“Industrial production and tourism are our two lungs,” Barton says of Hong Kong’s economy. “We not only have to maintain our present employment levels; we must also find jobs for thousands and thousands of young people in the next few years.”
He cites one of the major discoveries of the 1961 census—that 40.8 percent of the total population of Hong Kong is under fifteen years of age—as evidence of the coming demand for new jobs.
Accustomed to economic upheavals, Jardine’s has adapted itself to changed conditions by investing in growth industries, and by developing new industrial sites at Tsuen Wan, Kwun Tong and West Point. It is selling some of its land holdings to finance a six-year modernization of the wharf operations of the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co. Its new international ship terminal in Kowloon, costing $7 to $8 million, will include a pier 1,200 feet long, and will have car parks, shopping areas and a bowling alley.
Sir Michael Turner, head of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, emphasizes that local industries, confronted with restrictions in their export markets, must seek new markets for their output.
“Our land and labor costs are rising,” Sir Michael says. “But we must be able to compete with Japan, Formosa, and ultimately, Red China. Red China can ignore costs and flood our markets, as they did previously in shoes and textiles.”
Sir Michael has a limited faith in the doctrine that the colony’s market problems can be solved by diversification of its industries.
“Even diversification means that we’ll encounter resistance in the new lines we enter.” He believes that the colony’s industries must maintain quality and raise it where possible, rather than lowering standards to compete with inferior products.
He says that Hong Kong has attracted investment capital from all over Southeast Asia because of its exceptional political stability, and because local industry was not disrupted by union work-stoppages. He cites the traditional Chinese dislike of regulation and regimentation as a factor inhibiting the expansion of union power.
“The shortage of land and water is still our greatest limitation,” Sir Michael says. “Land development is very costly, and although the builder of an apartment house may recover his costs in one year, that is not possible in the construction of factories.”