48. In 1945 there had been a number of temporary residential centres for aliens in the care of the International Red Cross, for other destitutes hoping for repatriation to South America and elsewhere, and for some Hong Kong destitute persons. Eventually all these centres but one were closed down, and a mixed collection of Chinese, British, Portuguese, South American, and Eurasians was housed in the official Matauchung No. 1 Camp. In April, 1948 this camp was handed over to the Social Welfare Office and was drastically re- organized, especially with regard to medical facilities, sanitary arrangements, and the inmates' diets. The inmates themselves were also screened, with the consequent removal of compara- tively well-to-do people who had been living there free of charge at public expense. In 1949 the camp was re-established across the harbour on the Hong Kong side as the North Point Relief Camp. Board, lodging, schooling, and everything else were provided free. Throughout the period covered by this report North Point Camp remained a complicated combination of an orphanage, a home for the aged, a transient destitutes' recep- tion centre, and an asylum for desperate cases of many other kinds. To encourage self-help and defeat the insidious evils of inaction, as many inmates as possible were induced to take part in some Camp service; also they provided their own Hut leaders, who were responsible for general cleanliness, organizing regular fire-drills, and dealing with minor complaints. Special attention was paid to the children's needs for recreation and instruction.
CHAPTER XI
EMERGENCY RELIEF
49. During the period covered by this report there were fortunately, no typhoons serious enough to demand mass emer- gency relief measures. Thanks to the medical and health services there were no disastrous epidemics either. But a series of fires in squatter areas-some of them of gigantic proportions--and the mass influx of displaced persons from China following the change of government in 1948, created other no less pressing emergency relief problems.
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