58
EMPLOYMENT
and swimming. Adult education is sometimes arranged with free or subsidized tuition for employees' children. There are also voluntary organizations which provide hostels and playgrounds catering specifically for industrial workers.
Workmen's compensation. Workmen injured while working, and the dependants of those fatally injured, are entitled to compensa- tion under the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance, 1953, which stipulates the minimum rates of compensation. Assistance and advice are given by the Labour Department in all cases of work- men's compensation. Most claims are settled by amicable agree- ment approved by the department. Fatal cases are dealt with by the Courts and free legal aid is provided where necessary. During the year $2,403,822.37 was paid to injured workmen, and depend- ants in 137 fatal cases were awarded a total of $1,146,928.00.
Apprenticeship. Government employs apprentices in the work- shops of the Public Works Department, the Printing Department and the Kowloon-Canton Railway. Apprentices must sign inden- tures and attend technical classes. Several large firms also employ apprentices who are encouraged to attend technical classes, the tuition fees often being paid by the employers. Several of the larger spinning and weaving mills operate apprenticeship schemes for mechanics or junior engineers, and arrange classes on their own premises in both technical and general subjects.
On the advice of the Labour Advisory Board, an ad hoc sub- committee of the standing committee on Technical Education and Vocational Training was set up to study the subject of apprentice- ship, and its report was being studied by Government at the end of the year.
NEW TERRITORIES
The 1961 census showed that farming and fishing were no longer the major occupations in the New Territories. Only 30 per cent of the working population were so employed as against 30 per cent in manufacture, eight per cent in commerce and 20 per cent in transport and services.
Rice is the traditional farming crop and was formerly cultivated to the virtual exclusion of all others. During the 1950's, however, there was a marked changeover to vegetable production, particu- larly by immigrants, while more recently pigs and poultry have