Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1967-1968 — Page 71

Social and Welfare

198. The Department has a Charitable and Benevolent Fund supported by voluntary contributions from members of the staff of the rank of Class I Clerk and above, but no levy has been made since 1962-63. During the year interest-free loans were made to two Clerical Assistants and one Messenger, and at the end of the year the amount of the fund was $838.

199. The Departmental Football Team continued to play seven-a- side matches on most Saturday afternoons and in addition to their activities on the football field they enjoyed a number of barbecue dinners, dinner parties and beach picnics. Barbecue picnics were also enjoyed by groups from various registries, and outings were arranged to such places as Tap Mun Island and the Buddhist Monastery at Ngong Ping on Lantau Island.

200. Unfortunately the activities of the Departmental Photographic Society were rather restricted during the year, although the members did enjoy a most rewarding day spent in the vicinity of Three Fathom Cove in the New Territories. One of the departmental Photographers, Mr. TAM Kee-lok, won a Silver Cup in a photographic competition organized by one of the local newspapers. There were good attend- ances at the film shows which were held in the Land Office and the kindness of Canadian Pacific Airlines Ltd., who provided the films and projection equipment, is gratefully acknowledged. The usual informal Christmas Eve party was held in the Land Office where members of all other branches met to exchange seasonal greetings.

Acknowledgments

201. As may be judged from the foregoing, the year was on the whole a trying one, made no easier to bear by the persistent shortage of legal and other officers. Although the pressure on some sections of the Department was reduced, there was increased pressure elsewhere, particularly in the Official Receiver's Office, where there was a sharp upturn in the number of cases to be dealt with, and where the incubus of the Canton Trust and Commercial Bank liquidation continued to exhaust the energies of all the staff engaged upon the case. In all sections of the Department, however, officers worked with admirable industry, often outside normal office hours and despite transport diffic- ulties occasioned by the disturbances. In this connection special mention

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