ENG-1969 — Page 45

HONG KONG MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN THE SIXTIES

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small demand until this collapsed altogether in 1967 under the influence of the civil disturbances. The end of the disturbances quickly led to a revival of interest in industrial land and prices firmed up until by the end of 1969 shortage of supply led to very high prices in favoured areas such as Kwun Tong and San Po Kong. Some average current prices per square foot in selected industrial areas (with the 1962 figures in brackets) are: Kwun Tong $126 ($39), San Po Kong $186 ($35), Chai Wan $107 ($38) and Aberdeen $70 ($27).

In the New Territories, where most Crown land zoned for in- dustry is at present available, an industrialist is more likely to acquire land by exchange than by auction. This involves the pro- spective buyer in first negotiating the purchase of exchange entitle- ments granted to the original landowners whose land holdings had been surrendered to Government for the development of the new development areas. This exchange system has come to-be well understood locally; indeed all industrial land at Kwai Chung has already been committed to this type of exchange transaction. However, it may well be a deterrent to a newly arrived overseas business man who may tend to lose heart when faced with either the apparently complicated nature of the exchange procedure or the need to find a private owner who is willing to sell a piece of indus- trial land at a reasonable price.

INVESTMENT IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Foreign participation in manufacturing industry in the commonly accepted meaning of that term in Hong Kong, that is to say, partic- ipation in terms of money or technology by non-residents, partic- ularly non-Chinese residents, was not a feature of the industrial scene during the fifties after the major incursion from central China in the early years of the decade. The greater part of the capital and enterprise required was either self-generated or con- tributed by people who were residents or had been at some time. And so it has continued. There has however in the sixties been some incursion of overseas capital and technology, particularly from Japan and the United States, both of which have made sub- stantial contributions to certain sections of the textile, clothing and electronic industries. One recent calculation puts overseas interest

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