ENG-1954 — Page 188

SOCIAL WELFARE

for institutions for the detention and correction of juveniles. Shortly after the end of the war in 1945, the juvenile courts, and the Prisons Department Boys' Reformatory were re-established and in 1948 an approved school for girls was set up on behalf of Social Welfare Office by the Salvation Army. Two years later, with the appointment of a Principal Probation Officer, the supervision of young probationers was transferred from the Prisons Department to the Social Welfare Office. Two centres established by philan- thropic committees serve to meet the needs of delinquent boys whose offences are not serious, but have arisen out of some social deficiency. Each centre is used partly as a hostel and partly as a club where the children are taught tailoring, rattan-weaving, and broom-making. It is planned to construct another centre soon, to cater for older children.

Boys in the reformatory school administered by the Commissioner of Prisons came under the care of the Social Welfare Office when they were transferred in February 1953 to a new approved school. Managed by the Salvation Army on behalf of Government, which gives it a subvention for that purpose, the Castle Peak Boys Home provides education in good citizenship, and vocational training in shoe-making, carpentry, rattan work and agriculture.

No special centre exists at present for the reception of juveniles on arrest or on remand, but a remand home is under construction and will be completed by the end of March 1955.

Apart from their work with juvenile delinquents, Probation Officers are increasingly used by magistrates for inquiries into the background and circumstances of

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