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The total area of land leased during the year was 455 acres 1 rood and 13-1/5 poles which is a slight decrease on the preceding year.
The total area resumed re-entered and surrendered was 279 acres 3 roods and 32-2/5 poles.
In Hong Kong and Kowloon there was a steadily growing demand for building sites whilst in the Northern District of the New Territories there was little demand for house sites in the development areas but in the villages construction of new houses goes on steadily and there was a fair demand for agricultural land.
There is little to report with regard to the Southern District of the New Territories beyond an increase in the demand for house sites at Cheung Chau which cannot be met until the Reclamation is made, and an increase in the building of new houses at Tai 0.
XI.-Labour.
Trade in general remained very dull during the year and with the factories still working much below their full capacity, there was no increase in the number of women and children employed. The knitting factories in Kowloon and the cigarette and perfumery factories in Hong Kong are the largest employers of women and girls, such work being peculiarly suitable for female labour. Several glass factories closed down during the year owing to lack of trade and the high price of coal.
The Industrial Employment of Children Ordinance No. 22 of 1922 was amended by Ordinance No. 24 of 1929, and its scope extended to include women and young persons as well as children. The most important regulations made under the amended ordinance are those prohibiting the employment of women in certain dangerous trades and also in any factory between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The year 1929 was remarkably uneventful as regards labour troubles, not a single strike in which more than very few workers were engaged having taken place. A strike threatened amongst the lightermen at the Kowloon Godowns in July, but the trouble came to an end when the masters granted a slight concession in the matter of night-work pay.
There are known to exist in the Colony 150 labour Guilds, with a total membership of over 100,000, but one-third of this figure would probably represent the number of active members.
With one or two exceptions Guild activities seem to be at a low ebb, and the interest taken in their Guilds by so-called members is very slight. The supply of labour in the Colony is good, possibly as a result of trouble in the adjacent provinces, and the Guilds are still financially crippled as a result of the 1925 strike. Guilds in Canton are kept under close surveillance by the Government, and this has probably also had a beneficial effect on those in Hong Kong.