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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
During the dry season from October to March there is a constant threat of fire in the plantations and elaborate fire precautions are put into effect. Fire-lookouts which have been established on strategic hill-tops in the plantation areas are connected by field telephone to fire control points where men, equipment and transport stand by during particularly dangerous periods. A system of roads, paths and fire-barriers is also maintained to facilitate fire fighting. A number of fires which did break out in plantations during the year were promptly dealt with and there was little serious damage. Illegal woodcutting, once a major source of injury, has greatly declined over the past five years and is now of very little importance compared with fire. All the forest reserves are regularly patrolled to check illegal cutting.
Apart from Government work in afforestation, the only large forestry project in the Colony is a scheme started in 1953 by the Lantao Development Company in an upland area of about 600 acres in the hinterland of Tai Pak, a small village on the east coast of Lantao. This is the Colony's first commercial venture in forestry; the company has con- centrated on planting Australian Hoop Pine and had high hopes of an early return from this fast growing and valuable species. Most of the area has now been planted, but doubts have arisen as to whether hoop pine is suited to local condi- tions and the work has therefore been discontinued.
The re-export of graded timber to the high-class markets of the United States, Australia, Europe and South Africa continues to expand. There is no locally grown timber avail- able, all timber for local consumption or export being im- ported, mostly from Borneo.
ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department was founded in 1950 and now consists of four divisions: Agricul- ture, Animal Industries, Fisheries (marine and fresh-water) and Forestry. It has expanded rapidly since 1953, and its