INDUSTRY AND TRADE
91
The year was the first in which the Commerce and Industry Department programme for compiling quarterly statistics of in- dustrial production was in continuous operation. Experience gained from this and an earlier pilot survey of the textile industry has resulted in several modifications of the scheme in order to increase the percentage response which, while reasonable having regard to its voluntary nature, is not yet high enough in some sections to allow for projections to cover the whole of the Colony's industry. Nevertheless, the information so far obtained has already proved of value in international discussions.
In October, Government announced two major projects in the field of economic statistics. Mr E. R. Chang, who arrived in Hong Kong from the West Indies on a Government fellowship at the University of Hong Kong, started work on a national income survey of the Colony which will take two years to complete; the statistical branch of the Commerce and Industry Department began a house- hold budgetary survey.
TRADE CONTROL
Import and export licensing formalities are kept to a minimum and there were no significant changes in the few existing regula- tions during the year. Licences are required only for materials of a strategic nature and for a few items on which it is necessary to retain control for health, foreign exchange and other such reasons. The majority of export licences are required for exchange control purposes. The Commerce and Industry Department takes pride in the speed with which applications for import and export licences are handled, a licence normally being ready for collection a few hours after application has been made.
The Hong Kong Government is responsible for the legal and administrative arrangements required to implement the undertaking to limit exports of a wide range of cotton textiles to Britain and ensures, by means of a system of export licensing, that exports do not exceed the agreed quantities. Quotas allocated to individual firms are kept under constant review in order to ensure full utiliza- tion of the permitted yardage. Arrangements were made toward the end of the year to allocate quotas under the new undertaking which is effective for a period of three years from 1st January 1963.