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benefits. A limited period of maternity leave is usually granted, but the worker is often required to find a substitute during her absence. Canteen and cloakroom facilities are non-existent or inadequate largely because most of the factories are very small concerns employing less than 25 persons, and the expense involved in providing these facilities would usually be too great for a small proprietor. Further, the present acute shortage of accommodation of all kinds in the Colony and the high cost of building and shortage of materials are obstacles to additional construction. In some cases attempts to provide canteen meals at low prices have failed owing to the conservatism of the workers who still prefer to patronize hawkers' stalls.

The Labour Office and its Work.

The department which is principally concerned with the working conditions in industry in the Colony is the Labour Office, which in 1946 was reconstituted as an independent unit, separate from the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs to which it had previously been linked. In September, 1947, the title of Labour Officer was changed to that of Commissioner of Labour. During the year the senior staff was further implemented by the appointment of a European Labour Officer with United Kingdom trade union experience and training. The staff of the Labour Office is now as follows:-Commissioner of Labour; a Deputy Commissioner of Labour, two European Labour Officers; a European Woman Labour Officer; a Chinese Assistant Labour Officer; a Chief Labour Inspector; two Inspectors; two Chinese Women Labour Inspectors; six clerks; a steno-typist and the usual complement of office messengers, etc.

Questions of administrative policy and labour legislation are dealt with by the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner. One of the Labour Officers together with the Chinese Assistant is primarily concerned with conciliation. The other Labour Officers are concerned with the conditions of employment of women and young persons and with trade union matters respectively. All senior officers, however, are compelled by circumstances to undertake a considerable amount of conciliation work in addition to their other duties. The Chief Labour Inspector deals mainly with the registration of factories and with matters of administration in connection therewith, whilst the remainder of his staff is fully occupied with day to day visits of inspection to the large number of industrial concerns on both sides of the harbour. Although the department has undergone considerable expansion since its institution a few years ago, additional staff will be required in the comparatively near future in order to keep pace with the continually expanding administrative and legislative labour field. During the year an additional 517 factories and workshops were registered, bringing the total since the re-occupation of the Colony to 883. number in actual operation, however, is considerably greater, since, of the 1297 factories and workshops which have applied for registration since the end of the war, only 112 have ceased

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