ENG-1949 — Page 163

Union Church in Hong Kong and Kowloon have been completed.

There is also a Russian Orthodox Church in the Colony. The Indian Community has four places of worship, the Sikh Temple, two Mosques and a Parsee Temple. The greater part of the Indian population of Hong Kong is Muslim (about 1,100); Sikhs and Sindhis with about 300 each are also well represented. The Sikh temple which was standing before the war was destroyed during hostilities, but has now been replaced.

There is a Jewish Community of about 150 mainly composed of merchants. The community is very old, dating back to the foundation of the Colony. One synagogue is maintained, which during the past year housed and fed large numbers of Jewish refugees who passed through the Colony in transit from Shanghai and Tientsin.

The Churches play a very full part in the educational, social and charitable work of the Colony. Many charitable institutions and much relief work are undertaken by them, but, as social welfare is the subject of another Chapter in this report, no detailed mention of particular activities is included in this section. Among the charitable ventures are numbered the Salvation Army Children's Home and the special relief work for the poor and destitute carried out by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The educational work is performed mainly in the grant Schools, which are referred to elsewhere in this report. The social activities of the Churches are too numerous to mention but among them two of the most active are the Catholic Centre, which houses a chapel, library, reading room and lecture halls, and the Sailors' and Soldiers' Home run under the auspices of the English Methodist Church.

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