ENG-1963 — Page 87

EMPLOYMENT

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been reared on a large scale. During the 1961 census 30 per cent of farmers described rice as their main crop as against 34 per cent for vegetables and 14 per cent and 11 per cent for pigs and poultry respectively. (More details of the farming and fishing in- dustries will be found in chapter 7).

The increase in industrial employment has mainly been caused by the rapid growth of the modern industrial complex of Tsuen Wan/Kwai Chung where workers are mainly engaged in the textile industry with a certain number in metal and enamel ware manu- facture, foodstuffs and plastics production. This industrial concen- tration also includes nearby Tsing Yi Island where there is a modern plywood factory as well as limekilns and shipbreaking. Further west along the Castle Peak Road at Sham Tseng is the Colony's brewery and a large textile works. At Castle Peak itself there are textile, plastic and carpet factories. At Sha Tin there is a dyeing and finishing works, while carpets are manufactured at Tai Po. Junk Bay, on the south-east side of the New Territories, has been designated as an area for the Colony's flourishing ship- breaking industry together with its associated trades such as the production of rolled steel bars. Mining and quarrying also employ a small labour force in a number of places, the largest being the iron ore mine at Ma On Shan.

Traditional village industries still provide a certain amount of employment in the market towns of the New Territories such as Cheung Chau, Yuen Long and Tai Po. Examples are the prepara- tion of salt-fish, fish-paste, bean curd, soya sauce and preserved fruits; the burning of coral and sea-shells for lime; brick manu- facture; boat building and repairing. On Peng Chau Island there is an old-established match factory for which villagers on neigh- bouring islands make match-boxes by hand as a subsidiary occupation.

The intensification of agriculture and the spread of industry have been factors in the growth of the New Territories townships, where increasing numbers of people are now employed in commerce, retail trade and hawking and in services such as Government and transport. Public and private building development is also taking place in the New Territories on an increasing scale, and this employs a large labour force.