ENG-1958 — Page 130

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

In June 1957 the Fish Marketing Organization became con- cerned for the first time with the marketing of prawns and shrimps. This development was introduced specifically to meet the require- ments of the American market. During 1958 some 2,710 tons of prawns were handled, valued at approximately $8,500,000.

The provision of cheap credit is one of the most important of the related services which the Fish Marketing Organization offers to local fishermen. The Organization's revolving loan fund, first established in 1946, had by the end of 1958 made 4,192 loans totalling $5,280,000 and of this total some $4,280,000 had been repaid. In 1957, C.A.R.E., an American relief agency, donated $31,000 to serve as the nucleus of a loan fund for shrimp and prawn fishermen. Twenty six loans totalling $28,340 had been issued from this loan fund by the end of 1958.

The education of fisher children is another principal object of the Fish Marketing Organization, the general aim being to provide education up to Primary IV standard; in certain major fishing centres this will be extended to include Primary VI. Schools have been established in eight main fishing centres and considerable progress was made during the year in constructing new premises. In particular, a new six-classroom school was built at Shau Kei Wan, one of the main fishing centres in the Colony; the new school is operated on a two-sessional basis and will eventually educate a total of 550 fisher children pupils at a time. At the end of 1958, 1,885 fisher children were obtaining their education through the Organization. Of this number, 1,013 were students at the Organization's own schools, while the remainder were in receipt of scholarships or other awards with which to finance their education at other institutions.

Vegetable Marketing Organization. Following the success of the Fish Marketing Organization, the Government decided to introduce a similar system for the selling wholesale of locally-produced vegetables, in which the problems were not dissimilar. The scheme, which was first established in September 1946, now operates under the Agricultural Products (Marketing) Ordinance, 1952, which provides for the appointment of a Director of Marketing who is made a corporation sole with power to acquire and dispose of property, and for the appointment of a Marketing Advisory Board, consisting of the Director as Chairman and four other persons,