1941-01-20 — Page 120

CHINA MAIL, PAGE 72

1841

HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER.

•

Social Services In

In the fifth century before

the

birth of Christ, Confucius wrote

已飢己溺

This can be paraphrased in Eng- glish in the following words:--

Let the suffering of others who lose their lives by starva- tion or by drowning he as real to you as though you yourself had suffered in this way.

It is but natural to find that charity exists on a large scale in a vast country like China, where famine, (朗) flood, (M)

drought. pestilence and Wir nave prevailed for upwards of two thousand years On more in the past twenty-five cen- tunes. where linge migrations have taken place from devastated areas, where Mai Luk, The Laugh- ing Buddha, is depicted as an obese monk with a bellyful of rice

ndicative of the poor man's dream of a paradise where there as a plentitude of food), and where the patriarchal family system pre- vals (so often associated with "secondary" wives and their off- spring). That the charity is for the most part individual and un- organised cannot be gainsaid, There are, of course, exceptions to this stummewhat sweeping state- ment; relief work sponsored by the state and by foreign organi- sations (notably American und British) has been carried out for

many years.

Mass of Want

a

It cannot be denied, however, that these notable and praise- worthy efforts have had but small effect on the mass of want and suffering from which tens of millions have been the victims.

As in China, so here in Hong Kong the centenary of which we are now celebrating, social ser- vices are still in an elementary stage of development. The earli- est in the field as regards organis- ed bodies were the Christian mis-

which have always taken sions an active part in secular education and in the care of the sick, the blind, the aged and the destitute..

Other organisations have made their contribution in the form of special work for babies and young children, the homeless, the way- ward, the "unfortunate" and the abandoned. Some have confined their sphere of labour to one or other of the many races making up the population of Hong Kong.

Over seventy years ago an im- portant Chinese association came into being which shouldered, for several decades at any rate, the main responsibility for the care of the Chinese sick poor.

All credit is due to these pion- eers, religious and lay, of chari- table works in Hong Kong. They would, it is felt, be the first to agree that little more than the mere surface had been scratched..

Government's Part

Government has played its part in endeavouring to develop the trade and resources of the Colony and. thus, to increase the pros- perity of its inhabitants, to main- tain peace and security in which its citizens can live and work, to improve the standard of living of those for whom it stands in a position of trustee, to provide health, welfare, medical and ed- urntional services for all sections of the community, and to en- courage by subsidies, grants of land, and so on, the efforts of non- official bodies to bridge the wide gap between existing and, toler- able standards of: living for the MASEDA.

What has been achieved to date by unofficial and government efforts is plain to all who care to see. It is easy to understand how unofficial bodies, with the best will in the world, found them-

selves unable to meet the over. whelming burden resulting from the

Siro-Japanese outbreak of hostilities in July, 1937, coupled with an influx of refugées, first from Shanghai and North China and later from Kwangtung the south.

and

In less than two years, it is calculated that the population of the Colony was doubled by this vast number of persons seeking in the protection afforded here Hong Kong under the British flag. Charitable institutions could not be expected to meet this abnormal strain upon their resources and Government, for the first time its history, provided shelter, food and medical services for thousands upon thousands of persons. The number of those needing help iu- creased concurrently with the exhaustion by many of the refu- gees of their scant savings, com- bined with the rapid rise in the cost of living and, in many ins- tances, an actual depression in the wages earned owing to a sur- plus of labour.

Refugee Camps

Camps were built for the refu. gees and others who were unable to provide themselves with a roof over their heads and who slept on the street pavements in their thou- sands.

Buildings were taken over and converted into hospitals and large subsidies were given to unofficial todies to enable them to in- crease their provision for the sick poor and destitute.

Legislation has been enacted to the certain sections of protect community from the rapacity of. certain bad types of landlords.

In

have addition, restrictions been placed upon refugees enter- ing the Colony (other than those from areas in peril from war con- in ditions), culminating, finally,

a law aimed at bringing about a reduction in the number of per- of suns exposed to the dangers hostile action in the event of the Colony being invested and attack- ed and at preventing the aggrava- tion of the gross overcrowding of dwellings and a flooding of the labour market to the great dis- advantage of the body of indi- genous labour.

Immigration Law

Apart from its other manifest advantages, the recently enacted legislation restricting immigra- tion will lay (once and for all) the bogey encountered even amongst intellectual and socially- minded persons to the effect that any improvement in conditions of food, housing, medical and educa- tional facilities in Hong Kong would be immediately followed by an overwhelming inrush of all and sundry from South China theory disproved conclusively in the past two and a half years dut. ing which the Colony's popula- tion, although "doubled, numbers fewer refugees in its midst than is represented by the peace time population of but one city Kwangtung (Canton).

મ

of

I

assisted by an enlightened Press, the broadcasting system, the cine-

and mas, restaurants

eating houses, are all helping to dispel ignorance in relation to nutrition and these efforts can be intensi- fed at small cost.

Economic Aspect

The economic aspect will be in- Aluenced partly by implementing the legislative provisions relating to minimum wages and conditions of work, partly by developing the undoubted advantages of what is one of the finest ports in the world, and partly by intelligent control of food prices and, in times of severe stress, by Govern. ment taking an active part in the import and distribution of staple foodstuffs and fuel. The proposal to inaugurate an experimental plantation and mixed farm in the New Territorities in the coming financial year and the starting of up-to-date system under Government control for the col- lection of nightsoil and its safe utilisation as a fertiliser should combine to bring about un in. crease in the productivity of those portions of the New Territories capable of a far higher yield than is possible at present with u consequent lowering of costs of protective foods,

an

Housing comes next on the list after the improvement of food supplies; and the problem of for building healthy tenements artisans and poorer grades should be simplified once the immigration law takes effect and there is less. disparity, between the size of the

and the amount population available housing.

The

Town Planning

CI

H.K.

By Dr. P. S. SELWYN-CLARKE,

Director of Medical Services

increase in the facilities for verna- cular education. It is obviously

that very desirable

children should grow up with an adequate knowledge and a real apprecia- tion of the value of personal, domestic and communal hygiene and this can be acquired best in schools.

That Government is very con- cerned with the inadequacy of accommodation for the sick and injured in Hong Kong is clearly established by the fact that His Excellency Sir Geoffry Northcote appointed in 1938 a special com- mittee to investigate and advise on the subject.

Big Expenditure

The proposals of the Technical Committee in question which have been accepted in principle by the Government and by the Secretary of State for the Celonies involve the expenditure during the next five years of a sum of over $10,- for those 000,000 on institutions suffering from general and infec- tious diseases, from tuberculosis and other so-called social diseases, for sick children, for the aged sick, and so on. In earnest of its intentions, Government has al.

ready caused the sites for the pro- posed new general and infectious diseases hospitals to be formed in readiness for the construction of these two institutions and the plans have been completed for the second.

existence of Government camps should greatly facilitate town planning and slum clearance when these much-to-be-desired steps are put into operation. The for proposed use of the camps this

# should provide purpose sufficient answer to those were inclined to criticise Govern- ment at first for constructing over 10,000 for the past two years. further justification, it necessary, for the Government camps lies in the fact that they are also used - sive repairs to the Leper Settle-

who

A

to house aged and inflım, blind and mentally-afflicted homeless from the streets, many of whom would drift into the overcrowded Chinese hospitals, and for shel- tering many hundred young girls, ill-treated mui tsai or motherless girls, rescued from all manner of the unsavoury surroundings by

Secret- officers attached to the tariat for Chinese Affairs.

Pioneer Work

Pioneer work by a missionary body in housing in, ordinary con- verted shop-houses those earning low wages has pointed the way to greater efforts along the lines of the Peabody Trust dwellings in London or the City Develop- ment Trust in Singapore, ・ and other cooperative housing schemes.

After food, shelter and reason- ably adequate wages, comes the

medical to improvement of

and

In a very brief note on the social services in Hong Kong, it might not be out of place to refer certain hopes, and aspirations for the future.

· 46

Malnutrition (including the dis- eases following in Its train, such tuberculosis and beri beri, which exact such a severe toll upon this community at present) is due in the main to poverty and ignorance, with a profound em- phasis upon the economic factor.

The teaching and practice of hygiene in the schools and public health propagands by medical and health officers and inspectors and health visitors during their domiciliary visits, and in the wel fare centres, clinics and hospitals,

health facilities in Hong Kong.

--Mention' has been made already of public health propaganda. Such teaching loses much of its value if environmental conditions (in- cluding those under which the younger generation are taught) are so unsatisfactory that it is not possible to put into práctice the lessons. The adoption by Gov- ernment of the new Educational Code indicates clearly the import- ance which is attached to the health factor in schools.

Step by step with the raising of the standard of environmental hygiene will, it is hoped, go an

In addition and in the past two years alone, in its efforts to meet the serious burden of sickness re- sulting from the refugee immigr3- tion, Government has permitted of two institutions with a total C00 beds to be converted into re- lel hospitals, has financed exten-

ment doubling its accommodation, and the conversion of other build- ings into a satisfactory mental hospital for female patients.

Welfare Centres

A new welfare centre was open- ed in Kowloon early in 1940 and. plans have been approved for much needed welfare centres in the New Territories. (Tsun Wan) of and in the Western District Victoria.

*

Apart from the foregoing, Gov- ernment has increased its finan- cial assistance to the Chinese hospitals and dispensaries from $121,000 to over $750,000 in the past few years,

been The above details have given so that the community as a whole may realise that, while the need for social services in Hong Kong is very great, and is likely to remain so for years, the Governor and his Council. are far from, being unaware of or unsympathetic towards the re quirements. This fact should ens courage those who have at heart. the true welfare of the local in-. habitants (including persons of all grades and of all races, but espe cially the Chinese and the under- privileged).

Finally, it is only fitting that a warm tribute should be all those sworkers who time, thought, energy Kources to rendering service lies in their pow the benent of the community which they have their being.

1941

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