EMPLOYMENT
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Kong exports), the building construction industry and the engineer- ing trade. Because of the complex structure of this last industry the original committee investigating engineering is now being replaced by four separate industrial committees covering automobile repairs and servicing, electrical apparatus and appliances, machine shop and metal working, and shipbuilding and ship repairs. The Chairman and most of the members of the industrial committees have been drawn from the industries concerned, although a small number of government officers also serve on them, with a Labour Department representative as both member and secretary of each committee.
Responsibilities in the field of industrial training are divided among government departments. The training of operatives is the principal responsibility of the Labour Department in consultation with industry and any government department which may have an interest. Craftsman training is the responsibility of the Education Department where educational institutional training is concerned; otherwise it is the responsibility of the Labour Department, in consultation with advisory organizations, industry and other in- terested government departments. For technician and technologist training, the responsibility falls mainly upon the Education Depart- ment. At technician level, a large part of the financial burden for recurrent expenditure continues to rest on the government though considerable capital resources have been supplied by industry for the development of the Hong Kong Technical College. At the technologist level, the provision of education remains in the hands of the government so far as it is not provided by the universities.
The government has indicated that, while industry itself must be responsible for financing training at skilled and semi-skilled levels, it will assist by providing land free of premium for approved group- training schemes organized by industry; or by granting loans for the purchase of flatted factory floor space for training purposes. The policy of granting land free of premium for operative training was extended in March, this year, to qualify any company whose employees need specialized training of a nature which cannot be included in a group scheme, if there is an element of public interest involved. To date only one application for land free of premium has been received, and approved.