SOCIAL SERVICES
Church organizations. Part of this clothing has been reserved for use in emergencies while the rest has been handed over to voluntary organizations for distribution throughout the Colony. The Church World Service has provided large quantities of powdered milk for regular distribution to children attending clubs and free schools, and for other welfare activities. J
Outdoor relief is administered by the Social Welfare Office on a casework basis, through seven welfare centres. Provided they satisfy the usual criteria for relief, applicants who were born in Hong Kong or who have lived in the Colony for many years are given preference. Assistance which can be given includes the issue of free meals and clothing and the placing of children in free schools, clubs or institutions. The number of free meals provided daily at these centres averages about 1,800. Cases which require more flexible forms of help are handled largely by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society which makes monetary grants or loans for setting up in business as hawkers or for other purposes. Other voluntary societies such as the well-established Chinese charities, the Kaifongs and various religious groups are also engaged in large scale public assistance work.
Institutional relief is provided in three camps run by the Social Welfare Office. The Camp at North Point contains a wide variety of inmates including orphans, blind boys, cripples and mental defectives, while the second camp at Morrison Hill provides free communal accommodation but no food. The third camp, which is at Rennie's Mill, was started in the middle of 1950 for about 6,000 Chinese refugees who had fled from the civl war in China. By the beginning of 1953, free food was only being provided for less than 1,000 inmates consisting of the blind, disabled, and their families.
In recent months, much attention has been directed to the question of the future care of the blind and disabled inhabitants of Hong Kong. One result so far has been the announcement
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