ment has given assistance towards school fees in the case of 33 children and issued hearing aids to 24 persons, paid for from charitable funds.
59. Further progress has been achieved in blind welfare work since the appointment in April 1959 of Miss T. WILLIAMS as Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind. Miss WILLIAMS is a member of the overseas staff of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind and is seconded to Hong Kong by the Society for two years; she is also adviser to the Director of Social Welfare on Blind Welfare. By the end of March, 1960, there were 2,051 blind persons registered with the Department. Apart from the detailed case work which this entailed, clubs were run for 104 people at the old Tsan Yuk Hospital building and for 73 at Block D in Hung Hom Resettlement Estate, where the blind are given some preliminary training and accustomed to the idea of taking a more positive attitude to their future. Vocational centres operated in conjunction with the Society have increased to three, and now provide training for 99 blind people in brush-making, rattan weaving, machine sewing and telephony, and sheltered employment for 27 in plastic flower assembly. Four blind workers were successfully placed in a button making factory where they are earning wages equi- valent to those of sighted workers. An exhibition on the education, training and employment of the blind was held from 19th to 31st October in conjunction with the Society, and was well attended by the public.
60. The most important event in the field of work for the mentally handicapped in Hong Kong was the visit of Dr. L. T. HILLIARD, Medical Supervisor of Fountains Hospital, London, and a consultant psychiatrist, who came at the invitation of the Hong Kong Government to advise on this difficult problem. His recommendations, based on an examina- tion of 180 mental defectives in hospitals and children's institutions, are being considered. Meanwhile, the Special Welfare Services Section continues to supervise the care of 39 defectives in North Point Camp and 51 others living with their own families. Mr. H. E. BULLIS, con- sultant to the World Federation on Mental Health, gave a series of lectures and seminars to teachers, university students and social workers during his visit to the Colony, which was arranged by the Mental Health Association. New mental health legislation, which aims to keep in step with modern concepts in the approach to mental disorder, is under consideration.
61. Old people in Hong Kong are, generally speaking, still well looked after within the extended family system common among the
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