HISTORY
347
Kwangtung Province, Shanghai and other commercial centres, entered the Colony during 1949 and the spring of 1950 and by the end of 1950 the population was estimated to be 2,360,000. Since then, it has continued to rise largely owing to a high rate of natural increase until the figure of 3,133,131 was recorded at the census of 1961.
Intense and unprecedented development has accompanied this growth of population. One of the most striking features of the post-war years has been the steadily increasing part which the Government has begun to play, directly or indirectly, in the provision of housing and other forms of social services for the poorer sections of the community. New low-cost housing schemes, of the conventional type or by way of multi-storied resettlement estates, have called for a heavy investment of public funds. New schools, colleges, clinics, hospitals and other essential facilities have been provided-as quickly as physical resources and the training of staff would permit-on a scale unprecedented in the Colony's history. Yet, despite the substantial progress already made and the many new projects already being contemplated, the demand continues and is still far from being satisfied.
Private building on a wide scale has transformed and modernized much of the urban areas and the more accessible parts of the New Territories. Particularly in Kowloon and Tsuen Wan industrialists have opened large modern factories producing a wide range of goods for export throughout the world. To meet the demand for more land for industry and housing the Government has continued to carry out many new reclamations principally in the central district, Causeway Bay and at various points on the northern shores of the harbour, while the investigation of the potentialities of new areas for development is constantly in hand. Reservoir capacity has also been doubled and is being further enlarged.
The spectacular growth of new factories and workshops and the Colony's need to keep pace with world-wide advances in production, management and marketing techniques have been accompanied by higher standards of factory inspection, new labour legislation, and constantly increasing official concern with trade promotion, and technical and vocational training.
The Government has embarked on a large-scale reconstruction of the Colony's road network. More rigorous traffic controls have