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17. CONCLUSION.
The period of my visit was all too short in
which adequately to carry out the wide investigation required under the Secretary of State's terms of reference, and there are necessarily many omissions from this report. But the main Public Health problems emerge.
Many have long existed and remedies have no doubt been suggested before now. The constantly changing situation has almost made sore of the references in the report out of date before it was completed, while the lack of factual documents has been some handicap.
The situation in Yong Kong in regard to Public Health problems has always been complex and war impacts have created additional difficulties. There is no one solution for these problems because public health is bound up with social welfare generally and social welfare with economic stability.
I have merely touched on many of the factors affecting health control in the Colony. The special liability of Hong Kong to the occurrence of epidemic disease, the need for some satisfactory solution of the question of aligning immigration to the capacity of the Colony, the distribution of labour and industry, the siting of Service Departments with their accommodation, the elimination of slums, the provision of adequate housing for an estimated coolie population, the financing of schemes for social welfare and the future of Higher Education in the Colony; these are some of the particular questions that have to be faced and answered before any real solution can be in sight. Bound up with all this is the place the Colony is going to occupy in the new world orientation in the Far East, in the face of persistent imèrican penetration.
While adopting certain safeguards, it is inevitable that we continue to make Hong Kong attractive to the Chinese and we must accept this fact and accept it because it spells prosperity for the Colony and, as well, maintaining the prestige of our administration and culture.
The war has, without doubt, complicated the position but at the same time the end of the war means the beginning of a phase which affords the opportunity to plan on even better and healthier lines than before, and on a broader basis.
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