of its trained caseworkers, it provides loans or grants of money for school-fees or payment of rent, clothing, medical treatment and so on, the general purpose being to tide families over difficult periods and help them to gain economic independence. During the year the Society helped some 40,000 people.
37. Also playing a part in the field of family welfare are the Resettlement Estates Loan and Savings Association, which gives interest- free loans as capital to assist settlers to establish themselves, Lutheran World Service and Catholic Relief Services which between them assisted thousands of needy families.
38. With 10 years' work behind it, the Family Planning Association has since 1960 concentrated on a wide-spread educational programme to create social awareness of the importance of family planning in Hong Kong, together with a planned expansion of clinic services to meet the subsequent increased demand. It has now 37 clinics throughout the Colony, eight of them in resettlement estates and areas; sessions at the clinics were considerably increased during the year to provide for 66,000 visits and revisits by patients, an increase of more than 15% over 1960. The Association estimates that 13,000 births were prevented during the year as a result of its advice and instruction, which however is not only preventive but also extends to childless couples who wish to have children and to young couples entering on marriage.
CHAPTER VI
MORAL WELFARE
39. The Women's and Girls' Section of the Department is concerned with the task of rehabilitating young prostitutes and caring for un- married mothers and girls who have been in moral danger and need care or protection. Its task is not made easier by the fact that pro- stitution in Hong Kong is largely a consequence of prevailing social and economic conditions. Whereas in other great seaports of the world women may drift into this way of life by choice, many in Hong Kong have been driven to it out of economic necessity, as the only ready means of earning a living.
40. The Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance contains extensive provisions to protect women and girls from exploitation and to prevent trafficking and the running of brothels; the enforcement of
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