1721
WAR MEMORIAL WELFARE CENTRE
Recent photograph of the completed building.
It is an anomalous situation that, up to quite recently, the Colony of Hong Kong, with its comparatively large popula. tion_comprising people in every walk of life from the very wealthiest to the poorest type of coolie class, should have no specific Government social programme, care of the poorer classes being left to the enterprise of private charitable organizations. It is true that deserving welfare organizations do get a certain amount of assistance from Government funds, but by far the greater amount of the necessary finance is derived from appeals to the private individual and from grants made from local associations. In the case of the Hong Kong Jockey Club such grants amount to fairly substantial figures, but the fact remains that these grants are not constant and depend entirely upon the whim of the individual and the economic circumstances of the moment.
However, a more serious factor mitigating against the efficient administration of charitable efforts hinged upon the fact that there was no central coordination. The need for headquarters where the officers of the various organizations could meet to plan and to coordinate their individual efforts has been a long felt one. At the same time such headquarters could be used as a playground and recreational centre, this important part of the social welfare work being sadly lacking in suitable accommodation. As a result of the concentrated efforts of public-minded individuals such a welfare centre has been completed and is now in use.
No little credit is due to Mr. B. J. B. Morahan whose untiring efforts on behalf of this project has been consistently and unselfishly maintained.
In order to give a clear picture as to what it is hoped to accomplish in this welfare centre, we quote the following which is the case that was put to the War Memorial Committee when a grant of $350,000.00 was asked from their funds to assist in the carrying out of the whole project.
Among the aims set out in the original Constitution of the Children's Playground Association passed at the general meeting at the P.W.D. Board Room on 4th May, 1933, are the following:-
(x) To obtain land to provide recreational facilities for children of the Colony for whom such facilities do not exist.
(b)
To equip, to supply store houses, shelters, and other buildings in connection with these areas.
To engage instructors, caretakers and employees in connection with such areas.
(c)
(d)
To co-operate with any Institution having objects al- together or in part similar to those of the Children's Playground Association.
To provide and maintain an organization for the above subjects.
Hence the provision of ад up-to-date fully equipped properly staffed recreational centre sited on a model play- ground is clearly the epitome of these aims and objects.
It is estimated that there are 130,000 children in schools in the Colony. It is also estimated that there is an equal number of children not in schools. These children who are not in school are largely of a class who come from the lowest income brackets, in other words, children who live under the worst of conditions with most primitive washing facilities and amongst whom the struggle for existence is so severe that the development of a social sense is relatively impossible.
The
Hygiene is something to be lived, not taught. Sanitary Department with its system of periodical washing out and disinfecting tenements clearly appreciate this. It is sub- mitted that recreation and recreational facilities provided for such juveniles should develop these principles by providing adequate washing and latrine accommodation. It must be admitted with regret that so far no attempt has been made in Hong Kong to carry out these principles on playgrounds.
It should be noted that the proposed centre will be sited in one of the most densely populated areas in Hong Kong and will therefore cater to the largest possible number of children within a convenient radius and no sum less than the cost en- visaged can provide facilities which will be able to put iaro practice the principles that hygiene is a way of living. Το split up such a sum into many small areas would merely vitiate its strength and the areas provided under such a method mere- ly relapse into open spaces used by the strongest present at the time.
Social Welfare Work in the Colony has now sufficiently developed to make expert training of social workers a question of primary consideration. One of the immediate advantager of a Centre as envisaged by the Playgrounds Association is that it could provide facilities for the training of workers in the field.
Club Leaders for example need to feel that their work has some kind of professional status. The building of a cen tre where they could receive initial training under qualified instructors and where they could go for constant refresher courses would be of great assistance in this respect.
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Plan of the First Floor.