26
EMPLOYMENT
years manual workers recruited for employment outside Hong Kong were subject only to administrative control based on International Labour Conventions. However, the Contracts for Overseas Employ- ment Ordinance came into force on 1st November 1965, thus giving legislative effect to the provisions of these conventions. Under this ordinance every manual worker-unless he is employed as a member of the crew of a ship or aircraft, or holds an employment voucher issued under the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, or has been granted admission on a permanent basis to an overseas territory is required to enter into a written contract with his employer. This must be presented for attestation by the Commis- sioner of Labour prior to the worker's departure from Hong Kong. The maximum period of service which may be stipulated in any such contract must not exceed two years if the worker is unaccom- panied by his family, or three years if the worker is so accompanied. On the expiry of the original contract a worker may enter into a re-engagement contract if he does not wish to avail himself of immediate repatriation. A worker for overseas employment is also required to be medically examined before leaving Hong Kong, the cost of the examination and of all other formalities being borne by the prospective employer. In enforcing the Contracts for Overseas Employment Ordinance, the Labour Department works in close co-operation with the Immigration Department.
During the year, 2,002 workers went overseas for employment as compared with 1,416 in the previous year and 1,768 in 1964. Few of these workers were accompanied by dependants. The number of workers recruited for Malaysia and Brunei increased during the year, and these countries, which mainly require skilled and semi-skilled workers in the building trade, domestic servants and fishermen, continued to be the main receiving areas. The British Phosphate Commission also conducted its regular annual recruiting operation through a local agent and engaged 171 workers for Nauru and Ocean Islands. This figure is below that for 1965. Re-engagement contracts, as required under the Contracts for Overseas Employment Ordinance, numbered 692.
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act came into effect on 1st July 1962, and the Labour Department assumed responsibility for forwarding, to the British Ministry of Labour, applications for