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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
main welfare needs of the population there, a social survey was recently undertaken at Government expense by the University of Hong Kong, in co-operation with the staff of the Social Welfare Office and at the express request of the Council. The findings of the survey have provided valuable information on which plans for future welfare programmes in these areas can be based.
Concerned with social welfare matters at a policy-making level is the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, of which the Social Welfare Officer is the Chairman and only official member. This committee makes recommendations to the Government for the further development of welfare work, including the grant of financial subventions, the estimate for which in 1956-7 amounted to $3,850,000. Co-ordination of group activities particularly related to the welfare of young people is effectively carried out by the Standing Conference of Youth Organizations. In the sphere of public assistance the Central Relief Records Office, which is a social service exchange for many of the main relief agencies, ensures against overlapping of relief efforts.
The main handicap to the more rapid development of welfare work in Hong Kong, apart from the purely economic aspect, is the chronic shortage of trained and well-qualified professional staff. A number of students graduate from the Social' Science Course of the University of Hong Kong every year, but this is in no way sufficient to meet the demand. On the other hand the high quality of the voluntary effort in Hong Kong is something of which the Colony can justly be proud.
Infant and Child Welfare. The main purpose of the Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance, which is administered by the Social Welfare Officer on behalf of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, is to safeguard the interests of all girls in need of care and protection under the age and of all adopted daughters. At the end of the
of
21,