shows the comparative numbers of qualified officers serving in profes- sional posts at the beginning and end of the last nine years. This is a record which must be incomparable in this region.
CHAPTER X
OFFICIAL AND VOLUNTARY CO-OPERATION
105. Social work provides some good examples of official and volun- tary enterprise working together, through consultation and agreement. The initiative in providing welfare services in Hong Kong was taken long ago by voluntary organizations, and there are many agencies that can point to a history of service since the nineteenth century. The government itself did not set up a Social Welfare Office until 1948 and it was not until 1958 that a separate Social Welfare Department came into being. Hong Kong has always had many Chinese organiza- tions anxious to contribute to the social services. It has been equally fortunate in the religious and welfare organizations which have contri- buted to its needs through money, goods, time, thought, prayer and service. The Social Welfare Department once again acknowledges these services to the community, without which most of the official welfare available would fail to meet the present needs of the people, to say nothing of the future. Effective social welfare services can be devel- oped only through the combined efforts of government and voluntary organizations, with the same goals and mutual understanding. This concept lies behind much of the statement of aims and policy for social welfare which was approved after two days of debate in the Legislative Council in May 1965 and which attracted much public comment in press and private circles. The official policy for this department may be sum- marized as to ensure that basic social welfare services, whether official or voluntary, are available to those persons who are found, on inquiry by trained and skilled social workers, to be in need. Throughout the year officers of the department have worked in the closest collaboration with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, to which reference is made below, and its member agencies, in drafting a comprehensive plan which will translate this policy into a realistic programme for the next five years.
106. This plan is expected to be forwarded to Government for consideration by the end of 1967. Continued voluntary effort is essential if citizens are to have a sense of responsibility for the well- being of their fellows and if the social welfare services are to rise above
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