ENG-1964 — Page 42

EMPLOYMENT

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concerns provide them. Under the Industrial Employment (Holidays with Pay and Sickness Allowance) Ordinance, 1962, applications from industrial undertakings for recognition of medical treatment schemes are considered.

The importance of staff welfare is recognized by many employers who provide more comprehensive facilities than are required by legislation. First-aid equipment and drinking water must be provided if a factory is to be registered, and where appropriate, the depart- ment strongly recommends the inclusion of dining and rest rooms in plans for new factories. Many of the larger concerns have clinics and free medical treatment is sometimes given to both employees and their families. Some firms employ full-time welfare officers while others organize film and opera shows and provide facilities for football, basketball and swimming. Adult education is sometimes arranged with free or subsidized tuition for employees' children. There are also voluntary organizations providing hostels and playgrounds specifically for industrial workers.

Government employs apprentices in the workshops of the Public Works Department, the Printing Department and the Kowloon- Canton Railway who must sign indentures and attend technical classes. Several large firms also employ apprentices who are encour- aged to attend technical classes, the tuition fees often being paid by the employers. Several of the larger spinning and weaving mills operate apprenticeship schemes for mechanics or junior engineers, and arrange classes on their own premises in both technical and general subjects.

NEW TERRITORIES

Owing to the rapid urbanization and development of recent years farming and fishing no longer employ the majority of the New Territories population. The 1961 census showed that only about 30 per cent of the working population were employed in these industries as against 30 per cent in manufacturing, eight per cent in commerce and 20 per cent in transport and service industries. Since then the proportion employed in agriculture has probably decreased still further as industry has expanded and as a result of changing conditions in agriculture.

Apart from some traditional trades in the main market towns and some prewar textile factories in Tsuen Wan, industry in the New