58
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
widely known. Its "Trade Bulletin", of which 8,000 free copies are sent each month to overseas addresses, has proved a valuable medium, and has been supplemented by the first edition of "Commerce, Industry, Finance", a pictorial commercial guide and business directory of the Colony, also published by the Department. 18,000 copies of this directory were made available for free distribution overseas, and received favourable reviews in a number of overseas trade journals.
The Director of Commerce and Industry is additionally responsible for Government bulk purchases of firewood and certain foodstuffs, and control over stocks of reserved com- modities, industrial development, trade development and certificates of origin, trade licensing, the collection of revenue from business registration and import and excise duties, the activities of the Preventive Service, and the production of statistics required by any Department of Government.
In 1955 an officer of the Department was sent on a study course of industrial management and planning in the United Kingdom, with a view to extending the Department's activities by giving general assistance to local manufacturers in improving their production methods and in catering for overseas requirements.
Handicrafts or home industries are not formally organized, neither do they receive any special encouragement from the Government as compared with other industries.
No special benefits are available to industry by way of income tax or import duty concessions. Apart from a few revenue-producing duties, the Colony is a free port and government regulation of trade is kept to a minimum.
All businesses are required to register with the Department of Commerce and Industry under the Business Regulation Ordinance, 1952, the annual fee for a business registration certificate being $200.
The vast majority of industrial concerns are owned and operated by the Colony's Chinese residents.
A new idea for Hong Kong in the field of trade promotion, made possible by the generous cooperation of Royal Interocean Lines, was the installation of a display of local products aboard the m.v. Ruys, on the Hong Kong- South Africa South America run. Many United Kingdom