320
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
The Secretary for Chinese Affairs is the Governor's principal adviser on all matters connected with the Chinese population. He is also specifically charged with the responsibility of maintaining direct channels of communication between the Government and all levels of Chinese society in urban Hong Kong. In addition, with the assistance of his department, the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, he discharges a number of statutory duties including the Chairmanship of certain Boards and Committees which are for the most part Chinese in composition, administration of the District Watch Force and Tenancy Inquiry Bureaux, and a variety of licensing and registration duties. Other traditional responsibili- ties include those of arbitration in domestic or tenancy disputes, and the provision of his good offices should there be any major misunderstanding between another department and some section of the Chinese public on other than purely professional or technical matters. He also has the important responsibility of providing direct liaison with villagers in semi-rural areas on Hong Kong Island and in New Kowloon.
The Social Welfare Department, previously known as the Social Welfare Office and a sub-department of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, became an independent department on the 1st January 1958. Its functions are, with one exception, the same as before this change in status, namely, Child Welfare, Youth Welfare, Women and Girls' Welfare, Probation, Relief, and Care of the Physically Handicapped. The exception is that the responsibilities hitherto discharged by the Community Development Section of the Social Welfare Office were taken over by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and the staff of that section remained under him.
Under the Financial Secretary, the accounting operations of the Government are managed and supervised by the Accountant General, who is in charge of the Treasury. All public accounts of the Government, including accounts of special funds and departmental accounts, are subject to audit and inspection by the Audit Department under a Director. The Director of Audit reports annually on the accounts to the Director General of the Overseas Audit Service and to the Colonial Secretary, and a copy of his report, together with the Governor's comments, is laid before the Legislature and transmitted to the Secretary of State. The Rating and Valuation Department, under a Commissioner, is concerned