INDUSTRY AND TRADE
69
The variety of the goods produced by local industry is considerable, but in general, while the heavier industries, such as shipbuilding, continue to be important, the Colony has become best noted for the price, quality, and range of the products of its light industries. Of importance are cotton piece-goods, cotton yarns, towelling, ready-made garments of all kinds, cotton and woollen gloves, enamelware, aluminium- ware, torches, torch batteries and bulbs, vacuum flasks, plasticware, paints and varnishes, rubber and leather foot- wear, and rattanware. Among traditional Chinese goods produced, brocade piece-goods, embroideries and drawn- work, crocheted gloves and paper novelties are the best known.
Without doubt there is scope for further industrial develop- ment in the Colony, but certain difficulties have to be faced. Firstly, there is a severe shortage of water, although this will be ameliorated to some extent when the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir is completed. Secondly, there is the lack, in Hong Kong's hilly terrain, of land suitable for industrial purposes. In the past much of the residential and commercial develop- ment has been achieved by the expedient of excavating hill- sides and using the spoil to reclaim land from the sea. This is being done at Kun Tong Reclamation, referred to in Chapter 14, which will provide within the next two or three years some 140 acres of industrial land. In this area industrial sites totalling some 349,000 square feet were sold during 1956.
HEAVY INDUSTRIES
Shipbuilding and Repairing. While the majority of the shipbuilding and repair yards are concerned with the smaller types of wooden and steel craft such as ferries, lighters, yachts and launches, the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd. and the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Co. of Hong Kong Ltd. together have an annual new building capacity of 80,000 gross tons. Both are equipped with the most up-to-date