SOCIAL SERVICES
exceedingly high standard of skill is attained by the Chinese gardeners. An inspection service of live plants and plant products leaving the Colony is maintained by this section. All these inspections are undertaken at the voluntary request of the exporter.
The botanical section is primarily concerned with the care of the Colonial Herbarium which is now housed in the Uni- versity. This collection comprises some 26,400 specimens and is largely the work of such prominent botanists and plant explorers as A. Henry, E. H. Wilson, G. Forest, F. H. Ridley and others, over the years 1904-1918, when the botanical activity of the Colony was probably at its peak. Considerable revision. and remounting of old and fragmentary sheets has had to be undertaken as a result of neglected and inadequate storage during the Pacific war. Specimens and data are continually being added as new localities are botanically surveyed. little known activity of the Herbarium is the identification of drugs and medicinal plants for the Police, the Government Chemist, research institutions and members of the general public. Over the past year, the botanical section has been actively engaged in acquiring specimens of several local plant species for local and foreign studies into the alkaloidal proper- ties they are said to contain.
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The library of the division now contains a collection of local and foreign books of reference. It is regularly supplied with reports and publications from institutions abroad.
Social Welfare
Social Welfare work in Hong Kong is remarkable for the large contribution which has always been made by voluntary organizations. Following its foundation in 1947, the Social Welfare Office has served not only as Government's link with
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