ENG-1955 — Page 65

OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION

37

Department for government employees, and by the Fisheries Division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for fishermen.

A new system of recruitment and training was introduced this year for apprentices in the Public Works Department and the Kowloon-Canton Railway. The success- ful applicants are required to sign indentures, and attendance at supplementary technical classes is compulsory; the boys are released from the workshop one whole day a week to attend classes at the Hong Kong Technical College and, in their own time, attend classes two evenings a week.

Apprenticeship training schemes are operated by H.M. Dockyard, the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Co. Ltd., the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd., by the public utilities, and by a number of other European and Chinese firms. Encouragement is given by these concerns to apprentices to attend technical classes, and financial help towards fees is very often given. One large spinning and weaving mill, situated in the New Territories, which started a new training scheme in 1954, provides classes on its own premises in both technical and general educational subjects.

Apprenticeship is common in Chinese-run industrial establishments, but with a few exceptions systematic training and supervision are lacking. In the majority of cases the apprentice is expected to acquire his skill by watching and imitating other skilled workers.

There is a Standing Committee on Technical Education and Vocational Training, appointed in 1954, which met four times during the year.

NEW TERRITORIES

Although farming and fishing are the two principal occupations in the New Territories, the pattern of country life has been modified by factors common to other maritime areas of South China. Even before the New Territories became part of the Colony, Hong Kong's influence as a growing commercial city had begun to attract young men away from their villages in search of work either in town or overseas. Lamma Island, close to Hong Kong, was the first