ENG-1968 — Page 42

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EMPLOYMENT

industry, which also employs a large number of out-workers, remained the second largest employer.

During the year under review,

under review, it appeared that the demand for labour in manufacturing industries exceeded the supply. There were 12,279 factories on record in the Labour Department at the end of the year. Many of them were small concerns. Of these, 8,454 were registered under the Factories and Industrial Under- takings Ordinance. The tables at Appendix III show developments in main industrial groups and selected industries.

Industry in the New Territories is a comparatively recent develop- ment apart from traditional trades in the market towns and some pre-war textile factories in Tsuen Wan. In December 1968, the Labour Department had on record 1,029 factories in the New Territories with a labour force of 68,721. The bulk of this industrial population is concentrated in the new township of Tsuen Wan which is designed as a balanced community and includes factories, housing, recreational facilities, services, and other amenities. It has many modern textile factories and others producing metal- ware, enamelware, glassware, and plastics. There is also a govern- ment-owned flatted factory provided to meet the special requirements of small-scale silk weavers. On Tsing Yi Island, which is a part of the administrative district of Tsuen Wan, a cement factory has been established and a large generating plant is nearing completion. General boat yards which were formerly situated in Kowloon have been resited on the island and oil storage depots and an oil refinery are being developed in stages. Castle Peak and Sha Tin, two other areas in the New Territories, have been selected as sites for developing other large self-contained townships and work on the first stage of the development of Castle Peak has begun. Sawmills, timber yards, textile, carpet and other factories have already been opened at Castle Peak. There is some mining, mostly on a small-scale employing a labour force of 396, of whom 390 work at an iron mine at Ma On Shan. There are also several stone quarries in the New Territories with a total labour force of 318.

In many old market towns and fishing settlements in the New Territories, traditional village industries still provide employment in the preparation of salt-fish, fish-paste, bean-curd, soya sauce,