Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1960-1961 — Page 30

residents might otherwise have enjoyed) and have brought their sub- stantial resources to bear as part of the common effort.

88. It is the rôle and function of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to co-ordinate as far as possible these multifarious voluntary organizations; all the important voluntary agencies, numbering now over 90, are members of the Council, which is also supported by some 270 individuals as associate members, a great increase over the pre- vious year. Close liaison with the Government is ensured by the regular attendance of observers or advisers from the Social Welfare and several other Departments at meetings of the Council and its Executive Com- mittee.

89. During World Refugee Year the Council made a local appeal through a special committee, which raised some $800,000 for the con- struction of a community centre at Chai Wan, at present the only resettlement estate on Hong Kong Island; this project is now in the planning stage. The Council set up two new Committees during the year, a Committee for Emergency Relief charged with co-ordinating the work of relief agencies in providing clothing, equipment, utensils, and other forms of aid in time of disaster, in close conjunction with the Relief Section of the Department; and a Child Welfare Committee representative of the main organizations and institutions working for children, which discussed a variety of needs and problems concerning the welfare of children. The membership of the Central Relief Records Office, which keeps records of aid given to individuals or families by the main relief agencies and the Department became more truly com- prehensive and more than 150,000 cases were on the books at the end of the year. The Council's Employment Assistance Scheme had a successful second year of operation, finding work for some 600 out of about 1,200 applicants.

90. The Social Welfare Advisory Committee, appointed by the Governor, is charged with advising Government on social welfare policy; its members, apart from the Director of Social Welfare who is in the Chair, are unofficials with experience of welfare work, many of them in leading rôles in voluntary agencies. The Committee appoints Sub-Committees to study particular questions, the main subject during the year being that of Vocational Training, on which a Sub-Committee is about to present a final report. Annual applications from voluntary organizations for financial subventions from public funds were scru- tinized and advice given to Government, which approved the subven-

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