ENG-1958 — Page 45

OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION

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is standard in European undertakings. In public utilities and some of the cotton spinning and weaving mills a system of three 8-hour shifts is used. Rest periods varying between half an hour and three hours per day are usually given, and this is invariably the case where the working day exceeds eight hours: daily rest periods over the whole of industry averaged one hour for both men and women. Some 70,000 workers in local industry have no regular rest day, but in small concerns it is customary for the workers to be granted leave without pay on request. The rest day, where one is given, is usually Sunday, except in concerns where continuous production must be maintained and rest days are accordingly arranged in rotation.

Largely arising out of the controversy over the export of Hong Kong textiles to the United Kingdom, considerable interest was aroused in the United Kingdom during the year concerning hours of work in the Colony's textile industry. In July Miss S. A. Ogilvie, O.B.E., Assistant Labour Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, visited Hong Kong in order to prepare a first-hand report on local conditions of employment generally. It was decided, after consultation with Miss Ogilvie, that certain provisions of the draft Employment Bill (to which reference has been made in previous Reports) relating to the hours of work of women and young persons, should be enacted as a matter of urgency. Towards the end of the year, regulations were therefore made under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, 1955, to come into force on 1st January 1959, providing for restrictions on the working hours of women and of young persons under the age of 18 employed in industry and for a weekly rest day for such persons. These regulations which are summarized later in this Chapter are intended only as a first step in the implementation of the Government's policy to raise minimum standards of employ- ment generally.

Cost of Living. The cost of living showed little change during the year, apart from variations caused by the normal seasonal fluctuations in foodstuff prices. The average of the Retail Price Index in 1958 was 117. The price of rice rose during the first half of the year owing to supply difficulties, but thereafter prices dropped to a more satisfactory level and remained so for the rest of the year.

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