PRODUCTION
to prevent the outbreak of fires, but an attempt has been made to lessen the risk of fires in plantations by the construction of fire-barriers. In addition, look-out posts have been established from which fires may easily be spotted so that they may be extinguished with the least possible delay.
In some rural areas of the New Territories the villagers have been encouraged to do their own affores- tation and protection work. In the Sai Kung area, for example, the Forestry Division, the district authorities and the village communities work together: the Forestry Division provides seeds and young trees and helps with afforestation, but the villagers do most of the planting themselves and are responsible for pro- tecting the new forests. The whole of Sai Kung village is benefiting from this scheme and the Sai Kung peninsula is rapidly becoming one of the most beautiful and productive forest areas of the Colony.
Industry
GENERAL
Shipbuilding is perhaps the oldest industry in Hong Kong, although several light industries were established in the early days of this century. The 1914-1918 war encouraged the establishment of light industries to pro- duce for local consumption some of the goods which could not then be obtained from Europe, but it was the introduction of Imperial Preference, in the nineteen- thirties, which gave the first major stimulus to industry and induced local manufacturers to compete in world markets. This process of expansion was accelerated during the first two years of the second world war
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