81. The welfare of industrial workers is mainly the concern of the Labour Department; but the Special Welfare Services Section investi- gates the family circumstances of workers killed or severely disabled in industrial accidents, and advises, in the interests of the beneficiaries, on the best form and frequency of payments under the Workmen's Com- pensation Ordinance. 122 cases of fatal and 26 of non-fatal accidents were investigated, compared with 114 and 38 respectively in the previous year. In addition, nearly 280 earlier cases were reviewed, and seven deserving dependants of victims not covered by the Ordinance were recommended for financial assistance to the Brewin Trust Fund Com- mittee.*
82. Throughout the work which it seeks to do for the care and rehabilitation of the handicapped, the Department relies upon the Medical and Health Department for expert medical assessment of handicap and upon the Education Department for the subsidy and guidance of schools, through its recently established Special Schools Section which is now engaged in a training scheme for teachers of the blind and the deaf. Work in this field would be in danger of becoming wasteful or ineffective unless the close collaboration which now exists between the voluntary agencies and departments concerned continues and becomes even closer. The support and co-operation of all the agencies and departments in this field is gratefully acknowledged here.
CHAPTER XI
YOUTH WELFARE
83. The primary school programme has now expanded to the extent that nearly half a million children are in school; indeed if no children outside the primary age of 8 to 14 occupied school places and the schools were all ideally located, almost every child in this age-range could now find a place. In these circumstances one might be excused for imagining that the task of the Youth Welfare Services which had for years been endeavouring, mainly through clubs, to contribute towards filling the gap in the educational picture might now be greatly lightened. But this is not so. There are in fact still some 80,000 children who cannot afford or find a place in school and are therefore liable to spend the formative years of their lives in the streets, open to all kinds of
* See Report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
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