ENG-1965 — Page 203

IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

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In August the British Government tightened very considerably the regulations governing emigration to Britain for employment. As a result fewer Chinese are going to Britain to work, but this is offset by the very large number of dependents now joining hus- bands and fathers in Britain. The demand for naturalization also continues to increase.

The aliens section experienced difficulty with persons who came to the Colony on tourist visas and then took up employment. Firm action was taken to discourage this trend. At the end of 1965 there were 13,442 alien residents registered in the Colony. The chief category was American citizens who numbered 3,932 followed by 1,853 Japanese, 751 Filipinos, and 534 Dutch. During the year 382__White Russian refugees entered the Colony from China and 654 left under the sponsorship of the United Nations for settlement in other countries. At the end of the year there were still 173 of these refugees in Hong Kong awaiting placement.

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On 1st August the Director of Immigration assumed respon- sibility from the Commissioner of Police for immigration control on the Sino-British land border at Lo Wu. The transfer took place smoothly. The volume of traffic at the frontier is fairly steady, with about 1,000 people crossing over each way every day. During the year 456,681 people left Hong Kong for China, while 475,192 entered the Colony.

Despite a large increase in staff the harbour section had an extremely busy year, principally because of the vast increase in traffic between Hong Kong and Macau. There are now four steamers and nine hydrofoils on the Macau run and during the year they carried 1,169,790 passengers to Macau and brought 1,168,772 into Hong Kong. This was an increase of 33 per cent on the 1964 figures. It is interesting to note that more people travel between Hong Kong and Macau each year than cross the Atlantic by sea. During the year the harbour section cleared 6,205 ocean-going ships, 17,601 native craft and 17,047 Macau ferries, and processed a total of 1,199,910 arriving and 1,203,792 departing sea passengers. There is evidence that a number of stowaways are attempting to enter Hong Kong from certain neighbouring South-East Asian countries, and as a result special searches of ships from these ports are now being carried out.