ENG-1962 — Page 144

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

109

and are connected by field telephone to control points where men, equipment and transport stand by during particularly hazardous periods. During the winter of 1961-2 a total of 178 fires, affecting nearly 5,000 acres of hillside vegetation, were reported and dealt with. Several were in young plantations and the remainder on grassland in the vicinity of plantations. Carelessness by members of the public again caused many of the fires, and at least six were found to have been started deliberately.

Assistance to village forestry continued and villagers were taught how to correctly plant and profitably manage their own forestry plantations. Government demonstration plantations show quite clearly the results that can be achieved and these plantations have proved most useful in arousing interest. Trees take a long time to grow and it is not always easy to convince villagers that forestry can be profitable. Interest is spreading steadily if some- what slowly and, while it will be some years before the work now being carried out can begin to produce noteworthy results, some of the older stands are now being thinned for the first time and this will be the beginning of steady returns for the owners. Educating the young in the value of afforestation is important and this year individual schools again organized their own tree- planting days and invited parents and local dignitaries to join in. Some 63 schools planted more than 11,200 trees, supplied by the Agriculture and Forestry Department.

FISHING

Administration. Government's aim is to foster the orderly expansion and development of the fishing industry, to increase supplies of fish to meet the needs of an expanding population and to improve the economic status of those engaged in the industry. A fisheries division was established in 1952 under the administration of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Depart- ment and, in the same year, a fisheries research unit was formed by the University of Hong Kong. A fisheries advisory committee, on which both were represented, co-ordinated matters of common interest; the Co-operative Development Department, which was responsible for the supervision of fishermen's co-operative societies and the administration of the Fish Marketing Organization, also took part.