Appendix I.
INDEX NUMBERS OF QUANTITIES OF COMMODITIES IMPORTED INTO HONG KONG during 1937, 1938 AND 1939.
1931=100.
Items 1937 1938 1939 Building Materials 10 77.5 65.9 43.0 Chemicals & Drugs 18 133.8 93.0 96.3 Dyeing Materials 5 41.8 55.2 34.4 Foodstuffs 25 110.7 107.3 92.1 Fuels 5 126.8 119.3 114.5 Manures 2 141.9 58.7 67.2 Metals 30 120.7 62.3 54.0 Minerals & Ores 3 308.6 22.8 9.7 Nuts & Seeds 7 113.7 310.9 201.0 Oils & Fats 14 120.6 145.1 123.8 Textiles 37 59.8 83.0 101.0 Sundries 29 71.6 64.7 54.6 Total Items 185 General Average 119.7 101.5 82.6Chapter VIII.
LABOUR.
No new by-laws were made during the year.
The improvement in the industrial life of the Colony recorded during 1938 fully maintained its level during the year under review. An outstanding feature was the construction by local shipyards of the two largest ships ever built in the Colony. There was a steady increase in the numbers of factories where weaving and knitting is done and also in the shirt and pyjama making industry. Several new industries were opened. These include a match factory (the first in the Colony) and factories for the manufacture of buttons made from cocoanut shells and ivory nuts. Shanghai workers only are employed in the latter industry but some experienced workers from Canton are employed in the match factory. The output of rubber shoes, electric hand-torches, batteries, etc., for the Empire and overseas markets was well maintained.
For the first ten months of the year employment generally was very steady and most of the factories worked to full capacity, although the majority of them closed before regulation hours. Some difficulty was experienced in obtaining raw materials after the outbreak of war in Europe but this is gradually being overcome. There was a steady increase in the number of workers employed in registered factories and the total at the end of the year was approximately 57,500. The amount of unemployment is difficult to estimate owing to the number of refugees still in the Colony. Skilled labour was in demand principally in the shipyards and there was also a steady demand for both skilled and unskilled labour by the military authorities.