ENG-1961 — Page 108

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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laboratory at the University of Hong Kong. Discussions on Com- mon Market problems were also held with Sir William Gorell Barnes, KCMG, CB, Deputy Under Secretary of State at the Colonial Office, a member of the United Kingdom delegation to the European Economic Community, who was invited to visit the Colony in December.

Trade with the six Common Market countries during the year reflected to some extent the levelling up or down of their various tariff structures; trade with Germany showed a slight fall, while that with the other countries showed a moderate increase. France maintained its policy of refusing liberalization to Hong Kong manu- facturers and although quotas were increased, in some cases pro- portionately by a large amount, their total value was still too small to encourage trade development. Trade with countries in the European Free Trade Area was stable, recording only a slight increase both in imports and exports.

Apart from these major issues, the year was again one in which more barriers were erected against Hong Kong made goods at the request of local industries in overseas countries than were dis- mantled. This was particularly so in the case of Africa where in March the South African Government imposed anti-dumping duties on swimsuits and electric transformers made in the Colony and also increased duties on woven and finished piecegoods, garments, millinery, torches and hardware, at various times of the year; the problems of the South African trade were discussed in March with a visiting official mission from that country. In Central Africa, protracted negotiations with the Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland failed to secure adequate compensation for discrimination against Hong Kong in the reconstruction of the Federal tariff in 1955. Two other Commonwealth African terri- tories, Ghana and Nigeria, in order to protect their own industries, increased the duties on certain goods in which Hong Kong had an important trade with them. The first of these countries, Ghana, also took action on the 1st December 1961, to revoke all general licences for both imports and exports, and this had an unsettling effect on the Colony's trade with that country.

On the positive side, Australia, while giving protection against imports to some industries competing with Hong Kong, such as those making umbrellas and cotton sheeting, reduced the protection