ENG-1972 — Page 278

HISTORY

197

United States and Britain sharing 65 per cent of this. The need for food ensured the dominance of China as a source of Hong Kong's imports, accounting for 21 per cent in 1959 and 22 per cent in 1967, after which Japan supplanted China with 24 per cent of the total imports against China's 18 per cent in 1972.

Government public works have necessarily been on the grand scale to keep pace with industrial growth. The 8,340-foot long airport runway, built up from the sea-bed in Kowloon Bay, is being extended to 11,130 feet. New reservoirs were completed at Tai Lam Chung in 1957 and Shek Pik, on Lantau Island, in 1963; the unique Plover Cove scheme of 1967 is being expanded to hold 50,000 million gallons; work began in 1970 on the High Island scheme, with a planned storage capacity of 60,000 million gallons; former cuts in the water supply, which in 1963 was only four hours every four days, are unlikely to recur. In 1964 China agreed to raise to 15,000 million gallons the amount of water purchased annually since 1960. Road development, including flyovers, has been remarkable. In 1967 the Lion Rock Tunnel opened to provide a highspeed road link between the New Territories and urban Kowloon; a second tunnel is now in the planning stage. A new era in Hong Kong's internal communications came with the opening of the cross-harbour tunnel in August 1972. Built by private enterprise with government participation, it was completed several months ahead of schedule and is now the longest underwater road tunnel in Asia.

Not all developments have been in the economic field and considerable social advances have also taken place. Local recruitment into the public service has been expanded and local candidates are given preference if suitably qualified. This has given more opportunity in the government service for local doctors, architects, adminis- trators and teachers, among others, and they have shown themselves well able to compete in professional and higher degree examinations overseas. The unofficial membership of the Legislative Council was increased to 14 in 1972, of whom 12 were Chinese, as against 13 official members, leaving only two Europeans nominated by the five nominating bodies. The Executive Council was given an unofficial majority of eight to six in 1966. The Urban Council has been gradually reconstituted to give it six official and 20 unofficial members, 10 of the latter being nominated and 10 elected. Following the publication of the White Paper on the future of the Urban Council in October 1971 and its acceptance by the legislature in February 1972, the council will be given substantial financial autonomy. At the same time the number of unofficial members will be increased by four while all official members will be removed from the Urban Council, which will then have 12 elected and 12 appointed members. These changes will come into effect on April 1, 1973. An office of the Unofficial Members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council (UMELCO) was set up in 1963 to assist the public to resolve problems arising from their dealings with the government; and with the appointment in 1970 of an administrative secretary, the office was able to handle an increasing volume of complaints.

Economic expansion has enabled the government to increase its social services to match Hong Kong's all-round-growth. Total enrolment in all types of schools and educational centres increased from 120,000 in 1948, to 1,284,393 in 1972. A government or subsidised primary school place is now available for every child of primary school age. In the field of primary education, free education was introduced in September