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any case, thanks to recent rains, the Colony has full reservoirs,
sufficient, if necessary, to maintain a limited supply until the end of
the end of the next dry season without Chinese assistance. Nonetheless,
contingency planning is proceeding for alternative supplies of both food
and water. The Fong Kong Government recently announced their intention
of investigating the possibility of developing more reservoirs of the
Plover Cove type. These investigations will begin in Novenber and will
last for about six months.
11.
Hong Kong's economy must inevitably suffer some damage as a result of
The extent cannot be clearly seen at the present
Communist confrontation.
tine.
12.
External trade figures show that exports continue to increase in a
substantial way. In June and July, they were 16% higher, and in August 10%
higher than in the corresponding months last year, any effect on order
books will not be reflected until about October. Imports have fallen in
the last two months but this is attributable to the reduced trade with
China and the closure of the Suez Canal.
13. Trade with China has dropped off appreciably, partly as a result of
China's internal troubles which have affected trade in food but particularly
because Chinese exports are often deliberately held up or re-routed to
maintain the fiction that Communist action is crippling the working of the
port. The Communists have made a particularly strong effort in the
sphere of shipping.
Considerable pressures have been applied to the
Chinese crews of British ships which call at Chinese ports and some
vessels have had to sail with mon short. There have, however, been recent
indications that trade between Hong Kong and Chinese ports is being resumed.
Total bank deposits at the end of June were 15% below the total at
the end of December. But a lot of this reflected a typical Chinese
proference to hold their money in tine of crisis and comparatively little
14.
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