OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
with and more than $320,000 was paid out in compen- sation. The Ordinance requires an employer to pay half wages for periods of temporary incapacity but many employers in fact pay wages in full as well as medical expenses and the cost of artificial limbs where an employee loses a limb in an industrial accident.
Industrial Training
Apprenticeship and Vocational Training
Craft apprenticeship within the Government service is provided by the Kowloon-Canton Railway, the Public Works Department in its electrical, mechanical and waterworks branches, the Stores Department in its workshops and by the Printing Department. Outside Government apprenticeship training schemes are oper- ated by the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co. Ltd., the Royal Naval Dockyard, by the public utilities and by a number of other European and Chinese firms. Encouragement is given by these concerns to appren- tices to attend technical classes and financial help is sometimes given.
Apprenticeship is common in Chinese industrial establishments but with a few exceptions systematic training and supervision are lacking. Usually the apprentice is excepted to acquire his skill by watching and imitating skilled workers.
Vocational training classes for coxswains and engineers are operated by the Marine Department for Government employees and by the Fisheries Division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for fishermen. These were well attended and
35