GONZALENDONDONG DAN

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Photos: R. C. Olive.

XII

RESEARCH

Research carried out in the University of Hong Kong during the year has included the study of the therapeutic use of radioactive cobalt. This study has been made in connexion with a telecurie apparatus which it is proposed to install in the Queen Mary Hospital, which would thus be amongst the first hospitals in Asia to use large quantities of this isotope for the telecurie treatment of cancer. At the same time considerable progress has been made on research in connexion with the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, one of the commonest forms of cancer in Hong Kong.

The field covered by the University is extensive; it includes chemical investigations into plant products of South-East Asia reputed to have medicinal or other value, the preparation and study of certain sulphur compounds, the preparation of an official memoir of the geology of Hong Kong and the New Territories, research into certain marine biological problems, the mode of production and the significance of the Korotkoff sounds, and the carrying out of specific studies on leprosy, tuberculosis, diseases of the liver and related medical problems.

In the economic field, a study of the prospects of industrialization in Eastern Asia has been in preparation for the Institute of Pacific Relations.

A seismograph was installed at the Royal Observatory during the year, to replace some of the equipment lost during the Japanese occupation. This instrument is being used in the study of earthquakes and also of the microseisms caused by typhoons. In connexion with an extended survey of the Colony's rainfall special equipment was installed for measuring the evaporation of moisture from a vegetation- covered surface and the percolation of water through the soil; these observations will lead to a knowledge of the water-need of different crops in the dry season. A study of the winds and weather prevailing at Kai Tak, required for the planning of the proposed extension to the airport, was carried out by the Observatory in collaboration with the

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Meteorological Office, London. The following papers by members of the Observatory staff were published during the year:-

A Statistical Survey of Typhoons and Tropical Depressions in the Western Pacific and China Sea Area, by L. Starbuck (Royal Observatory Technical Memorandum).

The General Circulation of the Atmosphere over S.E. Asia and the West Pacific, by B. W. Thompson (Quarterly Journal, Royal Meteorological Society).

Analysis and forecasting of summer weather over and in the neighbourhood of S. China, by C. S. Ramage (American Journal of Meteorology).

For further details of research and research literature in Hong Kong the reader is directed to previous issues of the Colony's Annual Report.

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XIII

RELIGION

During the year Hong Kong, which was formerly part of the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong and South China, was reconstituted as a separate Anglican Diocese.

The principal places of Anglican worship are St. John's Cathedral, built in 1847 and established as a Cathedral Church by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria in 1850, St. Andrew's Kowloon and Christchurch Kowloon Tong. In these three churches services are conducted in English. There are five parish churches in the urban area and four Anglican mission churches in all of which services are held in Cantonese, and at Christchurch Kowloon Tong there are regular Anglican services in Mandarin. In the New Territories there are several parish churches and there are two Anglican churches in Macao, in one of which services are occasionally held in English.

The Anglican Church makes a notable contribution to secondary education in the Colony by administering, among other schools, the Diocesan Boys' and Girls' Schools, St. Paul's College, St. Stephen's Girls' College and St. Stephen's College, Stanley.

The Methodist Church completed during the year its combined church, school, church hall and vocational training centre, the building of which was started in 1950, in Kowloon. The Union Church, which is among the first Christian foundations in Hong Kong, has church buildings in Hong Kong and Kowloon, the former being a fine new hall in Kennedy Road erected in 1949. The London Missionary Society, whose first representative arrived in the Colony within one year of Hong Kong's cession to Great Britain, plays a prominent part in education and medicine and runs the Nethersole Hospital, one of the Colony's foremost medical institutions.

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

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URBAN COUNCIL PUBLIC LIBRARIES

with the title of Vicar Apostolic, and in 1946 the status of the Church was raised to that of a Diocese, extending into China.

There are twelve Roman Catholic parishes with public churches on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, and another seven churches in different parts of the New Territories. The Church also administers over 90 schools, some with an English programme of studies, others teaching only in Chinese.

The work of the Roman Catholic Church is carried on by priests many nationalities some engaged in parish work, others working in schools and at the University. There are about 400 nuns belonging to various religious orders engaged in charitable and educational work in hospitals, schools and homes for orphans, blind girls, cripples and the aged.

Many of the principal missions have their Far Eastern administrative headquarters in the Colony where they have extensive buildings and other property. There are a number of important Catholic seminaries on Hong Kong Island.

The

The Colony is as varied in religion as it is in all other aspects of its life. The majority of the Chinese in Hong Kong adhere to their traditional family observances, but there is a well-organized Christian minority, of which about 20,000 are Protestants and 40,000 Catholics. The Colony is the seat of several Buddhist monasteries, the most important of which are in the western part of Lantao Island. branch of Buddhism chiefly followed is the Mahayana, although on Lantao there are a small number of Hinayana institutions. Most of these monasteries are dependent for their upkeep upon charitable gifts and income earned from tourists and visitors using their rest houses. There are no large Taoist monasteries.

The greater part (about 1,100) of the Indian population in Hong Kong is Muslim.

The first mosque was built in 1850 on the present mosque site in Shelley Street; the existing construction dates from 1915 when the original mosque was entirely rebuilt. In 1870 the Muslims founded their own cemetery in Happy Valley, their dead having until then been buried in the Breezy Point area above the Western district of Victoria. A second mosque was built in 1896, in Nathan Road, Kowloon, but in 1902 was transferred to the care of the military authorities for use by Indian troops.

The Sikh community, numbering about 300, has had a temple in Hong Kong since the eighteen-seventies. The building was demolished during the Japanese occupation and has since been rebuilt; it is situated in Gap Road.

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The Parsis were among the foreign communities who arrived with the British in 1841. They had in 1829 established a prayer-house and cemetery in Macao, and in 1859 they established their first cemetery in Hong Kong in Happy Valley. In 1874 they established a prayer- hall in Elgin Street, which was moved in the nineteen-thirties to a new site on Leighton Hill. There is no Fire Temple or Tower of Silence.

The Jews, whose community numbers about 150, were also established in Macao prior to the foundation of Hong Kong where they were among the earliest residents. Their cemetery, on the slopes of Happy Valley, was founded in 1855, and their religious services were originally held in premises rented in the Peel Street, Staunton Street area of the Central district of Victoria. In 1901 land was purchased by the community in Robinson Road and the present Synagogue constructed, the entire foundation being the gift of Sir Jacob Sassoon.

The Hindus have never had a temple in the Colony, but the community plans to construct one shortly in Happy Valley. Those Hindus from Sind and the Punjab who have to some extent been influenced by the teachings of Guru Nanak occasionally take part in observances at the Sikh temple; apart from this there is only private worship.

The Russian Orthodox congregation, which is about 100 strong, is divided between those who recognize the present Patriarch of Moscow and those who do not. For the latter, by arrangement with the Anglican Church authorities Russian Orthodox services are held in the church hall of St. Andrew's Kowloon.

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XIV

THE ARTS

...

For its live artistic entertainment Hong Kong depends particularly on its visitors and this year the Colony's most distinguished artistic visitors have all been musicians. The foremost of these was the well- known composer-pianist, Rudolf Friml, who while spending a holiday at Repulse Bay found time to give a piano recital at the Lee Theatre and a broadcast over Radio Hong Kong. At both of these he was assisted by two of the Colony's best singers, Dora Chih and Gaston d'Aquino, who sang excerpts from his operettas. Apart from his own music Friml played several works by Bohemian composers, including Smetana and his own master, Dvorak.

At the Lee Theatre recital the house was packed to capacity, every seat having been sold within three hours of the opening of the box office.

Another highspot in the Colony's musical year was the visit of the young French pianist, Germaine Mounier, who gave several public recitals, at the Hong Kong Hotel and in the new auditorium at Queen's College. Musically the best parts of her programmes were those devoted to modern works by French and Spanish composers. Her visits to the Colony, organized by the French community, were most welcome and provided local students with a much needed opportunity to hear a first-rate concert pianist playing a wide range of works.

The Colony's third pianist visitor was also French and a new name in French music. This was André Bader who gave a recital and a broadcast both of which included some good interpretations of Debussy and Ravel.

A novelty during the year was the Lee Theatre's presentation of a Scandinavian Ice Revue which turned out to be extremely popular in spite of unusually high prices for seats. For a moment it almost looked as though other cinemas would be turning over to occasional stage shows, but the next revue put on at another theatre was not of the same high standard as the Ice Revue in which several champion skaters from Belgium and Scandinavia took part. Public response to the second show was poor and no further entertainments of this kind were put on.

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From local talent the two outstanding offerings were the Wah Yan College production of another Cantonese opera in English entitled "The Ugly Beauty" and the Hong Kong Stage Club's production of Sheridan's "School for Scandal". The Wah Yan opera was not of such good quality as former productions; the actors seemed somewhat lost in the vastness of the auditorium of Queen's College compared with their own intimate college theatre. Sheridan's comedy went over with great gusto, partly due to the inclusion in the cast of several erstwhile professional actors and actresses, and the production was well staged and dressed, the players being provided with a surprising amount of XVIII century impedimenta.

The same high standard of previous years was maintained at the Photographic Society's International Salon of Photography held in St. John's Cathedral Hall in November, and the quality of the Annual Exhibition of the Hong Kong Art Club in January was outstanding, including works by professional and amateur artists. There were the usual number of Chinese art exhibitions at the Hotel Cecil, but this year the best of these was a one-man show by a Chinese artist in the western style, Yee Bon, whose portraits of Chinese women place him among the foremost Asian painters of the day. Yee Bon is a resident of Hong Kong and a regular exhibitor of the Art Club's shows.

Last year

Comparatively unnoticed by the public, the Government has been quietly going ahead assembling material suitable for inclusion in the museum it may be presumed will be included in the future City Hall, which is mentioned elsewhere in this Report and which is under consideration by Government and a large public committee. it was noted in this chapter that the Government had restored what remained of the Chater Collection and had purchased a considerable number of objets d'art from Mr. Henry Yeung. In the early part of 1951 there was an interesting outcome to the Chater Collection Exhibition held a few months earlier, in 1950. Mr. Wyndham O. Law, from whom the late Sir Paul Chater purchased the greater part of what later became known as the Chater Collection, having heard about the exhibition through the Royal Asiatic Society of which he is a member, wrote to the Government from England to inquire whether Hong Kong would be willing to purchase a collection of oil paintings and drawings all concerned with the China coast and which he did not include among the pictures sold to Chater. The offer was considered by the Governor-in-Council, and while they were in the United Kingdom as guests of His Majesty's Government to the Festival of Britain, Mr. T. N. Chau and Sir Man Kam Lo, both Members of the Executive Council, visited Mr. Law at Worthing in the company of Mr. Duncan J. Sloss, formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, and after seeing the pictures advised the Government to make an offer of

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£1,000 for the collection. At the same time they visited Mr. G. R. Sayer, formerly Director of Education in the Government of Hong Kong and author of a history of the first years of the Colony's existence, and advised the Government to make an offer of a further £1,000 for his collection of over 400 prints and drawings of China coast subjects, Mr. Sayer having previously intimated that he would be willing to sell.

Offers were made to and accepted by both collectors, and at the end of the year arrangements were in hand for packing the collections for transport to Hong Kong where they will be looked after by the Government until such time as there is suitable accommodation for them to be hung permanently.

I 20

SPORT

The early part of 1951 saw the recognition of the Amateur Sports Federation as the Olympic Committee of Hong Kong. Similar recognition was extended by the British Empire Games Federation.

The local Federation gained strength throughout the year as more governing bodies of amateur sports associations sought affiliation. was quickly realized that advantages would accrue to such associations by concerted action and by pooling information.

Preliminary preparations were being made for a Hong Kong contingent to take part in the Helsinki Games to celebrate the XV Olympiad in 1952.

Many clubs and associations have private playing-fields, and the Children's Playground Association is bending its effort towards the improvement of such grounds as have been allotted to its control for the use of under-privileged children. It has been successful to the extent of possessing the best basket-ball stadium in the Colony, in Southorn Playground, which proves to be a good source of revenue for the maintenance of its social welfare work.

Without a modern stadium for football and athletics, a full-sized swimming pool and a covered stadium for indoor games-all of which Hong Kong lacks-development of sport is seriously handicapped. Inadequate seating accommodation forces such plans as are made to invite athletes of international standing to Hong Kong to be abandoned as there is no assurance that financial losses would not be incurred. When football games attract more than 14,000 people, and many thousand others have to be turned away, no further proof is needed that the time has arrived when such a problem has to be confronted and a solution found. The matter was being actively considered by Government, as well as being widely discussed in the Colony's sports circles, at the close of the year.

Association Football

This continues to be the most popular game in Hong Kong. It is played in schools as well as among clubs and the Services.

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Representative games are arranged for players of all standards, ranging from the schoolboys' interport games with Manila to the visits of well-known football clubs from Europe. During the year, interport matches were played with Macao, Manila and Saigon, and the following teams visited Hong Kong: Boldklubben 1909, Hendon Football Club, Halsingborg Football Club and the All-India National XI. The net proceeds of the Swedish team's matches in Hong Kong were donated by the Hong Kong Football Association to the funds of the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong.

Table Tennis

The visit of the English and world champion, Johnny Leach, and the French champion, Michel Haguenauer, afforded a splendid test to local players whose high standard was only known to followers of the game in Hong Kong. To such people it was not entirely a surprise when the French champion was beaten eight times and the world champion himself was twice beaten by local players. This performance served to confirm the Hong Kong Table Tennis Association in its plan to enter a team for the World Championships in Bombay next February.

Badminton

The very successful visit of the leading Malayan players, including the All-England champion, Wong Peng Soon, served only to enhance the popularity of this sport. Capacity houses witnessed the skill and sportsmanship displayed by the visitors who were matched against the best local talent. The Association pursued the commendable policy of affording every chance to the younger players to acquire match experience against the inimitable Malayans. The Colony singles and doubles champion, Ramon Young, and the singles runner-up, W. F. Foo, participated in the Philippine Championships by invitation, which they won in the same order as in Hong Kong, as well as the men's doubles in which they partnered.

Swimming

The interest in the Annual Cross-Harbour Race from Kowloon to Hong Kong surprised even the keenest swimming enthusiast. There was an all-time record of 962 entries, compared with 1950's 405 entries which had in itself been a record. Thousands watched the race on both sides of the harbour as well as from launches and small craft. October 14th was as busy a Sunday morning for the Marine and Traffic Police as it was for the officials of the Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association. 892 of the entrants, from teen-agers to seventy-year-olds, completed the course, but due to the strong current on the day of the

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race no records were broken.

After the excitement of the race things concluded on a more mundane level with a Police check on the number of those who had faltered on the way and been picked up by launches etc. The lists tallied.

The Colony Championships proved equally successful and such record times as had been regarded as secure for several years were bettered by convincing margins, bringing the local standard still closer to international marks. The swimming season was prolonged to afford maximum training for the interport contest with Manila. Hong Kong's young team did remarkably well by winning all five events for ladies in record times, while the men did well to win two of seven races, also establishing a new record and equalling another.

Softball

This American game which started as a healthy and delightful way of spending Sunday morning in the open has developed since the war to such an extent that to cope with its heavy fixtures the Association now arranges for games during the week as well. It is a significant sign of its growing popularity that the leagues attract sixty- six teams with almost 700 men, women and children taking part. The ground which was allocated to it in 1950 has now temporary bamboo stands with a seating capacity of 500. In line with other local governing bodies, this Association has joined the Amateur Sports Federation, in addition to securing recognition from its parent organization in America.

A notable feature of its programme in 1951 was a visit of about 100 players and supporters to Macao to play exhibition matches, the entire proceeds of which were donated to refugee relief in that city. At the end of the year, member clubs of the Association were engaged in a series of matches for the Olympic Fund.

Lawn Tennis

Evidence of the popularity of the game in Hong Kong can be gauged from the fact that sixty-three teams entered for the eight divisions of the Tennis League.

The Championships conducted under the auspices of the Hong Kong Lawn Tennis Association attracted considerable support and the Open Grass Court Colony Singles Champion, Ip Koon Hung, took part in Wimbledon and other national championships, annexing the titles of Wales and Malaya.

The interport matches with Saigon were all won by Hong Kong and at the end of the year a team of schoolboys visited Macao as part of the policy of the Association to encourage the younger players.

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In the course of the year several exhibition games were arranged in which leading local players were matched against visitors of international standing.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

Excellent sailing and rowing facilities are available in Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has its headquarters on Kellet Island in close proximity to the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter and has a subsidiary club-house on Middle Island, on the south side of Hong Kong Island between Repulse Bay and Deepwater Bay. The main yacht racing season is from October to May, but sailing continues throughout the whole year and is only occasionally interrupted by typhoon threats. Racing classes include naval 14-ft. dinghies, 14-ft. Redwing dinghies, 16-ft. Jubilees, Stars, Dragons and two classes of cruising yachts. Cruising amongst the innumerable islands, bays and inlets of the Colony is popular during the summer months and yachtsmen are fortunate in being able to make use of many attractive anchorages and bathing beaches in parts of the New Territories not easily accessible by road. Rowing is stimulated not only by inter- Club regattas and races against crews from the Victoria Recreation Club but also by interport regattas against Singapore, Saigon, Haiphong and Miri, Sarawak.

Horse Racing

Hong Kong possesses one of the best racecourses in the East and horse-racing is a long-established and popular sport in the Colony. Race meetings are usually held fortnightly, with extra meetings on certain public holidays, except for 3 months during the hottest summer months when there is a break in racing activities. The Jockey Club, which organizes the race meetings and has its own special enclosure at the Racecourse, has a wide membership of all nationalities and races.

A new electric totalisator was introduced early in the year and its successful operation has been welcomed by all supporters of racing in the Colony.

Of 1951's new ponies it is generally agreed that the grey gelding "Firefly", previously called "London 17" was the most outstanding. It finished first in the Hong Kong Derby, but was disqualified for crossing. Although subsequently beaten by the previous champion pony "Skymaster" it won the Hong Kong St. Leger and towards the end of the year it ran against "Skymaster" again and won.

There was keen competition for the jockey championship and the issue was in doubt up to the last meeting in December. On that day K. Kwok gained the title with a total for the season of 30 wins, two

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wins more than A. Ostroumoff. Competition between the jockeys was closer than in any year since the war and many young riders showed great enthusiasm.

Once again Brigadier Mark Sykes, one of the senior starters of the English Jockey Club, paid a visit to the Colony in time for the annual race meeting and his mature advice has brought about improvements in many aspects of racing.

Track and Field

A new development during the year was the formation of a Hong Kong Amateur Track and Field Association to promote in a wider sphere a form of sport which has for the last few years been confined to schools, the University and the Services. The tradition of athletics of this kind dates back a considerable time and many of the Colony's older residents can remember the championships which used to be organized by the Victoria Recreation Club in the last century; their revival is a welcome addition to the Colony's sporting activities.

Golf

Golf has been played in Hong Kong since about 1888. The Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, the total membership of which is at present 1,055, has three courses: a short 9-hole course at Deep Water Bay and The Deep two 18-hole courses at Fanling in the New Territories. Water Bay course is very popular in the summer months when a pleasant The two round of golf can be combined with a bathing excursion. courses at Fanling, both of which are over 6,000 yards in length, compare favourably with many inland courses in the United Kingdom. The standard scratch scores are Old Course 72, New Course 71. amidst delightful scenery these courses offer a fine test of golf for the more serious devotees of the game who are not deterred by the 20-mile journey from Kowloon. For those who do not wish to travel by road to Fanling-in itself a pleasant ride by car through the New Territories -the journey can be made by a rail bus which runs at present on Sundays.

Set

The club houses at Deep Water Bay and Fanling are well appointed and residential facilities are provided for members of the Fanling Club. Golf is played throughout the year in Hong Kong but is most popular during the cooler months from October to April.

Cricket

Cricket is perhaps the oldest game in Hong Kong, and in the past year the Hong Kong Cricket Club celebrated its centenary, receiving

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congratulations and good wishes from all parts of the cricketing world. Including the Services, there are some 9 clubs in the Colony; the majority play on grass, and the standard both of the grounds and of the play is very near that of good club cricket in England. One or two of the schools also play. The season is from October to March inclusive, and there is both a senior and junior league competition. Apart from league games, there is Services inter-unit cricket, and the traditional friendly games between clubs. In nearly every season an interport match is arranged, these days restricted to either Malaya or Singapore.

Motoring

In August the Hong Kong Automobile Association organized a two-day motor rally over roads in Hong Kong Island and the New Territories and including a hill climbing event. There was a large number of extrants and the rally aroused considerable public interest fully justifying the organization of more events of this kind in the future.

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PART III

*港公共圖

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NG KONG PUBLIC LIBRAR

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ONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARIE

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GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

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 (4 square mile) and the New Territories which consist of the remainder of the mountainous 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 runs 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.

The

Between the island and the mainland of Kowloon lies the harbour, a natural and almost landlocked anchorage about 17 square miles in area, and of a width varying from one to three miles. 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 Lantao 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 Yangtse River, has become the gateway to South China and has grown to be one of the greatest seaports in the world.

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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 soil 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 dockyards, wharves for ocean-going ships, and a large residental 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 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 unfortunate 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. Systematic re-afforestation has been going on steadily since the end of the war. The highest point is the mountain called Taimoshan (3,141 feet) which lies seven miles north-west of Kowloon. To the north-west 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 of 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.

The New Territories include 75 adjacent islands many of which are uninhabited. Productive land is even scarcer than on the mainland and the island population includes many fisherfolk living aboard their boats. Lantao, 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 this lonely island. The rest of the islands are much smaller, and range in character from the thickly-populated Cheung

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Chau with its large fishing community, soy factory and junk-building yards, and Ping Chau with its thriving match factory, to an island only 81 acres large (Ngai Ying Chau) until recently occupied by a single family.

Climate

may occur.

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. After the New Year the sky is more often clouded, though rainfall remains slight; in March and April long spells of dull overcast weather Warm south-easterly 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 September the air reaching Hong Kong has generally travelled from warm tropical seas to the east and south of the Colony; the weather is persistently hot and humid, and often cloudy and showery with occasional thunderstorms. The summer is the rainy season, three-quarters of the average annual rainfall of 84.76 inches (2152.8 mm.) falling during the period May to September.

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 rarely rises above 95°F, or falls below 40°F. The mean relative humidity exceeds 80% from March until August, but in the early winter it may fall as low as 20%. The average monthly duration of sunshine ranges from 95 hours in March, to 217 hours in October.

Hong Kong is liable to be affected by typhoons from July to October, although they are sometimes experienced before and after this period. Spells of bad weather, heavy rain and strong winds normally occur several times in each summer owing to the passage of typhoons or tropical storms at varying distances from the Colony. A typhoon whose centre passes over or near Hong Kong may be accompanied by winds of hurricane force, resulting in widespread damage; sixteen such disasters have occurred in the last 67 years, one of the worst being on 2nd September 1937 when the wind speed reached 145 knots in a gust, and 28 steamships were stranded in and around the harbour. Although the loss of life on such occasions is now minimized by an elaborate system of warnings, there are always a number of junks and small craft which fail to reach the typhoon shelters in time.

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Apart from a warm February monthly temperatures were below normal for the first six months of 1951. From July until the end of the year, however, they were above normal so that the annual mean The year temperature was only 0.2°F below the normal of 72°F. was slightly more cloudy and humid than usual, December being the only month which was less humid than normal.

Accumulated rainfall for the year remained above normal from April 19th and by the end of December was 2363.9 mm., about 9% above average.

There were excessive amounts of rainfall during May and June, the total for the former month of 553.8 mm. being 94% above normal.

On May 13th a tropical storm passed north of Hong Kong on a NE❜ly course. No gales were experienced in the Colony but the rainfall that day of 180 mm. was the daily maximum for the year.

Gales blew for a short period on June 19th when a tropical storm passed about 180 miles SW of Hong Kong. The maximum gust of 63 knots recorded at the Royal Observatory was 5 knots greater than the previous record for June.

Prolonged gales were experienced during August 1st and 2nd when a typhoon passed some 90 miles SSW of the Colony and gave rise to the maximum gust for the year of 76 knots from ENE.

During September typhoons threatened the Colony on three occasions but only one brought gales, and then only for a few hours, on the 2nd.

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HISTORY

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 Lantao, 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 (III century A.D.) onwards, and by the end of the Sung dynasty (XIII century A.D.) the local people, whatever their racial origin, evidently regarded themselves as Chinese.

Only once during this long period does the area appear in the spotlight of Chinese history.

This was when the last Sung emperor, Ti-ping, in flight from the invading Mongols, camped temporarily near Kowloon before fighting his final battle against his adversaries in the neighbourhood of Tsun Wan in 1278. It is said that after his defeat at this battle the Emperor and members of his Court retreated to Lantao Island, where many of his retinue committed suicide. From there the Emperor and a few followers escaped by boat into the Pearl River delta where the final suicide took place. A small hill crowned with prominent boulders in the neighbourhood of Kai Tak airfield was held sacred to the memory of Ti-ping until 1943 when the Japanese demolished it.

The Arabs were already known in Canton in the VII century A.D., and houses were occupied by Jews there in the XIII century and for some time afterwards. Western intercourse with China, however, properly starts with the arrival of the Portuguese on the China coast, the first Portuguese ship having anchored somewhere between Lintin Island and Deep Bay in 1513. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish themselves near Ningpo, the Portuguese founded their settlement at Macao, and from 1557 onwards this attractive piece of continental Europe in the heart of the Far East grew up on the benefits accruing to the Portuguese from their virtual monopoly of the valuable trade

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between Japan, Malacca, Portuguese India and Europe. The British did not come to these waters until the early XVII century when the East India Company from its easternmost station at Bantam in Java attempted to edge in on the Japanese trade and for some years established a small trading post near Nagasaki. The first ship, however, to anchor at a port on the China coast was the "London" which came into Macao in 1635 and was followed two years later by a small fleet commanded by Captain John Weddell who unsuccessfully tried to open trade with Canton. The failure of the British trading post in Japan and the restrictions which from 1637 onwards the Japanese placed on all foreigners visiting their country made the East India Company's directors lose interest in extending their activities in the Far East. Isolated attempts were made to trade in the Pearl River but it was not until the voyage of the "Macclesfield", which anchored in Macao in From this time onwards. 1700, that any appreciable trade was done. a regular seasonal trade started, the Company maintaining a shore staff first in Macao, and later in Canton also, to look after its affairs during the off-seasons. The French, Dutch and Americans were not long in following the Company's lead and by the end of the XVIII century there were a number of Englishmen trading in Canton on their own account, defying the orders of the Company that all Britons should leave Canton during the winter by arranging to have themselves appointed as honorary consuls for various European continental countries over which of course the Company had no control. From one such arrangement the famous firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co. later came into being.

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 Charles Elliot, R.N., succeeded him as Chief Superintendent and for five years negotiations were inter- mittently continued while the position of the British merchants became more and more difficult.

On January 20th 1841 Captain Elliot announced "the conclusion of preliminary arrangements between the Imperial commissioner and himself involving the cession of the island and harbour of Hong Kong to the British Crown." Hong Kong Island was then inhabited by a few fishermen, stonecutters and farmers and provided a notorious

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retreat for smugglers and pirates. He declared further that "Her Majesty's Government has sought for no privilege in China exclusively for the advantage of British ships and merchants" and he assured "the protection of the British flag to the subjects, citizens, and ships of foreign Powers that may resort to Her Majesty's possession. Hong Kong was formally occupied, and on January 29th Captain Elliot issued another proclamation declaring that Chinese resorting to the Colony "shall be governed according to the laws and customs of China, every description of torture excepted," being promised the free exercise of religious rites, social customs, and private rights.

The cession of Hong Kong was confirmed by the Treaty of Nanking on August 29th 1842 and the work of building up the new Colony began in earnest. In particular steps were taken to bring the Colony under its own laws, based on English law, putting an end to the temporary and informal arrangements made by Captain Elliot; many aspects of Chinese domestic life continued however to be regulated by Chinese customary law.

Early accounts of life in Hong Kong show that the early colonists had many obstacles to overcome. The new settlement was ravaged by fires, the houses levelled by typhoons, and the population decimated by fevers; yet the administration did not lose heart. Encouragement was given to merchants to build their business premises and residences, roads were laid down, and a town planning committee set to work. Markets and hospitals were built, churches for several denominations. were provided, and schools established, all within the space of the first three years.

In spite of the community's efforts The Times on December 17th 1844 complained that "The place has nothing to recommend it, if we except the excellent harbour. The site of the new town of Victoria

-named after Queen Victoria the Good-is most objectionable, there being scarcely level ground enough for the requisite buildings, and the high hills, which overhang the locality, shut out the southerly winds, and render the place exceedingly hot, close, and unhealthy.

The feelings of the British community in Macao were mixed on the subject of the new Colony, and most of the principal traders kept up their Macao houses, at least for holidays, until about 1850 after which the number of British establishments in the Portuguese colony dwindled.

Undeterred by these handicaps, the administration applied itself wholeheartedly to its task. At the first census, the population of Hong Kong did not exceed 3,650 villagers and fishermen living in some 20 villages and hamlets, including Stanley, Aberdeen, and Wongneichong, with about 2,000 Chinese living in boats in the harbour. Encouraged by prospects of work, Chinese labourers flocked

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into Hong Kong, and by April 1844 the population reached 19,000. The establishment of shipbuilding yards, eventually to grow into a major industry, dates from the Colony's earliest days.

No time was lost in linking up Hong Kong with Europe, and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company established a monthly mail service in 1845. Commercial relations with several places were opened up, including Shanghai, Siam, and the United States of America, and the junk trade with China flourished.

The cultural needs of the community found expression in a variety of ways, but as early as 1847 the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded dedicated to the study of cultural contacts between the East and the West.

Hong Kong provided a convenient port for the emigration of Chinese labourers to many places, mainly the Straits Settlements, Siam, and Java, and when news went round of the opening up of goldfields in California there was a rush of Chinese who went seeking the "Golden Mountains" there and in other places. When gold was discovered in Australia not long afterwards thousands of Chinese rushed to the "New Golden Mountains," via Hong Kong. Over 30,000 Chinese emigrants made use of the facilities provided by Hong Kong in the year 1852 alone. The flow of remittances to China in later years from those who established new homes on the other side of the world has been of considerable help to the economy of China. In the same way the descendants of those early emigrants have made their way up in the world, and their contacts with their mother country are still maintained through Hong Kong.

With the spread of unrest in China following the incidence of the Taiping Rebellion in China, many thousands of Chinese flocked to Hong Kong, the first of many similar occurrences when Chinese in search of shelter have sought the safety and sanctuary of this Colony. The population rose by leaps and bounds and by 1855 was estimated at 72,000, and by 1861 at 120,000, taxing housing accommodation and all the other amenities with which the city had been provided.

An early reclamation scheme (1851), on a part of which the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building stands to-day, was found to be insufficient and was extended, while the city spread rapidly. New schools were established, to provide better educational facilities for the Chinese, among them the Anglo-Chinese College. More markets, better policing, the problem of water supply, additional hospitals, sanitation, all pressed for attention and were tackled with energy and determination. Hong Kong rapidly took on the aspect of a modern town, and with the increasing importance of trade the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce was formed, in 1861.

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The Convention of Peking of 1860 added the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters' Island to the Crown Colony, and provision was made at Kowloon for accommodation for a part of the garrison. This was followed not long afterwards by the establishment of the Union Dock Company and the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, the latter eventually absorbing the several smaller dockyards in Hong Kong and expanding into one of the largest employers of labour in the Colony. The early development of Kowloon owes a great deal to this important enterprise.

An event which was to have far-reaching effects upon the relations of Europe and Asia was the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). The quickening of communications wrought changes in the commercial life of Hong Kong, shipping increased in volume from less than 2,000,000 tons in 1868 to over 5,000,000 tons within 10 years. Telegraphic cables were laid down to link Hong Kong with the rest of the world, and the Hong Kong Wharf and Godown Company was established (1871) to provide storage facilities for the greater volume of merchandise flowing through the Colony.

To provide additional free attention for Chinese sick the Tung Wah Hospital, managed by Chinese directors under Government supervision, was established, several other services for the Chinese poor being maintained under its auspices. In the same way the Po Leung Kuk was founded to cater to the welfare of Chinese girls. schools were set up, some of them carried on by the Protestant or Catholic missions, others by the Government, scholarships being provided for worthy scholars. Provision was made to encourage Chinese students to acquire a knowledge of English, to equip themselves to take an increased part in the life of the Colony. Ng Choy, better known later as Wu Ting-fang, was the first Chinese to be admitted to the English Bar, setting a precedent which has since been followed by many others, who have come to take an important part in the life and activities of the community.

An important feature of colonization was the Gardens and Afforestation Department which procured seeds and plants from Australia and England, which resulted in "a general increase in the vegetative surroundings of the town, and that the increased attention given to the cultivation of trees along the public roads and around European dwellings on the hillsides had already done much to displace the pristine barrenness of the site on which the city was built by patches of beautiful shrubbery." In course of time several vegetables and flowers found their way into China through their introduction in Hong Kong.

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The opening of Haiphong and Hanoi to trade with Hong Kong enlarged the scope of the Colony's commercial importance, as did the establishment by Chinese capital of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company (1874). This was followed by the connexion of Hong Kong by cable to Canton, Macao, Shanghai, Foochow and other places. Further provision was made in Hong Kong, at the Praya East, for the expanding city, followed by extensive reclama- tion at Causeway Bay. Some interest in Kowloon took place, the Portuguese community taking a leading part in this enterprise. building of houses on the Peak commenced at this time adding to the residential areas and providing the Colony with a salubrious retreat during the hot season.

The

One of Hong Kong's most interesting contributions to Chinese progress may be said to be the Hong Kong College of Medicine, founded in 1887. Dr. James Cantlie was the fons et origo of this institution. His son relates in his biography of Sir James Cantlie that his father conceived the idea on the voyage out from England, and "the College of Medicine for the Chinese was the result. To this end a public meeting was convened in the City Hall on October Ist 1887. Major-General W. Gordon Cameron, C.B., the Officer Administering the Government, who presided, promoted the new venture by placing the College under the auspices of the Government of the Colony.

The Chinese students were carefully selected, and seven entered the College on its inauguration. "July 23, 1892, may well be called a day of triumph," Dr. Cantlie's wife wrote, "Hamish's great day for the College of Medicine for the Chinese, presenting of licences to practise by the Governor." It was to Hong Kong, therefore, and its College of Medicine, later to expand into the University of Hong Kong, that Dr. Sun Yat-sen was indebted for the opportunity to acquire the scholastic background which was to bear fruit in China in a momentous way.

The establishment of the Alice Memorial Hospital for Chinese, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, also dates from this period. It was only one of many contributions by this worthy institution to the amelioration of the lot of poor and needy Chinese.

Another important institution inaugurated at this time (1889) was Queen's College which provided accommodation for 924 scholars, subsequently increased. This school has been the Alma mater of a large number of local boys who later in life were to distinguish themselves in Hong Kong and in other places.

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The funicular tramway to the Peak opened up that desirable district in 1888, and extensive waterworks were carried out at Tytam, the original works at Pokfulam proving inadequate.

The period that followed is noteworthy principally for extensive reclamation work and roadbuilding, in the furtherance of which Sir Paul Chater took a leading part. Earnest endeavours by the authorities to promote interest among the Chinese to acquire more than a mere smattering of English have also to be recorded, in which connexion Sir Kai Ho Kai and E. R. Belilios figured prominently. Improvements in sanitation followed the outbreak of bubonic plague, when Dr. Kitasato, working in Hong Kong, succeeded in isolating the plague bacillus and it was found that the disease was transmitted by vermin.

Under the 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. The Government of Hong Kong soon embarked upon a big programme of works there. The Canton-Kowloon Railway was built, public health administration and antimalarial measures were prosecuted with determination, while Chinese and others were brought more closely into touch with the problems of government and social services. Sir Henry Blake identified himself with every aspect of the community's activities, which his successor, Sir Matthew Nathan, extended to Kowloon, where the road he laid down, called "Nathan's Folly" by local wags, commemorates his confidence in the development of Kowloon and the expanse of country contiguous with it.

The development of the Colony progressed after that at a phenomenal rate. Chinese merchants began to break away from their ancient ways, taking a more prominent part in the commercial and industrial acitivities of the Colony. They established shipping lines, built wharves and warehouses, erected department stores, set up dock- yards and factories of every kind, built theatres and invested heavily in real estate. They have formed banks and insurance companies on Western lines and established great import and export houses. Hong Kong has provided the opportunity for many Chinese and members of other races to fit into the rapidly expanding world economy of the twentieth century. 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 role of entrepôt both for the trade and for the labour of China's southern provinces.

The Government has marched ahead of needs, and thought has been taken for every feature of the Colony's amenities. Hospitals and schools abound, centres where social services are maintained, efficient policing and fire-fighting services, waterworks, port facilities, are all

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part of the steady and natural growth of the city. A network of motor roads was cut into the hills; Chinese, European and American airlines meet in the Colony's airport; public utilities are given every encouragement; industries are granted facilities; trade is promoted and helped; everything is done to serve the community in the fairest and most equitable manner.

But the influence of Hong Kong has been more profound than this. It showed thinking Chinese that the old world was giving place to the new, and there was a stirring among Chinese patriots that brought profound results. One of the outcomes of this, the "Hundred Days Reform," might have saved China much misery and pain, for Kang Yiu-wei had been inspired and he succeeded in influencing the Emperor to attempt the introduction of much needed reforms in China. The failure of the attempt led to the tribulations which brought the Manchu dynasty to its end, but it had its roots deep in the minds of the Chinese. In Hong Kong the revolutionaries found liberty and sanctuary based on justice and freedom of speech, while the Chinese newspapers of Hong Kong provided them with a vehicle for reaching the Chinese masses.

In great part this has come about because of the Anglo-Chinese schools in the Colony. The Government has taken the lead in promoting these schools, but the names of public-spirited men like Sir Ellis Kadoorie and Sir Robert Ho Tung fill a prominent place in the efforts made to provide the youth of Hong Kong with the highest educational standards, English no less than Chinese. Schools for girls have prepared women for the greater part they have taken in community life.

It was in 1908 that H. N. Mody, later Sir Hormusjee Mody, offered to present the Colony with the entire cost of the main buildings of an University. Other enthusiastic supporters followed, many Chinese contributing substantial sums to promote the under- taking, notably Sir Robert Ho Tung whose munificent donations over a long period of years place the Colony very much in his debt. China's urgent need has been for physicians, and the University of Hong Kong has been in a position to contribute substantially to fill that need. In the preparation of nurses, also, Hong Kong has done a great deal, while the hospitals of the Colony have done much to promote the acceptance of Western medicine among the Chinese.

After Japan invaded China in 1937 the Colony became a refuge for many Chinese and the population grew to over one and a half million. Until the fall of Canton at the end of 1938 valuable 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

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•

precarious, and on December 8th 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 could not be held. 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 a third that number.

The Colony was liberated when units of the British Pacific Fleet entered the harbour on August 30th 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 May 1st 1946.

The Colony made an astonishing recovery in the years that followed. Thousands of Chinese returned to Hong Kong from the mainland and the population quickly reached and surpassed its pre- war level producing a housing problem which became acute when, as the result of the success of the Communist armies in the Chinese civil war, thousands more Chinese, particularly from Shanghai and other centres of Chinese commerce, started entering the Colony as refugees. This second phase in the Colony's increase of population began in 1947 and reached its height in May 1950, when the Colony had an estimated population of 2,360,000, the highest in its history. In 1951 the population, partly due to immigration restrictions imposed both by the Colonial authorities and by the Chinese Government had, for the time being, become more or less stable at slightly over two million.

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III

HONG KONG TREES

In the Hong Kong Annual Report for 1950 descriptions were given, each accompanied by a photograph, of eight common Hong Kong trees, with the idea of aiding residents and visitors to recognize some of the many trees they may see in the Colony. This series, begun last year, is continued here with descriptions of another nine familiar

trees.

Camphor, laichee, Chinese banyan and pine are the most common trees native to Hong Kong and the New Territories, but until its foundation as a British Colony the Island of Hong Kong had very few trees on it, with the one notable exception of the slopes of Happy Valley. Lantao Island as it is to-day gives some idea of what Hong Kong was like before 1841. Due to careful planting over a succession of years, the Colony now boasts a wide variety of trees, many of them imported.

Chinese Hackberry (Celtis sinensis)

This tree is commonly found throughout China, Korea and Japan. It is deciduous and grows up to 30 feet, with a smooth grey bark, and wide-spreading slender branches. The dark green sharp-pointed leaves are 2 to 3 inches long, oval in shape, either rounded or heart-shaped at the base. In spring its small pale green flowers appear just before the leaves open.

The fruits are round, green when young, becoming dull orange-red, and often hang on through the winter. The tree is sometimes mistaken for a Chinese banyan, but is distinguishable by its toothed leaves, absence of aerial roots and its deciduous winter habit. Its growth is slow, but on account of its hardy nature and dense foliage it is frequently planted in the Colony as a roadside shade tree and in gardens.

2. Gum Trees (Eucalyptus)

About 300 species of trees belonging to this genus are natives of Australia and the surrounding islands. Due to their adaptability

142

to a wide range of soils and conditions the species have been cultivated in many other lands.

Probably no other trees except palms have as many uses to man, being a valuable source of timber, fuel, tannin, gums and medicinal oil. The two commonest species grown in Hong Kong are the Swamp Mahogany (E. robusta) and the Forest Red Gum (E. tereticornis). A large number of seedlings of both species are raised each year by the Forestry Department for planting in the New Territories. They are of rapid growth, with straight trunks and green- white flowers which open in the winter. The calyx tube is bell-shaped, the petals joined to the calyx forming a lid which on opening falls off and exposes the numerous stamens. They are useful for windbreaks and make a good forest cover. The trees furnish an excellent timber, hard and durable. Since it does not decay readily it is used for general It building work, ships, railway ties, fence posts and telegraph poles. is also an excellent fuel. The flowers have an abundance of nectar from which bees produce fine honey.

3(A). Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria excelsa)

A beautiful and striking tree, columnar in shape and tapering at the top, with regular whorls of horizontal spreading branches, attaining a great height. It was discovered by Captain Cook on Norfolk Island where it is native. Young trees which are frequently grown in pots look almost artificial in their perfect symmetry. It is a striking tree for landscape effect. The stiff leaves are curved, sharp-pointed, and densely overlap each other on the horizontal or drooping branchlets. Male and female flowers are usually borne on separate trees.

3(B). Acacia (Acacia Richii)

It has a

This pretty evergreen tree, 20 to 40 ft. high, from the Philippines and Formosa, is grown ornamentally in Hong Kong. spreading top crown, with stiff, crooked branches. An interesting feature of this tree is the fact that there is no blade to the leaf, the stem or petiole being flattened and performing the usual functions of the leaf. The false leaf is about 3 inches long, crescent-shaped and narrowed at both ends. Almost throughout the year the crown of The bark leaves is interspersed with tiny, yellow, puff-ball flowers. yields tannin for dyeing fishing nets and cloth.

Evergreen Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

A medium-sized evergreen tree, 25 to 50 ft. high, with stout upright or spreading branches forming a round-topped or pyramidal crown. It is a native of North America, where it grows to 100 ft. or more. It has thick leathery oval leaves, shiny green above, smooth and hairy beneath. Its handsome, fragrant white flowers, 6 to 8 inches.

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in diameter, last a few days, then turn brown, and are succeeded by an irregular fleshy cone sometimes containing bright vermilion seeds. There is a particularly fine specimen in the gardens of Government

House.

African Tulip Tree (Spathodea Nilotica)

A tropical West African forest tree growing to about 40 ft. with a sturdy, ridged trunk. There are some good examples in the grounds of the University and at Island House, Taipo, the District Commis- sioner's residence. Its large orange-scarlet, erect, cup-shaped flowers, about 4 inches in diameter, are produced in early February and again in May, when the tree is strikingly handsome and conspicuous at a distance. The shiny, dark-green leaves are 1 to 2 feet long and are divided feather-like into 9 to 17 oval, short-pointed, deep-veined leaflets. The flower buds contain water under pressure which escapes in a jet if the bud is pierced with a pin. The tree is softwooded, old specimens becoming hollow in the centre, and therefore dangerous near buildings and roads.

year.

Pride of India (Melia azedarach)

This tree, commonly found from the Himalaya to China and Korea, has become naturalized in the southern states of the U.S.A. It makes a good shade tree, growing quickly to a height of 30 to 40 ft. with a widespreading crown that is bare only for a short time each The foliage is graceful and feathery, each leaf having three to five subdivisions, each with three to five pairs of narrow-ovate, toothed leaflets. Small purple flowers are produced in great profusion in the spring, and have a scent similar to lilac. In winter the bare branches are decorated with clusters of golden fruit. The wood, durable but coarse, is used for furniture and musical instruments.

7. China Pine (Pinus Massoniana)

A large, upright, evergreen conifer commonly found on the hills and mountains of the Colony. It also occurs throughout the warm temperate regions of China, from Hong Kong to Fukien and into Western Szechuan. It is probably the most abundant, widely distributed and useful tree in South China, and is one of the best species for reforesting. When fully grown it may reach a height of 60 ft. with a straight, thick trunk, and smooth flaky bark. The leaves are needle-like, about 6 inches long and occur in pairs. In March conspicuous clusters of yellow pollen-bearing flowers are borne at the base of the new shoots. The green female flowers are borne separately. In early winter the trees bear woody cones, 2 to 3 inches long. The tree is mainly grown for fuel, being one of the principal sources of

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BLIC LIBRAR

Chinese Hackberry.

HONG KONG TREES

Eucalyptus.

PES 2017 SET ANAL

Norfolk Island Pine

and

Acacia.

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PORT PALERMONTANA

火

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LIBRARI

Magnolia.

African

Tulip Tree.

ONGE

Pride of India.

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RIE

Camphor

Tree.

China Pine.

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charcoal in Southern China.

It also yields turpentine and resin. Young saplings, removed from plantations as thinnings, are used as Christmas trees.

Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora)

This handsome tree, with a dense crown of shining dark-green leaves, one of the finest shade trees in the Colony, is native to Eastern Asia and is now cultivated in most tropical and subtropical regions. The leaves are oval, somewhat white below, and have three main veins. extending upwards from the base. When crushed, they give a strong smell of camphor. In April, small pale yellow flowers grow in short. clusters from leaf axils, succeeded by small, black, fleshy one-seeded fruits. In Formosa, the main source of supply, camphor is obtained by cutting the wood into small chips and submitting these to a process of sublimation through steam. It is used in various ways, as an ingredient in celluloid and as a valuable drug in medicine. In recent years the production of camphor from turpentine has severely affected the market of the natural product. The wood of the camphor tree is much used for making chests and furniture not only because of its beauty but because of its insect repellent properties. This tree is of slow growth and there are some splendid groves of it in the New Territories, especially in the neighbourhood of villages in the Lam Tsuen valley.

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ADMINISTRATION

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 1950 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 1950 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 a new edition revised to 1950 was published during the year. 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 Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, regulates Supreme Court in Admiralty cases.

146

of 1901.

The Colonial the jurisdiction of the

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. The Colonial Secretariat under the control of the Deputy Colonial Secretary coordinates the work of all the departments and takes, or transmits from the Governor or Colonial Secretary, all general policy decisions.

The Government has a Public Relations Officer whose duties are to transmit news and explain government policy to the public and to keep Government informed of public opinion. During 1951 the control of Radio Hong Kong, with its broadcasting services in English and Chinese, was transferred to the Public Relations Officer from the Postmaster General.

The Public Services Commission, which was appointed under the authority of the Public Services Commission Ordinance, 1950, with a view to improving the standard of efficiency of officers in the public service and ensuring that the claims of local candidates for appointment to the service receive full consideration, is responsible for advising the Governor on appointments and promotions to the great majority of vacancies on the pensionable Government establishment.

Trade, Finance and Development

The

Since 1938 the Financial Secretary has assumed a purely adminis- trative function in the Colonial Secretariat and under his direction the Accountant-General is responsible for the public accounts, all of which are subject to the supervision of the Director of Audit. 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, 1947, and the Estate Duty Ordinance, 1932, are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

The Director of Commerce and Industry is responsible for Government bulk purchases of essential foodstuffs, price control, rationing, the collection of import and excise duties and the direction of preventive work. Procurement of Government requirements other than essential foodstuffs 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.

The Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is adminis- tratively responsible for the Government's services in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and the maintenance of public gardens, each of these divisions being under the supervision of professional officers.

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The Registrar of Cooperatives and Director of Marketing is responsible for fostering the development of cooperative societies, chiefly among fishermen and farmers, and also controls the Government Wholesale Fish and Vegetable Markets.

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 require- ments of existing 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 protection of women and girls, the inspection of emigrant ships, the supervision of child and juvenile welfare and the general coordination of all welfare activities in the Colony.

The Director of Medical and Health Services, whose department is divided into the hospital, health and investigation divisions, together with the Head of the Sanitary Department is responsible for the general health of the Colony, and the former compiles the Colony's vital statistics. The Head of the Sanitary Department 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 concerning 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 connexion with the construction and maintenance of government buildings, the supervision of other buildings, waterworks, 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 the Royal Observatory, under a Director, provides

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meteorological services for use by aircraft and shipping, issues regular weather forecasts and is responsible for giving typhoon warnings.

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 alternate days, and hear small debt cases and 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 Department is responsible in the New Territories for much of the work done in the city by the Urban Council.

Other Departments

The Government Statistician is responsible for the production of any statistical matter required by any department of government.

The Commissioner of Registration is responsible for the registration of persons and the issue of identity cards under the Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1949. The main work of registering the population was completed in the autumn of 1951.

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

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WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

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:-

I fan (candareen)

.0133 ounces avoirdupois

I ts'in (mace)

.133

ounces avoirdupois

I leung (tael)

1.33

ounces avoirdupois

I kan (catty)

1.33

pounds avoirdupois

I tam (picul)

I ch'ek (foot)

133.33 pounds avoirdupois

Statutory equivalent 14 inches. The ch'ek is divided into 10 ts'un (inches) and each ts'un into ten fan or tenths.

In practice the equivalent length of a ch'ek varies according to the trade in which it is used from 14 inches to 11 inches, the commonest equivalent being 14.14 inches.

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THE PRESS

The earliest English newspaper in the Colony, the Hong Kong Register, was a development of the Canton Register, which was printed in Canton from about 1827, and was the first English paper to be produced in the Far East. A daily edition was being produced in Hong Kong in 1850, but three years later publication ceased.

The oldest publication still being produced in Hong Kong is the Government Gazette, which was started in 1841 in Macao for publishing such proclamations as the British authorities desired to issue to their merchants. When Hong Kong was ceded, printing presses were imported into the new Colony 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 China Mail, which began as a four-page weekly on 20th February 1845, is still the oldest English newspaper in publication. In 1950 it was taken over by the Morning Post group of newspapers and is now published as a weekday evening paper.

The Morning Post group now therefore produces the South China Morning Post, the China Mail and the Sunday Post-Herald. The Hong Kong Telegraph, formerly a lunch-time paper also published by the group, suspended publication early in 1951. The Telegraph was first issued on 15th June 1881, changed hands on several occasions and finally merged its interests with the South China Morning Post in 1916.

The South China Morning Post first appeared on 7th November 1903. The paper was originally founded with considerable support from prominent local residents in sympathy with the Reform Movement in China. Originally situated in Connaught Road Central, its offices.

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were moved first to Des Voeux Road and in 1913 to the present site in Wyndham Street where a new Morning Post Building was completed in 1926.

The Colony's other morning newspaper in English is the Hong Kong (Tiger) Standard founded in 1949 by Mr. Aw Boon Haw, o.B.E., who owns a group of English and Chinese newspapers throughout South-East Asia and publishes one of the Colony's leading Chinese newspapers, Sing Tao Jih Pao.

The principal newspapers of the Chinese press follow distinct political lines. The Wah Kiu Yat Po has a large morning circulation and also publishes an evening edition; its aim is to report news independently and it is a generally reliable newspaper. Other popular newspapers are the Kung Sheung Daily News and the Hong Kong Times, both of which reflect right wing opinion, the Sing Pao, the circulation of which rivals the Wah Kiu although it is largely a gossip paper, and the two left wing papers Wen Wei Pao and Ta Kung Pao following the orthodox communist line.

There are altogether some 50 Chinese-language newspapers and periodicals published in the Colony but many of the smaller ones have only ephemeral lives, dying out and being replaced by others not unlike them, and thus popularly referred to as the mosquito press.

The most notable English-language periodicals published in the Colony are the Far Eastern Economic Review, established in 1946, and a new monthly magazine Orient, first published in August 1950, specializing in Asian political and cultural affairs. A useful publication for the business man is the trade journal Daily Commodity Quotations published every weekday. This is a bilingual paper in English and Chinese, giving up-to-date trade news. It started publication in 1948.

The newspapers of the Colony are well served by the main foreign news agencies. Reuter, Agence-France Presse, Associated Press and United Press all maintain bureaux in Hong Kong and in addition to providing their services to the local press maintain correspondents who regularly send Hong Kong and China news from the Colony to their head offices in Europe and America. (The Reuter correspondent also acts for Australian Associated Press).

In addition, several news agencies and a large number of British and other foreign newspapers are represented in the Colony by stringers-i.e. journalists who are usually staff members of local newspapers and who telegraph abroad any news of importance.

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A number of individual newspapers and periodicals consider Hong Kong of sufficient importance to maintain permanent staff correspondents in the Colony-notably The Times, The New York Times, the American Time and Life group, and Newsweek.

Since

the end of 1951 a number of Japanese news agencies and Tokyo metropolitan newspapers have also maintained correspondents in the Colony.

During the year, Hong Kong attracted many visiting correspond- ents representing a wide diversity of newspapers and periodicals from almost every country in the world.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

For an extensive bibliography on Hong Kong the reader is directed to the 1950 edition of the Hong Kong Annual Report.

Although there is a considerable amount of published material dealing with the Colony, only a small amount of this is likely to be obtainable from sources other than research libraries. The following are the more recent publications on the Colony which are most likely to be available to the general reader:-

C. E. Carrington:

The British Overseas; Cambridge University, 1950.

S. G. Davis:

Hong Kong and its Geographical Setting; Collins, London,

1949.

George B. Endacott and Dorothy E. She:

The Diocese of Victoria, Hong Kong; Kelly & Walsh,

Hong Kong, 1949.

Lennox A. Mills:

British Rule in Eastern Asia, a Study of Contemporary Government and Economic Development in British

Malaya and Hong Kong; London, 1942.

G. R. Sayer:

Hong Kong: Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age;

Oxford University Press, 1937.

Winifred A. Wood:

A Brief History of Hong Kong; South China Morning Post,

Hong Kong, 1940.

154

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