EMPLOYMENT
believed to be substantial. Another major source of income is the large and growing number of holiday-makers from the urban areas and tourists from overseas.
Trade is centred on the markets, some of which are rapidly being transformed into substantial towns, attracting population from the urban areas. The scale of agricultural and industrial development in the New Territories has increased greatly during recent years; a large proportion of the labour force for both public and private development projects is recruited locally, providing employment for numbers of villagers and market town-dwellers. The number of New Territories' residents employed in Govern- ment service has also increased considerably. Certain traditional industries have always been carried on in a small way in the New Territories. Examples are the operation of salt pans; the prepara- tion of salt-fish, fish-paste, beancurd, soya sauce and preserved fruits; the burning of coral and sea-shells for lime; brick manu- facture; boat building and repairing; and stone quarrying. There is an old-established match factory at Peng Chau Island for which villagers on neighbouring islands make match boxes by hand as a sideline occupation.
Major industry did not come to the New Territories to any extent until 1952, but since then it has spread on an increasingly large scale. This is particularly so at Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung which now form one of the largest concentrations of modern industry in the Colony, engaging principally in the manufacture of textiles, foodstuffs, metal ware and plastics. Further along the Castle Peak Road at Sham Tseng is the Colony's brewery and a large textile works. At Castle Peak itself there are textile, plastic and carpet factories. At Sha Tin there is a dyeing and finishing works, while carpets are manufactured at Tai Po. Junk Bay, on the south-east side of the New Territories, is now being developed as the principal centre for the Colony's ship-breaking industry, and also for associated industries such as steel rolling mills. Mining and prospecting provide employment in a number of places, and at Ma On Shan there is a large iron ore mine.