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in 10 "cottage homes" each accommodating about 16 children with a house-father or house-mother in charge. Concerts and cinemas were arranged regularly by the Christian Children's Fund Inc. for the children in their care and games and com- petitions were often held. This organization has been allocated a site at WU KWAI SHA in the New Territories for a "Children's Garden" consisting of a group of homes to be run on the cottage system, where it will be possible to take in more orphaned or destitute children and also, it is hoped, to provide technical training for the older children.
26. In December 1954, the Sub-Committee on Child Welfare appointed by the Social Welfare Advisory Committee submitted for the consideration of the main committee comprehensive recommendations which included legislation dealing with the care of children, the management of children's institutions, and the upbringing of children deprived of a normal home life.
CHAPTER VI
YOUTH WELFARE
27. What type of boys and girls do the youth organizations of Hong Kong seek most to help? It is the non-school children between the ages of eight to eighteen, of whom the majority have been forced, at an age far earlier than in western countries, through the poverty of their families, to shoulder household duties or supplement family earnings by casual work such as shoe-shining, hawking etc. These children may easily provide the raw material for hooligan gangs or become victims of other undesirable elements.
28. During 1954/55 there were 91 clubs in existence catering for 3,666 such boys and girls. Of these, 43 were directly managed by, and 48 were affiliated to the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association-the largest organization engaged in Youth work in the Colony. Of the affiliated Clubs, 17 were Government Social Welfare Office Clubs, with a membership of 500 and run by the Principal Youth Welfare Officer.
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