ENG-1959 — Page 34

REVIEW

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been promised so far, and the Committee and the Government have agreed to build another Community Centre with the first instal- ment of this gift; and finally, towards the end of the year, the Government of the United States of America gave two further amounts of HK$1,491,435 and HK$512,325 to the Hong Kong Government. These sums will finance the building respectively of a Junior Secondary School and a pilot Rehabilitation Centre- to be operated by the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation.

This is not a complete list of the gifts which Hong Kong has so far received, for it includes only the sums received in direct support of the official list of World Refugee Year projects. Other gifts include a supply of drugs given by a number of German firms to the Hong Kong Government and, of course, the very substantial grants which voluntary agencies abroad have made to their associ- ates in Hong Kong. It is not possible to list these latter gifts here as the full details are not available at the time of writing.

Further donations are known to be under discussion, but not yet announced. An interesting local development is the campaign launched by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to collect locally the sum of $2 million for the erection of another Com- munity Centre. This campaign, by the end of the year, had already reached the figure of $150,000.

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The struggle to provide the people of Hong Kong with an acceptable social setting, in spite of their ever-increasing numbers, presents a challenge which could easily be daunting. As with all difficulties which are tackled resolutely, however, the very meeting of the challenge generates resourcefulness and enthusiasm, which are noticeable characteristics of Hong Kong today. Hong Kong is a city of scaffolding: wherever the eye turns, in whatever part of the twin cities, the great grey unfinished blocks with their cocoons of bamboo scaffolding-poles rise with their promise of domestic housing, schools, hospitals, clinics, factories, all repre- senting a brighter future. Visitors to the Colony remark frequently upon this atmosphere of bustle and enthusiasm; and they too seem to become infected in some degree with the buoyancy of the place. Mr. C. B. Burgess, the Officer Administering the Govern- ment, took this spirit as his theme when speaking at the opening of the 100th multi-storey resettlement block towards the end of the year. He spoke of .. the enthusiasm, the sense of purpose,