COMMUNICATIONS
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are over 19,000 vessels in this category, more than 8,000 of them mechanized. It is mandatory for persons in charge of mechanized craft to possess a local certificate of competency as master or engineer.
A thriving trade continued with Macau and adjacent Chinese ports, cargoes being transported mainly by towed lighters or junks. Details of trade tonnage may be found in Appendix XXXVIII. A brisk internal trade is also carried on between the harbour area and outlying districts. Owing to the year's rise in freight rates, the number of unemployed ships laid up in Colony waters fell from five at the beginning of the year to two. Due to a drop in the prices of steel scrap and the wage rise to skilled and unskilled labour, the shipbreaking industry declined and 12 ships totalling 53,118 gross tons were broken up.
There were no serious typhoons during the year, but storm signals were hoisted on a number of occasions and heavy rains caused congestion in the port. The rainstorm of 12th June caused considerable delays to shipping in port and careful planning was necessary to make berths available to arriving ships. Further congestion was experienced when typhoons affecting ports in Taiwan and Japan caused ships to arrive late in Hong Kong. The Liberian tanker Thomas P ran aground on Wong Chuk Kok, Lamma Island, in February, resulting in the spillage of several thousand tons of solvent and aviation kerosene which spread over the entire East Lamma Channel and at one time presented Aberdeen with a very serious fire hazard. East Lamma Channel was tem- porarily closed to shipping, but due to the high evaporation rate of the spillage, danger of fire soon decreased and the ship was salvaged five days later. In October one of the hydrofoils on the Hong Kong-Macau ferry service ran aground on a sand bank on the north coast of Lantau Island. Several people suffered minor injuries and the hydrofoil was extensively damaged. This was the first serious accident experienced by the hydrofoils since they came into operation. A further four ships stranded in Colony waters and a few minor collisions occurred during the year.
CIVIL AVIATION
Hong Kong Airport, situated on the north shore of Kowloon Bay, some four miles from the centre of Kowloon, is one of the