HISTORY
219
total population of the authority's 88 estates to almost two million. A further 131,300 live in subsidised housing provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society, a government-aided voluntary organisation. Since 1977, the Housing Authority also has been charged with operating a government-funded Home Ownership Scheme which provides flats for sale to families within a set income limit.
Expenditure on education has increased significantly - from $694 million in the 1972-3 financial year to $2,196 million or 17.5 per cent of total government expenditure in the 1979-80 financial year. Free and compulsory primary education was introduced in 1971 and, in 1978, sufficient places were made available for every primary school-leaver to com- plete three years of free secondary education.
Major achievements in social welfare have been made by the government and voluntary agencies. Looking to the future, a comprehensive White Paper entitled 'Social Welfare into the 1980s' was published in April, 1979. In the 1979-80 financial year, government expendi- ture on social welfare, including subventions to voluntary agencies, increased to a total of $630 million compared with $87.7 million in the 1972-3 financial year.
Medical and health services have been continually improved. A development programme over the next five years will provide several thousand additional hospital beds and more than 10 clinics, polyclinics and health centres, a second medical school and a dental school. The development of maternal and child health services has been mainly responsible for reducing the infant mortality rate to a level now lower than in many developed countries. During the post-war years, a comprehensive system of protection for wages, rest days, statutory holidays, paid annual leave, maternity leave, sick pay and severance payments has been built up, and the benefits provided have improved considerably. In September, 1979, the minimum age of 14 years for employment in industry was extended to apply to the non-industrial sector, and it will be increased to 15 in September, 1980.
=
New roads and flyovers have completely transformed road travel in the post-war era. But while many major road building programmes have proceeded, Hong Kong's unusually crowded conditions have posed a unique set of problems. The government's White Paper on Transport, published in May, 1979, gives top priority to the expansion and improvement of public transport to the 1990s.
One of the major events of 1979 was undoubtedly the opening of the underground Mass Transit Railway. The first section of the modified initial system, between Shek Kip Mei and Kwun Tong stations, began operating in October. The 15.6-kilometre system, which links Central District on Hong Kong Island with Kwun Tong in Kowloon, was scheduled to be fully operational by February, 1980.