ENG-1955 — Page 19

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

successful industries Hong Kong wages are nearer to West European standards than the latter are to American.

Cotton textiles retained first place among the Colony's products in terms of value. The year was however charac- terized by expansion of this and other established industries, details of which will be found in the Industry and Trade Chapter. The diversity of local industry is already remarkable, and is all the time increasing. 1955 saw the introduction of many new products, ranging from worsted weaving yarns, paper bags and plastic bottles to nylon hairnets, alarm clocks and underwater swimming apparatus.

The Thirteenth Exhibition of the Hong Kong Chinese Manufacturers' Union was opened on the Central Reclamation on 2 December, and was again visited, as in former years, by over 1,000,000 people. This Exhibition, which is now becoming established as a regular feature in the industrial life of the East, and is the Colony's most important demonstration of what Hong Kong is doing in the field of industry, is now beginning to attract more overseas buyers. The number of special delegations arriving from importing territories in the East this year was particularly gratifying, including representatives from Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. The Exhibition occupied an area of 160,000 square feet, compared with the 120,000 sq. ft. of the 1954 exhibition, and progress in quality and diversity of product was again noticeable. A new feature, reflecting interest in more efficient production methods, was a section devoted to a display of foreign industrial machinery.

Hong Kong exhibited at the British Industries Fair, as in every year since 1948, and broke new ground by parti- cipating in the Eighth Canadian International Trade Fair at Toronto.

TRADE

Although trade improved in general, particularly towards the end of the year, exports to China continued to fall, being almost exactly one-half of 1954, one-third of 1953, and one- eighth of 1950. The fall may however be exaggerated by the official trade statistics, as much trade with China is excluded from them, goods moving direct to China without entering Hong Kong. There was a welcome improvement towards the end of the year in re-exports of Chinese goods, both produce