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of Inland Revenue is concerned with the collection of direct taxation levied under the Inland Revenue Ordinance, 1947. The Superintendent of Imports and Exports is charged with the collection of import and excise duties and with the direction of preventive work. The Secretary for Chinese Affairs is a senior administrative officer and has a wide and general respon- sibility in all matters affecting the Chinese community. The Labour Office, first established as a sub-department of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs in 1938, became a separate and independent department at the end of June, 1946: during 1947 the style and title of the officer in charge was altered from Labour Officer to Commissioner of Labour. The Labour Office is responsible, inter alia, for ensuring that conditions in factories and workshops, particularly with regard to health and safety, are in accordance with the requirements of existing legislation. In cases of trade disputes the Commissioner does not actually arbitrate but provides a channel for the pursuit of negotiations between the parties involved. The Social Welfare Officer operates under the general direction of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Among his functions are included protection. of women and girls, the inspection of emigrant ships, super- vision of child and juvenile welfare and the general co-ordination of all welfare activities in the Colony. The Medical Depart- ment and the Sanitary Department deal with public health, and the Public Works Department is concerned with roads, buildings, waterworks, piers, Government transport and similar matters.

The Head of the Sanitary Department is, ex officio, the chairman of the Urban Council. This Council's functions and authority are more restricted than its title suggests, and are subordinate in many respects to the executive authority of Government. The Council's power to originate subsidiary legislation in matters concerning public health and conservancy is subject to confirmation by the Legislative Council.

Local administration in the New Territories, which include the many islands within Hong Kong's territorial waters, is in the hands of a District Officer. In addition to his administrative duties this officer is magistrate and land officer for his district, and is empowered to hear small debts cases and to decide sum- marily certain types of cases concerning land. The rural area was formerly divided into two districts, the northern and the southern, each under its District Officer, but since the re-occupation it has so far been found more convenient to have one officer responsible for the whole area. Other permanent departments are: The Audit Department, the Education Depart- ment, which controls the Government schools and supervises all private schools within the Colony, the Fire Brigade, the Harbour Department, the Department of Air Services, the Police Depart- ment, the Railway Department, the Post Office (which controls tele-communication services and broadcasting, but not the telephone service which is maintained by a private company), the Prisons Department, and the Royal Observatory.

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