Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1959-1960 — Page 24

which was spent on free feeding. Emergency relief (see Chapter X) cost some $346,000 in addition.

48. Apart from relief in kind, the staff of the six welfare centres assisted illiterates to write letters and others to find employment; in- vestigated applications to the Urban Council for hawkers' licences, recommended deserving cases for compassionate resettlement or to Government clinics for free medical treatment. Many relief cases are referred to the voluntary agencies for monetary or other assistance; among the voluntary agencies engaged in similar relief work are the Family Welfare Society, the Lutheran World Service and the Salvation Army. The Central Relief Records Office operated by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service acts as a clearing house for cases in receipt. of relief from various sources. Counsel is also given by officers of this Section in cases of attempted suicide, of which 724 were reported during the year, slightly fewer than in the previous year. An analysis, including deaths, is given in Appendix 14. A general statistical summary of the services rendered by this Section of the Department (excluding emer- gency relief) appears as Appendix 15.

49. A limited number of destitutes who are quite unable to find any other form of accommodation are housed and fed at the North Point Relief Camp. On admittance, inmates are encouraged to participate in the vocational training classes available, such as carpentry, printing, rattan work, tailoring and gardening, to enable them to fend for them- selves after release. Sheltered workshops run at the Camp include tapestry, sock-knitting, rattan work, bead stringing and woollen yarn knitting. 89 inmates who had completed their training were helped to set up their own homes in the resettlement estates during the year. The number of inmates in the Camp on 31st March, 1960, was 366. Details are given in Appendix 16.

50. Large quantities of relief food such as rice, flour, cornmeal and milk powder, chiefly surplus foodstuffs donated by the Government of the United States of America, have been distributed during the year to the needy of the Colony through six main agencies, namely: Catholic Relief Services, the Lutheran World Federation, Church World Service, CARE (Co-operative for American Relief to Everywhere), the Seventh- Day Aventists and Assemblies of God. The Hong Kong Government provides free storage, where possible, and pays transport costs within the Colony. Particulars are given at Appendix 17. In the past the distribution of flour, cornmeal and milk powder presented certain problems, since these foodstuffs are not normally used in the prepara-

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