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INDUSTRY AND TRADE
The Preventive Service, a uniformed and disciplined organisation, whose role in the protection of revenue from dutiable commodities and the control of narcotics traffic is described in Chapter 10, is under the command of an Assistant Commissioner. The service has an establishment of 11 gazetted officers, 291 inspectors and 668 rank and file.
The General Duties Branch deals with trade licensing (other than for textiles) and the control of certain reserved commodities including rice. Trade complaints are also handled by this branch.
Trade Development Council
The Trade Development Council was established by statute in 1966: the council consists of a chairman, appointed by the Governor, the chairmen and representatives of the principal commercial and industrial organisations, two senior government officials, and four members nominated by the Governor. The council has a permanent executive under an executive director and is financed by subvention from the Government's general revenue. The head office is in the Ocean Terminal, Kowloon, where it maintains a permanent display of Hong Kong products. The council also maintains offices overseas, in London, New York, Brussels, Stockholm, Sydney and Nairobi.
At the beginning of 1969, a re-appraisal was conducted of the council's representation in Europe. This survey re-examined existing policy and recommended a wider council representation abroad. As a result, new offices will shortly be established in Frankfurt, Rotterdam (or Amsterdam), Vienna and Milan. The European offices will come under the direction of a newly appointed Regional Representative for Britain and Europe.
In general, the year was the busiest experienced so far by the council, with numerous promotional activities taking place especially in Western Europe and North America.
A departure from the normal trade fair participation was the council's mounting in Bangkok of an exhibition of building materials available from Hong Kong. This was the first time the council had organised a solo exhibition of this type.