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education. During the year six new schools were completed, while four were rebuilt and enlarged. Emphasis is on the establishment of primary schools to help meet the highly urgent problem of pro- viding more children with at least an elementary education. Some indication of the educational efforts in the last decade is given by the fact that 111,748 students now attend 174 Catholic primary and secondary schools--nearly four times as many as in 1953.
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In recent years the Catholic Church has devoted much of its energy and resources to social welfare. Caritas-Hong Kong, the Social Welfare Bureau of the Diocese of Hong Kong, was set up in 1958 and has sponsored 'meals-on-wheels' feeding projects, clinics, and a rapidly growing series of self-help' projects. A four-storey social centre was opened at Aberdeen in May and offers various types of vocational training to 300 girls. There is also a medical clinic with separate dental, surgery and X-ray units, treating more than 200 people daily. With the Co-operative Development and Fisheries Department the centre also provides fishermen with instruction in diesel engine maintenance, while more than 2,000 meals are prepared daily at the centre and delivered to school children on Hong Kong Island. A social centre at Tsuen Wan provides young factory workers with hostel accom- modation and offers welfare and recreational facilities to children from working-class families. An adult education centre in Robinson Road, Hong Kong, was opened in December to provide typing and commercial courses, domestic science training and similar subjects. It has hostel accommodation for 60 girls. Other projects started in 1962 and planned for completion in 1963 include a 400-bed hospital, a youth welfare centre at Cheung Chau, a social centre in Kennedy Town, and a kitchen at Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, able to prepare 5,000 free meals a day for poor children.
The task of meeting the needs of immigrants and slum-dwellers has resulted in continual expansion of many other charitable services of the Church. St Mary's, a new home for the aged with 380 places, was opened in September. Youth clubs, clinics, play- centres, libraries and cottage industry facilities have also been provided. Through a special commission formed by Bishop Bianchi help has been received from the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States and Norway, and from such voluntary organizations as the Misereor Social Aid Fund of the German
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