ENG-1959 — Page 192

PUBLIC HEALTH

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practised in public places: discarding litter and refuse; spitting and nose-blowing; and allowing children to relieve themselves.

The campaign opened with a pilot scheme in the Western and Sham Shui Po districts in August. It was designed to run in- definitely and, in time, to cover the entire urban area. The cam- paign consisted of the display of posters and the distribution of pamphlets in the two districts concerned; a special daily patrol round each district to catch offenders; messages broadcast several days a week in each district from a mobile van; the free showing in the open of two Cantonese films in the evenings, on different days in each district; and the provision of an increased number of litter-containers at suitable points in the two districts.

To improve standards of hygiene and general cleanliness, 'Miss Ping On' competitions offering prizes for the best kept premises were held in Resettlement Estates from January to March and from October to December.

Following upon the 1958 Oratorical Contest for school children, which formed part of a health education campaign, another con- test was arranged to cover the period from December 1959 to February 1960.

Food Inspection. Locally recruited inspectors are sent to the United Kingdom for training as food inspectors and to qualify for the Diploma for Meat and other Foods of the Royal Society of Health. In this way a small but important health unit is being expanded to meet the needs of the Colony's dependence on im- ported foodstuffs and of the important export trade in Chinese delicacies. During the year no less than 56,341 lbs. of foodstuffs of different kinds were condemned as unfit for consumption in addition to large quantities of meat rejected during routine inspec- tions at slaughterhouses.

Slaughterhouses. Two public slaughterhouses, one at Kennedy Town and the other at Ma Tau Kok where food animals for the urban areas are slaughtered, function in unsatisfactory premises and under severe pressure. 982,550 pigs, 124,297 cattle and 9,629 sheep and goats were slaughtered during the year.

Although the staff was increased to cope with the additional volume of work the congestion in the inadequate premises made improvements virtually impossible.