32
for the benefit of the small European population. One fine
hospital has been provided for some Chinese.
The remainder
But 1. the
are served, if at all, by inadequately equipped Chinese
hospitals, supported by voluntary contribution.
main nothing has been done to mitigate the aject poverty of
There is no scheme the majority of the Chinese populati n.
for universal free education and a magnificent voluntary effor t
to fill a small fection of the yawning cup is licely to peter
out for ant of official encouragement, Mission schools have
done fine work but no aducation for the great mess of Chinese
children ia uven conte pluted, Bublic Assistance is confined
to the issue of cheap rice and the haphazatd distribution of
Social food or of occasional parcels by voluntary bodies.
insurance does not exist. Working class housing has hardly been
attempted. In the midst of thââv poverty the 30,000 Europeans
lived, before the war, an idyllic life of luxury. Snobbery was
mall-pervading and the written permission of the Governor
had to be obtained before one could 11 e on the sacred slopes
of the Fook, "ociety was graded in a rigid hierarchy and the
favoured few were received" at Government House in accordance
with the teable of precedence.
.. handful of very wealthy Chines
and some leaders of the Fortuguese community were at times
allowed within the churned circle. In spite of his notorious
collaboration the the Japanese a certain Chinese noblemʊg, has
sgain been received by the Governor.
Si Rober
Ho Tume
It is all too sway for overburdened britain
dooged by the perplexities of reconstructions at home, by the
menace of the internati nel situation and by the problems of
India and her 60 colonies, to acknowledge this situation with
» resigned shrug of the shoulders. after all, Hong Kong, is far away; it is a tiny colony; it ha. et lewat been a paying
concern,
The answer is thatthe importance of Hong Kong
lies not in its trade now oven in the welfʊre of its inhabitants but in its relation to the enormous problem of China. It mast