ENG-1961 — Page 141

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

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organization and economy, existing societies and the general public are now more aware of what such unions afford, and the Depart- ment is placing more emphasis on the moral and educative side of the movement.

An interesting development during the past five years has been the growth in the number of Co-operative Building Societies; these societies are at present formed exclusively of local pensionable officers of the Civil Service and have been established with funds loaned by Government. Another development of importance is the increasing appreciation by rural communities of the improvements they can make in their way of life by co-operation and by the formation of Better Living Societies. Several of these societies have successfully completed water supply schemes for their members and one such society of fishermen on the island of Ap Chau in Mirs Bay have now resettled themselves ashore in living accom- modation which was constructed during the year with financial assistance from CARE, the Hong Kong Government and other sources including contributions made by themselves. A similar scheme at Sai Kung has just started. At Cheung Chau, the Hong Kong Round Table Association has constructed dwelling-houses for the members of the Better Living Society there, the maintenance of which is the responsibility of the Society. Better Living Societies are also playing an important role in rural sanitation and in several villages in the New Territories they are accepting responsibility for individual village cleansing schemes, meeting part of the cost from Government's village sanitation subsidy.

Considerable interest in the formation of Credit Unions was aroused during the year when the subject was discussed during a week's seminar conducted by the Jesuit Fathers of the Institute for Social Action in Hong Kong. Another field of co-operative associa- tion in which interest has been shown is in the formation of Building Management Societies for flat dwellers.

A further source of credit to farmers, who are members of Co- operative Societies, is the J. E. Joseph Trust Fund, administered by the Commissioner, as Registrar of Co-operative Societies. Since its establishment in 1954 8,048 loans totalling $10,285,676 have been made. In addition a large number of societies operate their own revolving loan fund schemes which are steadily growing in size and effectiveness. Several Vegetable Marketing Co-operative