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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Work for the Blind, held in Tokyo in October, during which month also, another delegate to the Conference, Major D. R. Bridges, Blind Welfare Officer, Federation of Malaya, paid a visit to Hong Kong and gave valuable advice on blind welfare. In November, a member of the Social Welfare Office returned from a 6-months' training course specially arranged by the British Empire Society for the Blind and a month's tour of blind welfare agencies in Malaya and Singapore.
No special provisions exist at present for the care of mental defectives, but 65 of them are sheltered in various welfare institutions. The Council of Social Service's Sub-Committee on the Care of Mental Defectives has proposed, among other recommendations, the setting up of a home for mental defectives.
Community Development
Community development works mainly through Kaifongs -Neighbourhood Associations-based on Chinese traditions but organized on lines necessary for the efficient execution of present-day welfare programmes. Revived in 1949, 23 Kai- fongs are now recognized by the Social Welfare Office, in which there is a special Section to give guidance and encouragement to Kaifong work. Kaifongs are always to the fore in assisting the Social Welfare Office in emergency relief measures after squatter fires and other disasters. They have cooperated closely with the Government in such other matters as registration of persons, vaccination and diphtheria immunization campaigns, and spreading propaganda on water-saving, fire precautions and blood donation.
Their free schools cater for 4,947 underprivileged children, and their free clinics treated 193,290 cases during 1955, compared with 4,000 pupils and 73,000 patients during 1954. A great deal of attention is paid to the provision of recreational facilities in their neighbourhoods. 700 games were played by their 59 basketball and football teams, giving free entertainment to thousands of spectators. They maintain several playgrounds, equipped with miniature football pitches, basketball, badminton and volleyball courts, and this year three new children's playgrounds were opened under their auspices. The Hung Hom Kaifong maintains a public library, erected at a cost of over $100,000.
They are also active in adult education, while their Women's Sections give free maternity care to needy expectant