as an air centre, a popularity not to be attributed to the quality of its airfield but to the stable conditions prevailing in the Colony. In point of fact, Kai Tak Aerodrome, never very satisfactory, is now totally inadequate for modern requirements and the lack of any alternative airport is liable to cramp Hong Kong's development as an air centre. This has been appreciated for some time and strenuous efforts have been made to solve the problem of providing the Colony with a first-class airport up to international standards. There is a serious danger that failing the provision of such an airport, Hong Kong may slip gradually out of the regular international air routes of the Far East. Indeed, in certain instances, aircraft were already over- flying the Colony. Unfortunately, the close of 1947 found this major problem yet unsolved.
An important development in the sphere of air traffic was the conclusion of an air agreement between His Majesty's Government and the Chinese Government, early in 1947. Under this agreement, British aircraft of companies to be nominated by His Majesty's Government were granted the rights of setting down and taking up passengers at four Chinese airports, namely, Kunming, Canton, Shanghai and Tientsin, and Chinese aircraft were given reciprocal rights with regard to Hong Kong. Two British companies, British Overseas Airways Corporation and Hong Kong Airways, a new company subsidiary to B.O.A.C. formed during 1947, have been designated at operate the services under this agreement. Only the latter company has gone into operation so far. Two Chinese Companies, Chinese National Aviation Corporation and the Central Air Transport Corporation, have been nominated by the Chinese Government. A rather similar agreement was negotiated towards the end of the year between His Majesty's Government and the Government of the Philippines, but it had not been formally ratified by the end of the year and no companies had been designated by either party.
Colonial Development & Welfare Act.
The year 1947 saw no major expenditure on projects under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act. In fact, very little expenditure in this field was incurred at all. Minor expenditure on scholarships occurred mainly for the training of local personnel at English Universities so as to equip them to assume wider responsibilities. An interesting item of expenditure was the engagement of Sir Patrick Abercrombie to make a survey of the needs of Hong Kong in the matter of town planning and to prepare an outline plan for the development of the urban area. Sir Patrick visited Hong Kong for the month of November and during that time was constantly engaged in consultations with all interests with a view to formulation of a plan. His recommendations are awaited.
The reason for the small expenditure was that the initiation of planning had necessarily been deferred until as late as June, 1946, and the survey of the whole possible field of development
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