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COMMUNICATIONS
owners were applying for registration of their vessels under the British flag.
The Hong Kong Registry of Shipping now lists over 500 vessels under the British flag totalling some 600,000 gross register tons, of which 146 vessels are of over 500 gross tons. The Colony is fast becoming one of the leading centres in the world for tramp- shipowning and a good deal of chartering business, previously the preserve of New York or London, is finding its way to Hong Kong. The Colony is now one of the four main shipping centres of the world and its importance both in respect of shipowning and ship chartering continues to increase steadily.
The Port of Victoria has a water-borne traffic density higher than most great ports. The 11 cross harbour ferry services which all operate at very frequent intervals, the lighters, both self- propelled and towed, together with hundreds of motor launches, fishing vessels and pleasure craft, combine to create special problems in the day-to-day running of the Port. Some 26,000 native type craft and other small vessels operate in the Colony waters, of which over 4,500 are mechanized, and one office of the Marine Department is devoted to the control, needs and problems of this community which plays so important a part in the economic structure of the Port, and of the Colony as a whole. Examinations are compulsory for Local Certificates of Competency as Master or Engineer of all mechanized fishing vessels, launches or any other engine driven craft. These examinations, the standard of which is being gradually raised, have been an important factor in ensuring a continued high standard of handling and safety pre- cautions in small vessels. As a result, there have been far fewer accidents than might be expected considering the number of craft moving in the harbour or elsewhere both by day and by night. The major part of the water transportation of locally moving cargoes is by towed lighters or by junks, and in the external trade with Macau and adjacent Chinese ports a quarter of a million tons of foodstuffs and building materials were imported during the year, and some 133,000 tons exported. In Colony waters, a similar movement of bulk commodities took place between the harbour area and outlying places, some 944,000 tons being transported inwards, of which the greater part was sand for the building trade, and 142,000 tons outwards.