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seeking assistance was related to a member of the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force, the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, the Corps of Air Raid Wardens or the Hong Kong Police Reserve, it was usually possible from the records available to check the particulars given by the applicant. The fact that the records of other Hong Kong Civil Defence Corps were not so complete or were in some cases unavailable, made the pursuit of inquiries more difficult. As regards those who fall within the provisions of the Second Schedule (persons who died from torture during the enemy occupation or were executed or incapacitated) it was often impossible to ascertain the truth of the information supplied: eye-witnesses of the torture or death had since died or left the Colony; medical evidence was invariably unprocurable.
5. A number of those who sought aid from the Fund, particularly when claiming under the Second Schedule, did not realise that the Fund was not meant to give relief to the relatives of every one who died during the period of enemy occupation. Under this Schedule, the Committee has generally granted relief in all cases where death or incapacity was the result of pro-Allied activity.
6. The welfare of children of deceased persons coming within the provisions of the Ordinance has been one of the main concerns of the Committee and we have, wherever possible, endeavoured to assist with their education.
7. The Committee received some applications from locally domiciled widows of members of His Majesty's Regular Forces. As we desired the Memorial Fund to benefit all sections of the Hong Kong Community, an amendment was made in the First Schedule to the Ordinance by G.N. No. 931 of 2/12/47 which enables assistance to be granted to such dependants.
8. The total number of applications received up to the end of December was 256. Of these 78 under the First Schedule were approved and paid and 44 under the Second Schedule. Another 15 under the Second Schedule have been approved but not yet paid. There are 14 still under consideration, inquiries not yet having been completed. The remaining 110 were refused or deferred because the cases did not fall within the provisions of the Ordinance, or because the applicant's needs were such as not to justify any award at present or for other reasons.
9. No regular scale of payment can be laid down because individual cases differ so materially. Monthly allowances range from $50 to $300.
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10. At the end of the year we were committed to an annual expenditure of about $175,000 (payments commenced on the 1st July). It is inevitable that some of the capital will have to be spent for a number of years unless the Fund is considerably augmented. Applications for relief have now practically ceased, apart from some from the New Territories and from persons who have become qualified to claim under the recent amendment to the First Schedule. It is anticipated, however, that the amount expended in relief will, in the natural course of events, gradually diminish.
All continuing relief payments will, of course, be reviewed periodically.
11. There seems to be an impression among applicants, particularly where they are now resident outside the Colony, that the Fund is similar to the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1939, in England. Under the Act, compensation is awarded, inter alia, to any person resident in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland and in employment there in respect of any war injury. Legislation on similar lines was not passed in Hong Kong. The War Memorial Fund is necessarily limited to a much smaller section of the Community.
12. Though a number of applications have had to be refused as not falling within the provisions of the Ordinance, such applicants have not been without some measure of relief. In August, the Far Eastern Relief Committee in London generously placed at our disposal a sum of £3,000 and from this sum, deserving cases have received lump sum payments ranging from $200 to $1,500. Ordinarily some contribution to the war effort was considered a necessary requisite for such assistance. We have distributed from this Fund the sum of $22,310 to 23 persons ineligible under the Ordinance.
SECTION 5: OBSERVATIONS.
Under section 4(4) of the Ordinance, the Committee is empowered to spend money on objects of benefit to the com- munity after provision has been made for the relatives of those who have died for us. The Principal object, however, of the Ordinance is the relief of war victims. This must now be well-known to every one. We emphasize again that the Fund has not been raised to build a memorial such as a statue, a sports-stadium or a hospital. The aim of the Committee has been to give aid to those in need without delay, even at the risk of an occasional mistake. Until we know what sum is to be expended on such relief, it is not advisable for us to embark on any comprehensive scheme under section 4(4). We have, however, given the matter consideration and hope in the near future to assist in modest way in providing benefits for the community.
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