168
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Approximately 300 children pass through the Home each month with an average daily muster of between 40 and 50.
Castle Peak Boys Home, an approved school for boys managed on agreement by the Salvation Army on behalf of the Hong Kong Government, in addition to primary educa- tion provides vocational training for 100 boys. The Salvation Army also manages on the same basis the Kwai Chung Girls Home which is an approved school for girls. It is noteworthy that crime amongst women and girls is very low.
Aid to discharged prisoners is undertaken for men by the Salvation Army, and for women by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society. In addition to relief in cash and kind, advice and assistance are given to those who need help to obtain a new start in life.
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new Probation of Offenders Ordinance will shortly be brought into operation which will enable the Courts to place on probation persons of either sex whether juvenile or adult, first offenders or recidivist. This Ordinance provides also for the establishment of Probation Homes and Hostels and the introduction of Probation Committees.
Youth Organizations. There are in the Colony some 50,000 to 60,000 children who have to spend most of their lives on the streets without any form of family discipline and without any education, formal or otherwise. The task of earning enough money to find food and shelter is so urgent that there is no room left for family life as those more fortunate under- stand the term. These street children are growing up without affection, without any ethical standards, in fact without standards of any kind except the will to survive. Some of these children are being helped by meeting their emotional starvation with love, friendship, understanding and good example. This is being done for the 5,500 boys and girls, between the ages of 8 to 18 years in the 113 clubs which exist in Hong Kong today. These clubs are either run directly by, or are affiliated to, the Boys' & Girls' Clubs
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