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HISTORY
Intense and unprecedented development has accompanied the growth of population. One of the most striking features of the post-war years has been the steadily increasing part which the Government has played, directly or indirectly, in the provision of housing and other forms of social services for the poorer sections of the community. Low-cost housing schemes and multi-storey resettlement estates have called for a heavy investment of public funds; schools, colleges, clinics, hospitals and other essential facilities have been provided on a huge scale. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon is the largest general hospital in the Common- wealth. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has been created from a federation of post-secondary colleges. Despite the substan- tial progress made, however, the demand for more services continues and is still far from being satisfied.
Private building on a wide scale has transformed and modernised much of the urban areas and the more accessible parts of the New Territories. In Kowloon and Tsuen Wan particularly, industrialists have opened many large modern factories producing a wide range of goods for export to all parts of the world. To meet the demand for land for industry and housing the Government has continued to carry out many new reclamation schemes, principally in the Central District, Causeway Bay, at various points on the northern shores of the harbour, and by Kwai Chung. The investigation of new areas for development is constantly in hand. Impressive schemes to improve the water supply were completed at Tai Lam Chung in 1957, and at Shek Pik in 1963; the Plover Cove scheme, which opened in 1968, trebled the amount of water available. Following a period of unparalleled drought in 1963-4, an arrangement was made with the Kwangtung Provincial Authorities to purchase 15,000 million gallons of water annually.
The spectacular growth of new factories and workshops, coupled with the Colony's need to keep pace with world-wide advances in production, management and marketing techniques, have been accompanied by higher standards of factory inspection, new labour legislation, and constantly increasing official concern with produc- tivity and trade promotion, and with technical and vocational training.