interest. Between $20,000 and $100,000 is invested in this manner by each lan, and between $10,000 and $50,000 kept in reserve. A single lan will transact business valued at between $100,000 and $800,000 in a single year.
The local fishermen belong essentially to the floating population, a special class of people known as tan ka or "boat family". Their calling and trade is a specialised one and they are entirely unsuited to other occupations. Their junks are their only stock in trade. To these they have confined their entire lives for generations, regarding them not only as their sole means of support but also their only home. The fact that there are some 70,000 to 80,000 persons living in about 3,000 boats, the largest of which does not exceed 85 feet in length, and the majority of which are less than 60 feet long shows the extent of the over-crowding to which their traditional occupation subjects them. A boat of 70 feet in length provides space for the accommodation of 40 to 45 persons of all ages, besides space for fish, salt, gear, food and miscellaneous cargo.
The average earning capacity of a single able-bodied fisherman is $70 per annum. This general low standard of living combined with the hidebound allegiance to a centuries-old tradition has prevented the infiltration of modern methods and the adoption of modern appliances. The Japanese were quick to realise the advantage to be gained from power-driven vessels and the substitution of machinery for man-power. Sometime before 1937 a Japanese fishing company was organized in Hong Kong for work in the South China seas with the presumed object of controlling the entire industry in the Colony and in South China. Steam trawlers and improved fishing methods brought the company increasing profits up to 1937 when the business was suspended owing to the Sino-Japanese hostilities.
Trawling, seining, gill netting and lining are the principal methods of fishing in use in the Colony. Garoupas, sea-breams, golden-threads, flat fishes, rags, white herring, mackerel, crabs, halibut, sole, crayfish and mullet are found in great quantities off the Pearl River delta. In Deep Bay off the New Territories, oysters are cultivated in an area of approximately 20 square miles. The annual produce of this area is about $200,000.
A survey of the fisheries of Hong Kong was begun in 1938 by Mr. S. Y. Lin of the University of Hong Kong.
Agriculture.
The total area of the Colony is about 390 square miles of which some 20% is privately owned agricultural land. The greater part of this land is situated in the North Western part of the Colony where the only plain and undulating areas are to be found. In the remainder, which is of a very hilly nature, cultivation is confined to valleys where the available flat land is generally of narrow proportions. In these areas, cultivation for rice production has in some cases (where water is available) been carried some distance up the slopes but seldom has any attempt been made to utilize these areas for other crops.
The monsoonal rainfall at 85 inches is adequate for tropical cultivation. distribution of the rainfall with about 66 inches in the five months May to September and 18 inches in the remainder of the year further determines the forms of cultivation. The chief crop is rice. Two crops of rice are grown in the wetter months and in the drier months, where water is available, a crop of vegetables. Crop rotation is not practised and, in respect of the greater part of the agricultural land, rice is the only crop. This is made possible by the liberal use of fertiliser, chiefly human manure. While production of rice is insufficient for rural requirements yet there is a fair export trade in certain special grades for which an overseas demand exists. Consequently, the greater part of the Colony's rice requirements have to be met by import from overseas. In the present state of agriculture it is unlikely that the rice crop can be materially increased, the limiting factors being land and manure. By the introduction and acclimatization of higher yielding strains and varieties it may be possible to
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interest. Between $20,000 and $100,000 is invested in this manner by each lan, and between $10,000 and $50,000 kept in reserve. A single lan will transact business valued at between $100,000 and $800,000 in a single year.
The local fishermen belong essentially to the floating population, a special class of people known as tan ka or "boat family". Their calling and trade is a specialised one and they are entirely unsuited to other occupations. Their junks are their only stock in trade. To these they have confined their entire lives for generations, regarding them not only as their sole means of support but also their only home. The fact that there are some 70,000 to 80,000 persons living in about 3,000 boats, the largest of which does not exceed 85 feet in length, and the majority of which are less than 60 feet long shows the extent of the over- crowding to which their traditional occupation subjects them. A boat of 70 feet in length provides space for the accommodation of 40 to 45 persons of all ages, besides space for fish, salt, gear, food and miscellaneous cargo.
The average earning capacity of a single able-bodied fisherman is $70 per annum. This general low standard of living combined with the hidebound allegiance to a centuries-old tradition has prevented the infiltration of modern methods and the adoption of modern appliances. The Japanese were quick to realise the advantage to be gained from power-driven vessels and the substitution of machinery for man-power. Sometime before 1937 a Japanese fishing company was organized in Hong Kong for work in the South China seas with the presumed object of controlling the entire industry in the Colony and in South China. Steam trawlers and improved fishing methods brought the company increasing profits up to 1937 when the business was suspended owing to the Sino-Japanese hostili- ties.
Trawling, seining, gill netting and lining are the principal methods of fishing in use in the Colony. Garoupas, sea-breams, golden-threads, flat fishes, rags, white herring, mackerel, crabs, halibut, sole, crayfish and mullet are found in great quantities off the Pearl River delta. In Deep Bay off the New Territories, oysters are cultivated in an area of approximately 20 square miles. The annual produce of this area is about $200,000.
A survey of the fisheries of Hong Kong was begun in 1938 by Mr. S. Y. Lin of the University of Hong Kong.
Agriculture.
The total area of the Colony is about 390 square miles of which some 20% is privately owned agricultural land. The greater part of this land is situated in the North Western part of the Colony where the only plain and undulating areas are to be found. In the remainder, which is of a very hilly nature, cultivation is confined to valleys where the available flat land is generally of narrow pro- portions. In these areas, cultivation for rice production has in some cases (where water is available) been carried some distance up the slopes but seldom has any attempt been made to utilize these areas for other crops.
The monsoonal
Rainfall at 85 inches is adequate for tropical cultivation. distribution of the rainfall with about 66 inches in the five months May to September and 18 inches in the remainder of the year further determines the forms of cultivation. The chief crop is rice. Two crops of rice are grown in the wetter months and in the drier months, where water is available, a crop of vegetables. Crop rotation is not practised and, in respect of the greater part of the agricultural land, rice is the only crop. This is made possible by the liberal use of fertiliser, chiefly human manure. While production of rice is insufficient for rural requirements yet there is a fair export trade in certain special grades for which an overseas demand exists. Consequently, the greater part of the Colony's rice requirements have to be met by import from overseas. In the present state of agriculture it is unlikely that the rice crop can be materially increased, the limiting factors being land and manure. By the introduction and acclimatization of higher yielding strains and varieties it may be possible to
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