ENG-1956 — Page 268

COMMUNICATIONS

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transporting more than 100,000,000 people and 1,000,000 vehicles per year. There is also a number of ferry services. operating outside the Harbour area to Aberdeen and coastal towns or villages of the New Territories. The more important Ferry Services are described in more detail in Chapter 14. At night the illuminated ferries in conjunction with other shipping form part of the galaxy of lights which constitutes the typical Hong Kong night-scene.

Colony development is also assisted by native-type craft, of which more than 20,000 operate in Hong Kong waters, engaged in various occupations from fishing to the transport of cargo. During the year in the internal trades these craft transported more than 600,000 tons of cargo inward and 96,000 tons outward, whilst in trade with China they imported large quantities of foodstuffs, their total external trade for the year amounting to about 800,000 tons inward and 74,000 tons of cargo outward. About 1,500 junks operate inside Hong Kong Harbour itself transporting thousands of tons of cargo to and from ocean-going shipping.

Hong Kong as a result of its efficiently run shipyards and engineering establishments has, over the year, been able to get its fair share of both new and repair work which the world-wide demand for tonnage of all types has occasioned. Placed geographically nearly midway between Singapore and Japan, the only other two competitors in this type of work in the Far East, the ships of the many nationalities which pass through the port are able to get first-class attention with a speed and efficiency which is rapidly becom- ing known throughout the world. As an international port the supervision given by Resident Surveyors of all the major Classification Societies, and Government Surveyors working under the Director of Marine, covers every aspect arising from International Maritime Conventions, including that for the Safety of Life at Sea.

A Port Welfare Committee attends to the welfare of the