88.
31
And to place a surcharge on delayed payment of workmen's com-
pensation, and to extend the time limit for application,
Consultation is taking place with the Labour Advisory Board and
with both sides of industry on whether the wage ceiling in the
Employment Ordinance should be raised or removed to extend protection
to more non-manual employees.
In recent years we have been making very rapid progress
in widening the scope of our labour legislation both in the social
and technical fields. The Commissioner will be proposing a furtier
smaller but useful package for this session along the lines I have
indicated. But it has become apparent that the pace of legislation
has outrun the administrative and enforcement capacity of the department."
The staff of the department are of high calibre, but there are too few
of them. It is therefore important that in the coming year the department
should consolidate and build up its resources.
/Housing