59. The pre-war voluntary Homes for blind unmarried women and girls continued to run after the war. There was no institutional or special educational care provided for blind married or widowed women, or for blind men. A certain num- ber of blind children, mostly girls, were admitted to the Ebenezer Home for the Blind, and to the Honeyville Home for the Blind. By March 1954 a special sub-committee to study the problem of blindness in Hong Kong, set up by the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, was almost ready to submit its report to Government.
60. An excellent school for deaf and dumb children was opened in 1948 by a voluntary organization, with the help of substantial capital grants from the Government. Its recurrent expenses were partially met by small grants from the Education Department and the Social Welfare Office. One of the interest- ing features of this school was that Miss Li Luk-wah, the highly qualified principal, had successfully set out to teach the children in Cantonese, despite the obvious difficulties of the "tones". This school was also a training centre for other teachers of the deaf and dumb.
61. Outside the crowded mental hospital there was no special provision made for the mentally handicapped. Within the hospital the Hong Kong Branch of the British Red Cross Society organized a most encouraging series of working parties for the non-violent women patients.
CHAPTER XIII
SUICIDES
62. An average of 30 to 40 cases of attempted suicides occur in the Colony every month. The victims are first referred by the Police to a Government hospital for treatment, and-until 1949 were sent on discharge to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
63. From 1950 the Social Welfare Officer took over all this part of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs' work. Arrangements were made for would-be suicides to be referred on discharge
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