ENG-1959 — Page 250

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

The Hong Kong Family Welfare Society gave advice and assist- ance to over 4,000 families every month. Members of each family are interviewed or visited at home and the Society's trained case- workers help them to find employment, accommodation, medical treatment, etc. and sometimes provide loans or cash grants. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul also provided relief grants, free schooling and medical fees for the needy.

Emergency Relief. Measures for emergency relief were con- tinually required, and the year 1959 proved to be the busiest year since the days of the huge Shek Kip Mei fire in 1953. The exceptionally heavy rains in June alone produced a total registra- tion of over 17,800 victims from landslides, house collapse, etc. both in urban and in rural areas. Besides providing two meals a day, the Social Welfare Department was responsible for the dis- tribution of funds donated by the public through the South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong Tiger Standard, the Tung Wah Hospitals, and other organizations amounting to some $290,000. These funds were distributed to those whose homes were com- pletely destroyed, and to the dependants of those who were killed or seriously injured. A gift of £10,000 ($160,000) was also received from the United Kingdom Government.

Up to the end of the year, the number of victims registered in 44 fires, 7 house collapses, 25 shipwrecks, 4 floods, 6 landslides and 10 evacuations from dangerous buildings was over 33,856. Cooked meals or dry rations were distributed immediately after each disaster. Among the organizations which played an important part in assisting these victims by providing foodstuffs, used cloth- ing, blankets, or cash grants were Lutheran World Service, Church World Service, Catholic Relief Services, C.A.R.E., the British Red Cross Society, the Salvation Army, the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society and the various Kai Fong Associations.

NARCOTICS

For many decades opium-smoking was prevalent in Hong Kong, as elsewhere in the Far East. Opium was first subjected to control by law in Hong Kong in the 1880s, and since about 1910 it has been an object of policy to suppress its smoking altogether. The present Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, enacted in 1936, gives the