ENG-1957 — Page 84

68

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

own small boats or sampans, used for transport and inshore fishing, the latter being exclusively a man's job.

During 1957 some interest was shown in the revival of tea cultivation. Tea was once extensively grown on the northern slopes of Tai Mo Shan, Tai To Yan and other mountains, but since 1899 this has not been profitable except at one place in the Sha Tau Kok peninsula where a small quantity of a first rate tea continued to be produced, selling in Sha Tau Kok market for $1 a tael. Proposals for a 100-acre experimental plantation are being considered.

I

Certain occupations are traditionally followed by different sections of the rural community. The Deep Bay oyster fish- ing, for example, is a Cantonese occupation, while beancurd manufacture and stone quarrying are Hakka occupations.

The Tanka, and those Hoklo who have not settled per- manently ashore (see Chapter 2), live entirely by fishing. The largest boats, suitable for deep-sea fishing, are Tanka, the boats being generally owned by women. Hakka boats are used principally for transport on the eastern side of the New Territories; they are stoutly built, single-masted, with hulls high out of the water along their 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 Tsuen 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; Tsuen 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