4
"This hospital came into being on its present site and in its present
form to redress a balance. In 1952, the general bed accommodation in Kowloon
and the New Territories amounted to not more than 1.2 beds of all categories
for each 1,000. On Hong Kong Island the ratio was better, being 2.6.
"To bring the ratio on this side nearer to that on the Island we
required an additional 1,200 beds, and it was this figure which eventually
fixed the size of the hospital. But, in the interval, the population of the
Colony has risen markedly.
"In 1952 we gave, as an approximate estimate of our population,
the figure of 24 million souls. Today the number exceeds 3 million, due
both to natural increase and to the continuing influx of now residents, and,
as you know, last year we believe that the great onset of illegal
immigration led to an increase in our numbers by about 140,000."
Delicate Economy
"It always comes back to this: our problem of people. We pay our
own way in Hong Kong, Our economy is delicately balanced and we are
dependent on the goodwill of the consumer abroad, and we have to relate what
we do to what we can afford.
"Against this background, the mounting numbers of people who,
annually, join our community, illustrate the difficulty for us of keeping
up with the provision of existing social services, quite apart from that of
forging ahead and then remaining in front of our needs.
"It is the pattem. It is the problem we face in housing and
achools. It is the problem we face in the reclamation and provision of land
for development.
"It is sad but true that there are too few people in the world who
recognise how unique is Hong Kong's situation in so many respects, and that
this situation is one which calls for understanding and practical support
/in the.....