ENG-1957 — Page 137

I 12

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

New Territories, and the landscape has not yet been appreci- ably changed. The hills are predominantly grass covered, but a thicker cover of shrubs is found in some areas and there is some scrub forest in remote and inaccessible places. Where the vegetation has been protected against cutting and fire, as for example on Hong Kong Island, there are also thickly wooded areas. The villagers cut grass for fuel and this practice, combined with the prevalence of hill fires in the dry season, has brought about the complete destruction of the vegetation with consequent soil erosion in many parts of the Colony. On the lower hill slopes the villagers have forestry lots, but in most of them the pine trees are so scat- tered and badly lopped that they scarcely alter the barren aspect of the land.

The Forestry Division of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department is the prime mover in forestry and is directly concerned with afforestation of the water catchment areas, assistance to village forestry and amenity planting. A thick forest cover is essential in the catchment areas to prevent erosion and silting of reservoirs and to promote regular stream-flow by inducing maximum retention of water in the soil. In other areas forestry can provide timber and fuel for local consumption and improve the economy of the rural population. In fact, forestry is the only form of exten- sive land development possible in the New Territories where three-quarters of the land could not be developed profitably in any other way. The expansion and reorganization of the Forestry Division, begun in 1954 in order to carry out afforestation on a much bigger scale, had been completed by 1957. The new headquarters office at Tai Lung, near Fan Ling, was opened early in the year and in four out of the five forest districts semi-independent district organizations were functioning smoothly with offices, nurseries and staff of their own. In the fifth district, which mainly consists of the island of Lantao, work has only recently been started and such facilities have not yet been established. A suitable site for a district office, nursery and model plantation for Lantao