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Grants totalling about £17,000 have been approved in respect of various scholarships tenable in the United Kingdom, and several scholars who benefited under these schemes have already returned to the Colony.

An upper air reporting station by which meteorological data are collected by means of radar-wind and radio-sonde has been established with the aid of a grant of £25,780 and is already in regular daily operation. Plans are in hand for extending this project. Other projects being planned include the construction of roads and piers and the extension of irrigation facilities in the New Territories, the establish- ment of a factory for the conversion of nightsoil and the making of topographical and land utilization surveys.

Appendix I at the end of this Report shows in tabular form details regarding the various approved schemes. Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East.

Hong Kong has continued to be an Associate Member of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, the principal regional organisation of the United Nations in this part of the world. Three delegates from Hong Kong took part in the meetings of the Fifth Session of ECAFE at Singapore in October and it was largely on the delegation's initiative that ECAFE undertook to examine and, if possible, improve their statistical service. The occasional visits of personnel of ECAFE have been of assistance to the Govern- ment in dealing with the considerable amount of documents, questionnaires, etc. which associate membership of the Commission involves, and every effort has been made to make Hong Kong's cooperation more positive than it has been hitherto. The part which ECAFE can play in improving conditions in Asia and the Far East still remains doubtful, but it is hoped that before long its existence will prove of benefit to the peoples of its Member countries.

Statistics

Statistics relating to economic and other subjects have been published since June, 1948 in Supplement No. 4 to the Gazette; the statistics for 1949 were summarized in Suplement No. 12 of the 10th February, 1950. One of the tables of this summary, consisting of index figures of economic significance, appears as Appendix II and a summary of total figures for the years 1947, 1948 and 1949 appears as Appendix III.

In addition the figures given below are of general interest.

It is estimated that the population of the Colony increased from 1,800,000 to about 1,860,000 during 1948 and 1949. These figures are in fact no more than estimates but there can be no doubt that the activities of the Colony generally, as shown in the movements of people and in the

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