18
EMPLOYMENT
a large number of out-workers are known to be employed, continued its expansion as the second largest employer.
There still remains a shortage of industrial premises in some parts of the Colony although construction of industrial-type buildings —including flatted factory buildings continues, particularly in the San Po Kong, Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan industrial areas. The effect of this shortage is especially felt by small-scale manufacturers needing 5,000 square feet or less. The number of factories on record in the Labour Department at the end of the year was 9,002, many being small concerns. Of these, 5,560 were registered under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. The tables at Appendix III show development in main industrial groups and selected industries.
Owing to rapid urbanization and development in the New Ter- ritories in recent years, farming and fishing no longer employ the majority of the population there. The 1961 census showed that about 30 per cent of the working population were employed in these industries compared with 30 per cent in manufacturing, 8 per cent in commerce and 20 per cent in the transport and service industries. Since then the proportion employed in agriculture has decreased as a result of changing conditions and the expansion of industry.
Apart from certain traditional trades in the main market towns and some pre-war textile factories in Tsuen Wan, industry in the New Territories is a recent development. In December 1965, the Labour Department had on record 784 factories in the New Ter- ritories with a labour force of 52,658. The bulk of the industrial population in the New Territories is concentrated in the emerging township of Tsuen Wan, which is designed to become a balanced community to include factories, housing, recreational facilities, services and other amenities. It already has many modern textile factories as well as factories producing metal, enamelware and plastics. There is also a government-owned flatted factory designed to meet the special requirements of small-scale silk weavers. Castle Peak, which is further along the coast, has now been selected as the site of another large self-contained city.
Traditional village industries still provide a certain amount of employment in the many old market towns of the New Territories. Examples are the preparation of salt-fish, fish-paste, bean-curd,