OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
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workshop one whole day a week to attend classes at the Hong Kong Technical College and, in their own time, attend classes two evenings a week.
Apprenticeship training schemes are operated by H.M. Dockyard, the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co. of Hong Kong Ltd., the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd., by the public utilities, and by a number of other European and Chinese firms. Encouragement is given by these concerns to apprentices to attend technical classes, and financial help towards fees is often provided. Some large spinning and weaving mills have apprenticeship schemes for mechanics or junior engineers; in certain cases recruitment is by competitive examination and the mills provide classes on their own premises in both technical and general educa- tional subjects.
こ The Standing Committee on Technical Education and Vocational Training, set up in 1954, met five times during the year.
The work of the Technical College and the two govern- ment technical schools is described in Chapter 8.
NEW TERRITORIES
Although farming and fishing are the two principal occupations in the New Territories, the pattern of country life has been modified by factors common to other maritime areas of South China. Even before the New Territories became part of the Colony, Hong Kong's influence as a growing commercial city had begun to attract young men away from their villages in search of work either in town or overseas. Lamma Island, close to Hong Kong, was the first place to be affected, many of its young men becoming sea- men in British ships. In the first decade of this century many Hakka youngsters migrated to the West Indies, principally from the Sai Kung, Hang Hau and Sha Tau Kok areas. The Tung Chung valley, on Lantao Island, is another area from which large numbers have gone abroad as seamen or