PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
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Co-operative Building Societies. 112 of these societies had been registered by the end of 1958. These societies were formed to comply with the conditions prescribed by the Government as part of its programme to assist in the solution of the housing problems of local pensionable officers. The work is described further in Chapter 10.
Fish Pond Society. The only society of this kind, the Luk Keng Fish Pond Society, owns a fish pond at Luk Keng near Sha Tau Kok with the purpose of improving and developing fish culture.
Credit & Consumers' Societies. There are now two Consumers' Societies and their function is the purchase of consumer goods in bulk for resale to members. The first society was formed by the Forestry Division of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department in 1955 and its aims are to encourage members to save and to utilize savings for small individual loans. The second Society was registered this year and is formed exclusively of fishermen based on the island of Ap Chau in the New Territories.
Figures of the membership and finances of Societies will be found at Appendix XII.
MINING
E
There is mining of iron, lead, wolfram and graphite by under- ground methods, whilst kaolin clay, quartz and feldspar are worked by opencast methods. Iron ore and kaolin are exported to Japan, lead ore to the United Kingdom and Europe, wolfram to the United Kingdom and United States, and graphite to the United States and Taiwan. Kaolin is also used locally by manufacturers of rubber goods, whilst quartz and feldspar are solely produced for local consumption, principally by the enamelware, ceramic and glass-making industries.
All mining leases and licences and prospecting licences are for the New Territories, i.e. the mainland and the islands of Lantau, Chek Lap Kok, West Brother, Ma Wan and Tsing Yi, and opera- tions are mainly controlled by individuals or by small Chinese mining companies. At the close of the year there were five mining leases, twenty three mining licences and two prospecting licences in operation.
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