ENG-1955 — Page 68

40

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

whole length. Hoklo boats lie lower in the water, high in the stern; whether sailed or rowed they conform to the same basic design, and are the fastest of the inshore boats used.

The Tsun Wan area has been affected more than any other part of the New Territories by the growth of industries in the Colony during the past ten years; Tsun Wan having developed during this time from a group of old-fashioned villages into a rapidly enlarging industrial and market town. New Territories people have not, however, been much attracted by factory work (or sought after by employers), and most of the labour engaged is from Hong Kong and Kowloon, together with an element of Shanghai refugee labour. A welcome exception is at Sham Tseng, where a large number of local village girls have been employed. The large iron mine situated in the hills beneath the peak of Ma On Shan employs almost entirely immigrant labour from North China. Other smaller mines employ local labour.

The industries more truly typical of the New Territories are the operation of salt pans, the preparation of salt-fish, fish-paste, beancurd, soya sauce, and preserved fruits, the burning of coral and sea-shells for lime, brick manufacture, shipbuilding and repairing, stone quarrying and leather manufacture. On Ping Chau, in the Southern District, there is a match factory, for which, as a sideline occupation, villagers on neighbouring islands make hand-prepared match-boxes. In all the fishing towns a substantial section of the land population earns a livelihood by providing restaurants and shops, chiefly used by the floating popula- tion.