54491/51
247
C.S..A.C. 19/51
COLONIAL OFFICE
COLONIAL SOCIAL WELFARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Social Welfare in Hong Kong
(Note by Colonial Office)
Connected papers:
CSWAC 6/51
CSWAC 12/51, paragraph 4(a)
It will be recalled that at its last meeting, the Committee discussed the report of the Reports Sub-Committee on its consideration of social welfare in Hong Kong which had been the subject of correspondence with the Governor arising out of Mr. Chinn's visit to the Colony, and that a number of points remained outstanding which it was proposed to discuss further with Mr. McDouall, the Social Welfare Officer, who has accordingly been invited to attend the forthcoming meeting. The questions under consideration are summarised below:-
2.
Proposal for establishment of a separate Department of Social Welfare.
The Social Welfare Organisation at present consists of a Social Welfare Office which is a sub-department of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. In his report Mr. Chinn recommended that a Social Welfare Department should be set up as an independent department with separate functions from those of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs.
This recommendation was not accepted by the Governor, who felt that its effect at the present juncture would actually retard the cause of social welfare in the Colony. The Governor's despatch on the subject continued:-
"Before 1947 the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs did most of the official social welfare work in the Colony, and there, is nothing fundamentally different between the work now done or contemplated by the Social Welfare Office and the work formerly done in this field by the Secretariat. for Chinese Affairs. The Social Welfare Officer is gazetted as an Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs; he is thereby able to perform many of the statutory functions of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs without amending numerous Ordinances, and he is able to make use of the District Watch Force (which is under the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs) for carrying out enquiries or entering premises. Also, although financially autonomous and with his own distinctive title, the Social Welfare Officer is at present able to share the prestige accorded to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs by the Chinese community. I can perceive no way in which the Social Welfare Office is hampered by its close association with the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs and I consider it preferable that they should continue to work in the closest possible liaison..."
In considering the question, the Reports Sub-Committee recorded that while they fully appreciated the reasons for this rejection and realised that at present it might not be opportune to separate the Social Welfare Office from the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, as both were interdepen- dent, they hoped, nevertheless, that it might eventually be possible to separate the two departments, since ideally a Social Welfare Office should not be concerned with political work. These views were conveyed to the Governor.