ENG-1958 — Page 27

REVIEW

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by the following examples of new processes, apart from the success- ful revival of cotton spinning and flour milling, introduced since the war: wool spinning and weaving, carpet making, glove making, photo-engraving, the manufacture of marbles, fishing nets, latex products, bicycle tyres, steel bars, pressure stoves, kerosene lamps, cutlery, fire extinguishers, watch cases, slide fasteners, cameras, artificial pearls, gramophone records, fountain pens, and plastic articles of all kinds, including raincoats and acid-resisting pipes. Under the United Nations' classification of industrial processes, the number of different processes carried on in the Colony has increased from 122 in 1948 to 260 in 1958.

One striking example of how a new industry sprang up very quickly is afforded by the manufacture of woollen gloves. This started in February 1952 when a glove importer in the United States, who had been unable to secure the necessary licence to import into Japan a large quantity of woollen yarn from the United Kingdom for the manufacture of woollen gloves, suggested to an old-established Hong Kong firm that it should consider the possibility of manufacturing woollen gloves in the Colony instead. The matter was investigated and an expert was sent out from the United States to teach local employees how to operate knitting machines. The first products were ready for export six months after the arrival of the expert. By early 1954 there were eight registered factories engaged solely in the manufacture of woollen gloves, but other knitting factories were also making gloves in addition to other lines. In 1953 the Colony exported 296,136 dozen pairs valued at $6,496,735; in the following year 520,869 dozen pairs valued at $9,774,235; by 1957 exports were 1,434,737 dozen pairs and the value was $26,205,828.

The rising industrial potential was also reflected in the increase in the value of products wholly or principally of Hong Kong origin relative to the value of the Colony's total exports; this ratio increased from about 25% in 1952 to 39.9% in 1957. In 1958 the value was $1,260 million, an increase of $58 million over the previous year, and it was 42.2% of the value of the Colony's total exports for the year. The proportion may be found to be even higher when a complete separation of exports of domestic products from re-exports is made in the trade statistics in 1959. As it is, more persons are now employed in industry than in trade. The