result of a period of drought. These hills were broadcast with pine seeds as part of the afforestation programme for 1948 and it became necessary to establish a fire lookout post on Kowloon Peak from where fires occurring on localities as far apart as Lyemun and Tai Mo Shan can be spotted. This post is manned during the dry season only and is equipped to report outbreaks of fire both by field telephone and signalling lamps.
MINING AND MINERAL RESOURCES
There are few places in the world comparable in area to Hong Kong (391 square miles) which have such a varied geological record. Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are all represented, but it is the igneous rocks, ranging from granites to rhyolites, which are the most widespread. A wide range of economic minerals has been formed. Not all have been located in sufficiently large deposits to be worth working but it is possible that modern prospecting methods may reveal valuable finds in the future. Unfortunately, much of the Colony is covered by a thick lateritic type of decomposed rock which effectively masks the solid geology below.
The principal minerals so far identified in the Colony are: kaolinite, argentiferous galena, wolframite, molybdenite, garnet, pyrite, mica, magnetite, haematite, cassiterite, fluorspar and quartz. However, the chief minerals mined to date, either by modern European methods or traditional Chinese surface scratchings, are kaolin, lead, iron and wolfram.
Lead deposits are widely scattered throughout the Colony. The lead is usually associated with silver as argentiferous galena. There are fair deposits to be found at Silver Mine Bay, Lead Mine Pass and Lin Ma Hang. The mines at Lin Ma Hang were easily the largest and most modern before the war began. They were forced to close down in 1940 when the Japanese sealed off deliveries to China. At one time they were producing roughly 250 tons of lead ore (concentrated) and 7,000 ounces of silver monthly. The Japanese opened the mine again during the occupation.
Iron is everywhere in evidence but the only deposit which so far has attracted a major commercial exploitation is the lenticular magnetite mass at Ma On Shan. Its production is regulated by its chief customer the Green Island Cement Company. Surface scratchings for ochre, a hydrated oxide of iron, are worked on and off. The ochre is used by small local paint companies.
Wolfram, which is loosely called tungsten, occurs in several places. It is mined officially and unofficially at Shing Mun, Castle Peak, Ho Chung and on Lantau Island. By far the largest workings
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