members and 23 elected members. The Resident Commissioner presided over both the House and the Council. The elected members of the House selected from among their own members five members (one of whom was elected as Chief Elected Member) to the Governing Council. The House advised the Governing Council on proposed legislation and other public matters referred to it by the Council or raised by individual members of the House. In 1970 the next step of constitutional development was approved. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order 1970 made new provision for the government of the territory. It established a Legislative Council and Executive Council to replace the House of Representatives and Governing Council. The Legislative Council consists of 3 ex-officio members, 2 public service members and 28 elected members, elected under the principle of universal adult suffrage. The Executive Council comprises the ex-officio and public service members of the Legislative Council, a Leader of Government Business elected by members of the Legislative Council and 4 appointed members from the Legislative Council. On all sixteen islands of the Gilbert group, and the eight permanently inhabited Ellice Islands, local governments have been established under the Local Government Ordinance, 1966, which provides the framework for a policy aimed at developing local government authorities able to accept responsibility for and to finance the local services required at island level. These local governments, known as Island Councils, have power, subject to the approval of the Governor, to make bye-laws concerning a wide range of subjects, and are charged with the duty of providing services for the general health, security and wellbeing of the inhabitants of the islands. 30 Island Courts have been constituted under the Island Courts Ordinance 1965, by which island magistrates are appointed to the benches of courts subordinate to Magistrates' Courts (Magistrates' Courts Ordinance 1963) but having limited jurisdiction in criminal and civil cases over all races. These courts replace the Native Courts formerly established under the Native Government Ordinance, and form a part of the main judicial system in the Territory. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Ex-officio Chief Secretary; Attorney-General; Financial Secretary Public Service Members Hon. R. T. Harberd (Director of Agriculture) Elected Members Hon. Reuben K. Uatioa, MBE (Leader of Government Business) LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL The Governor (President) Ex-officio Chief Secretary; Attorney-General; Financial Secretary Appointed Members Hon. R. T. Harberd; Hon. H. Urquhart Elected Members Hon. Reuben K. Uatioa, MBE (Leader of Government Business) CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LINE ISLANDS By Order in Council five Central and Southern Line Islands became part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands on 1st January 1972. They consist of Flint, Caroline, Vostock, Malden and Starbuck, and were formerly administered direct by the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, under Article 6 of the Pacific Order in Council 1893 and more recently in accordance with instructions issued by the Secretary of State in 1903, under Article 4 of the Order in Council. Flint Island (latitude 11° 26' S., longitude 151° 48′ W.) was discovered in 1801. From 1872 it was worked intermittently for guano and copra by various British companies under licence issued by the High Commissioner. It is now leased to an American citizen. Caroline Island (10° S., 150° 14' W.) was discovered in 1795 by Captain W. R. Broughton of H.M. Sloop Providence and it was worked by various British companies from 1846. It is now leased to an American citizen. Vostock Island (10° 06′ S., 152° 23′ W.) was discovered by Captain Bellingshausen in 1820 and was worked sporadically by British companies for guano and copra since 1873. It is now leased to an American Citizen. Malden Island (4° S., 155° W.) was discovered by Lord Byron, Captain of H.M.S. Blonde, in 1825. Its guano deposits were worked by an Australian company from approximately 1860 to 1927. It is now unoccupied and unworked. Starbuck Island (5° 35′ S., 155° 52′ W.) was discovered in 1823 by Captain Starbuck, of the whaler L'Aigle. It was first worked for guano by a British company during the 1860's. Attempts to plant coconuts on the island failed and since 1920 it has been unoccupied and unworked. H HONG KONG ONG KONG was founded as a British trading depot in 1841, the cession of the Island to Great Britain being confirmed by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The area on which the main urban part of Kowloon now stands, together with Stonecutters Island in the harbour, Ap Lei Chau and Green Island, was ceded by the Convention of Peking in 1860; and in 1898 the New Territories, whch consist of the rural area north of Kowloon and the islands around Hong Kong, were leased to Great Britain for 99 years. Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945, and in the following four years made a remarkably rapid recovery. The territory consists of the island of Hong Kong and a portion of the mainland to the North, together with 235 adjacent islands ranging from Lantao with an area of about 58 square miles, to uninhabited rocky islets. A peninsula, on which Kowloon stands, juts southward from the mainland towards Victoria on Hong Kong island. Between these two lies the harbour, one of the finest natural ports in the world. Much of the built-up area surrounding the harbour has been reclaimed or levelled. Hong Kong lies on the south-east coast of China, adjoining the province of Kwangtung. It is just inside the tropics, less then 100 miles south of the tropic of Cancer, and lies between latitudes 22° 9′ and 22° 37′ N. and longitudes 113° 52' and 114° 30' E. The area of land including recent reclamations is approximately 403.7 square miles (Hong Kong Island 29.2 square miles, Kowloon 3.5 square miles, Stonecutters Island 0.25 square mile, New Territories (leased) 370-4 square miles). It includes all islands within a rectangular area of some 738 square miles, containing the leased and ceded territory. British waters are bounded on the north by the shores of Deep Bay and Mirs Bay, between which lies the land frontier with China. The overwhelming majority of the population lives on Hong Kong Island or in Kowloon. The capital is Victoria, on Hong Kong Island. The principal centres of population in the New Territories are Tsuen Wan, which has grown over the past 20 years into an important industrial centre with large textile, enamel and rubber factories, iron works, etc.; Cheung Chau, a small but densely populated island, important as a market and fishing centre; Yuen Long, a mainland market town; Tai O, a fishing and market centre on Lantao Island; Tai Po and Shek Wu Hui, both mainland market towns; and Peng Chau, an island fishing port, with some industries. The success of the planned development of Tseun Wan into an industrial satellite has led to the formulation of similar proposals for Castle Peak and Sha Tin. Site formation of these areas is now well advanced. The greater part of the territory consists of steep, unproductive hillside, in some parts covered with dense scrub. The erosion which resulted from indiscriminate felling of trees during the Japanese wartime occupation has been extensively repaired under a vigorous programme of afforestation. Cultivation is confined mainly to the narrow valleys. The coastline is sharply indented. A steep range of hills divides Kowloon from the New Territories to the North, in the centre of which is the highest mountain-Tai Mo Shan, 3,140 feet; Lantao Peak is 3,061 feet and Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island 1,809 feet high. The climate is sub-tropical and governed by monsoons, the winter being cool and dry, the summer hot and humid. The mean monthly temperature varies from 15°C (59°F) in February to 28°C (82°F) in July. The actual temperature rarely rises above 35°C (95°F) or falls below 4°C (40°F). The average annual rainfall is 2,168.8 mm. (85.39 in.), three-quarters of which falls between May and September. The mean relative humidity exceeds 80 per cent during the summer but in early winter sometimes falls as low as 20 per cent. The temperature range is 0°-36°C (32°F-97°F) and the annual rainfall range is 901-1-3,040-7 mm. (35-48-119-71 in.). The Royal Observatory provides all meteorological information in Hong Kong and also forms part of a worldwide network of meteorological services. Censuses are normally taken every ten years but there was a long gap between the census of 1931 and that of 1961 when the population was 3,133,131. A by-census was taken in August 1966 and the total population was 3,716,400. The 1971 census showed that the population had increased to 4,064,400. The registered numbers of live births and deaths for the year 1971 were 76,818 and 20,253 respectively. No division by 'race' or 'tribe' is possible, but about 98 per cent speak a Chinese language or have traditional connections with China, though 57 per cent are British subjects by virtue of birth in Hong Kong. 81 per cent of the population speak Cantonese as their usual language, but there are substantial minorities speaking Hakka, Hoklo and Sze Yap and smaller groups who speak English (the official language of the territory), Shanghai, Kuo Yu, Portuguese and Malay. Most of the younger members of these minority groups also speak Cantonese. A brief account of religious practices in Hong Kong must embrace such diverse subjects as traditional Chinese beliefs, Taoism, the religious aspects of Confucian teaching, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and a kaleidoscope of Christian sects. In seeking one idiom to express all this it is easy to be misled by the entirely different appearances of religious observance, particularly between the traditional Chinese practices and those of the Christian churches, and even to assume a relative lack of religion in Chinese life. It is true that Hong Kong's business centre may not have as many temples as there are Wren churches in the City of London, but there are likely to be at least as many signs of religion in the average Chinese home, or business, as in its Western counterpart. Almost every Chinese shop has its 'God Shelf' and many homes their ancestral shrines. Whether the devotion before such symbols is intense or perfunctory there is an unmistakably religious element in Chinese culture. It may find expression in traditional ancestral ceremonies encouraged by Confucius or through a wide variety of Taoist rituals. There has been a notable revival of Buddhism and Taoism in recent years mainly due to the immigration of Buddhists from China. Buddhism appears to have more followers in Hong Kong, but both maintain a strong hold among the older Chinese and are far from dying out among the younger people. The Hong Kong Buddhist Association is their main organisation, although a Taoist Association has now also been formed. The fact that Chinese may follow one or the other of these ways, or may combine them without any feeling of incongruity, has often meant that Christianity with its exclusive claims has been politely ignored in the Chinese world; but it is nevertheless rooted deeply and growing rapidly in Hong Kong. Its roots go back indeed to the earliest days of the territory. St John's Cathedral was founded in 1842, and established as a Cathedral by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria in 1850. A representative of the London Missionary Society arrived at about the same time. St Andrew's Church celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in 1966. It is estimated there are now 500 churches and chapels in the territory. The major world denominations are represented in Hong Kong in the Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Pentecostals, etc., while Congregational and Presbyterian effort contributed to the Church of Christ in China. Most of these engage in educational work to some extent. The first Roman Catholic priests to arrive in Hong Kong were chaplains serving the spiritual needs of British soldiers of the Catholic faith. On 23rd April 1841, Pope Gregory XVI established the Apostolic Prefecture of Hong Kong with Msgr Theodore Joset as the first prefect. Since the Second World War the Catholic Church has notably expanded its educational and social activities. There are at present 178 Catholic primary and secondary schools with an aggregate enrolment of 235,123 pupils. In December 1970, His Holiness The Pope spent several hours in the Colony in the course of a pastoral visit. Hong Kong's Jewish community worships at a synagogue in Robinson Road constructed in 1901 on land given by Mr Joseph Sassoon and his family. Mr Sassoon built the synagogue in memory of his mother Leah and it is therefore known as the Synagogue 'Ohel Leah'. The Jewish Recreation Club and the residential rabbi's apartments are on the same site. There are about 500 people in the congregation and they belong to families who originally came from Britain, China, India, Eastern and Western Europe, and the United States, as well as people born in Hong Kong. There are about 10,000 followers of Islam in Hong Kong, most of them Chinese who have immigrated during the past two decades. The other members of the Muslim community are mainly Pakistanis, Malaysians, Persians and people from neighbouring regions. They gather for prayer at the Shelley Street Mosque on Hong Kong Island and at the Nathan Road Mosque in Kowloon. The Health division of the Medical and Health Department undertakes the control of anti-epidemic measures, the care of expectant and parturient mothers, infant welfare work and preventive measures against disease in schools. It is also responsible for port and airport health work, social hygiene, industrial health, tuberculosis control and a B.C.G. campaign, food and drug control, public health propaganda and pathological, chemical and biochemical laboratory work. The general state of health is good. The crude birth rate in 1971 was 19.0 per 1,000 population and the crude death rate was 5.0 per 1,000 population. Infant mortality rate was 18.4 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate was 0.14 per 1,000 total births. The Government maintains and operates sixteen general and special hospitals and provides financial assistance to eighteen other hospitals run by voluntary organisations. In addition, there are eleven private hospitals which do not receive financial help from the Government. At the end of 1971 the number of beds in the three groups of hospitals including maternity beds was 6,849, 7,664 and 2,176 respectively giving a total of 16,689 beds. In-patients treated in all hospitals during 1971 totalled 337,279 and outpatient attendances at Government and Government-aided institutions totalled 9,157,596. There are large numbers of dispensaries and clinics in both urban and rural areas and the more remote places are served by mobile dispensaries, 'floating clinics' and a 'flying doctor' service. |