6.73 The total number of tests carried out by the laboratories during the year was 78,358. Of the tests, a total of 8,792 were for private firms. The total number of tests is slightly less than in 1971-72, when more tests were carried out on concrete materials. There was a marked increase during the year in the number of soil tests carried out.
6.74 Various new items of testing equipment were purchased. The equipping of the Farm Road branch laboratory with further testing facilities, to improve the testing service for works on the mainland, continued.
STAFF, TRAINING AND WELFARE
Staff
6.75 There were still unfilled vacancies in the professional and technical staff grades throughout the year, despite constant recruitment.
6.76 Ten Engineers from overseas were recruited and one Royal Engineer Officer was on secondment from the British Forces. Six Assistant Engineers were promoted to full professional grade and four Apprentice Engineers were appointed Assistant Engineers.
6.77 A total of 12 officers, including 7 who each had over 20 years service, retired during the year.
Training
6.78 A Quarry Manager was on two-year attachment to Tarmac, Ltd. in England whilst one Engineer of the Drainage Works Division started a one-year post-graduate course in Public Health Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in October 1972.
6.79 A scholarship for twelve months was awarded by the Confederation of British Industry, London to one Engineer of the Drainage Works Division to receive training under a Chartered Civil Engineer in the United Kingdom. A U.N. Fellowship was awarded to one Engineer of the Port Works Division, who attended a course on Industrial Complexes and Estates Development at the Asian Institute for Economic Development and Planning in Bangkok.
6.80 Eighteen engineering graduates of the University of Hong Kong were employed as Apprentice Engineers in P.W.D. under agreement for three years training in accordance with the regulations of the