Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1957-1958 — Page 19

these loans are faithfully repaid in small monthly instalments and the money is used again for others requiring help.

CHAPTER VIII

MORAL WELFARE

38. As one of the world's major seaports and an international communications centre, Hong Kong might be expected to have a serious prostitution problem at any time; the influx of several hundred thousand refugees since the war has aggravated the position by driving more girls into prostitution for economic reasons. The Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance of 1951. contains extensive provisions designed to protect females, especially young girls, against exploitation. Traffic in females and the using of premises as a brothel are among the offences covered by this law. Enforcement is a matter primarily for the Police, who refer cases discovered in raids on brothels, particularly cases of young girls, to the Women's and Girls' Section of the Department in order that they may be guided back to normal life. Other cases are referred to the Section by the Social Hygiene Clinic of the Medical Department.

39. This Section of the Department was set up in 1952 and consists of an Assistant Director and eight officers; its work lies particularly with young girls in moral danger, juvenile prostitutes, unmarried mothers and girls whom their parents or guardians found difficult to control. Figures of prosecutions for certain offences as a result of which cases were referred to the Section by the Police during the year are given in Appendix 9.

40. Closely associated with the work of the Section are two volun- tary institutions which provide residential care for young girls, Pelletier Hall, a Home run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Po Leung Kuk, a Chinese charitable institution. Pelletier Hall was opened in May 1956 and provides domestic training and education for some eighty girls, mostly aged under eighteen on entry, who have been rescued from a life of prostitution and have generally had no oppor- tunity to learn how to live at home or at work. They are taught, over a normal period of two years residence, cooking, care of infants, sewing and embroidery, reading and writing; a special effort is also made to fit them to earn their own living, by weaving, machine sewing, steno- graphy, etc. The Home is being extended in stages to bring the number of girls who can be accommodated up to 125. The devoted work of

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