19
4.
- 2
The accounts for the year 1937 show a deficit in
the year's working of $153,776.31, the total revenue from
all sources (including Government grants amounting to
$91,000) being $428, 183.92 and the expenditure $581,960.23.
The deficit in respect of 1938 is likely to be somewhat
larger, owing to the growth in the population of the Colony
from the influx of refugees, although this will be
counterbalanced to some extent by better receipts from
house property.
3
5.
The position of these hospitals has for some time
been causing anxiety. They have gradually developed from
what were at one time little more than refuges for the
dying and destitute, until they are at the present day well
on the road to becoming reasonably well equipped institutions
for the treatment of the sick. The whole of the Tung Wah
Eastern Hospital, and certain blocks of the Tung Wah and
Kwong Wah Hospitals are modern buildings well suited to the
purpose for which they were designed. Increased efficiency
has inevitably meant increased cost, but the income of the
Hospitals has not kept pace with their increased expenditure.
Receipts from their investments (largely in houses and land)
suffered during the depression in trade, while charitable
donations have fallen off rather than increased, especially
during the past twelve months when so much charitable effort
has been diverted to China. There has, therefore, been a
gradual increase in recent years in the Government
subventions to the Hospitals.
shortage of funds has often prevented the institution of
reforms, such as the appointment of additional or better
qualified staff, the necessity for which is fully appreciated
At the same time the