SOCIAL WELFARE
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age of 18. Another factor in keeping the number of committals down is the more selective admission procedure which an amend- ment to the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Ordinance in- troduced in 1959. During the year 40 boys were admitted and 50 discharged (23 of them on licence).
Among a number of voluntary institutions, three in particular provide valuable facilities for the training of boys who might otherwise get into trouble; in some cases these have been used to take the place of a Probation Home and Probation Hostels. The Hong Kong Sea School at Stanley gives boys a four years' training for a career at sea, as seamen, deckhands or stewards; there was a welcome increase in capacity from 300 to 350 during the year. The Juvenile Care Centre in the congested Central district of Victoria, besides providing some formal education for a large number of day pupils, takes about 60 boarders, some of them probationers who are orphans or who come from homes which would give probation a very poor chance of success. Finally, the Children's Centre in Kowloon which serves as a day club for 100 underprivileged boys, about 40 of whom live in, has always had the closest connexion with the Department. 30% of the boys are probationers and the training provided by the Centre is planned with a particular eye to boys with 'behaviour problems', generally the result of an unfavourable environment during early life.
Moral Welfare. No large city is free from prostitution, but in Hong Kong the problem is made worse by the conditions of a major seaport. The predominant cause is economic, that is, the great difficulty which many have in earning a reasonable livelihood.
The law provides extensive sanctions against the exploitation of women, especially young girls; the Police have the chief re- sponsibility for enforcing these provisions, and the Women's and Girls' Section of the Social Welfare Department for rescuing the victims of exploitation, and seeing that they are equipped to earn an honest living and to find a place in society. Efforts are directed particularly towards the younger girls who are discovered in raids on brothels or referred by the Social Hygiene Clinics of the Medical and Health Department, or who themselves seek the advice of the Department while they are still prepared to welcome training for a normal life.