the year of a psychiatrist in the Medical Department to whom child and juvenile welfare workers were able to turn for advice. In April the administration of the probation service was trans- ferred to the Social Welfare Office, but further practical develop- ment of this service was held back pending the arrival of a qualified Probation Officer from Great Britain.
The Secretary for Chinese Affairs and his Assistants arbi- trated in 1,334 cases involving family troubles; the Social Welfare Officer of that Department received 1,644 requests by stranded destitutes to arrange free repatriation for them and offered help or guidance to 336 persons who had unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide.
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Public Assistance work for adult destitutes was carried out independently by ten voluntary organisations as well as by the Social Welfare Officer; the principal voluntary organisation in this field was the long-established Chinese Tung Wah Hospital. Most of the assistance was given in the form of free meals, admission to official camps, loans in cash or kind by voluntary associations, street sleepers' shelters in cold months, and the free repatriation scheme mentioned above. The hardest requests for any social worker to meet were those for employment, the supply of all kinds of unskilled labour being far greater than the demand. It was only the still strong Chinese tradition of family responsibility for unemployed or unlucky relations which saved hundreds if not thousands from utter destitution.
In
A Buddhist, a Protestant and a Roman Catholic agency each maintained a Home for the Aged, and a few old and indigent persons were also accommodated free in a Government camp. addition, seventeen persons received a monthly grant from the charitable Brewin Fund administered by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Welfare for the blind was still restricted to two non- Government homes run for girls or unmarried women. A new school for the deaf and dumb was built by a voluntary agency with some government assistance, and will be under the management of a highly qualified expert.
The training of social workers was a matter of very consider- able enquiry and planning during the year; the schemes considered were of three kinds. The first was the possible establishment of a social science diploma course, and later even of a degree course, at the University; the second was a two year Evening Institute course under the auspices of the Director of Education; and the third included the development of more specialised training on the job by certain official and voluntary agencies.
In all there were nearly sixty active voluntary welfare organi- sations in the Colony, in addition to the churches, and each of
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