ENG-1959 — Page 350

RELIGION

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and School Extension Commission and the Diocesan Council for the Lay Apostolate, in which the various lay organizations are grouped. Among organizations providing social amenities are The Catholic Club of Hong Kong, 15-18 Connaught Road Central, the Chinese Catholic Club in Kaiming Building and the Little Flower Club in Kowloon. The central organization of the Church's cultural and social activities is the Catholic Centre, 15-18 Con- naught Road Central, where an Information Bureau is available to the public.

Many of the principal Roman Catholic Mission Orders and Congregations have their Far-Eastern administrative headquarters in the Colony.

There is a small Russian Orthodox congregation, divided into adherents who recognize the present Patriarch of Moscow and others who do not. The former have their own Church, founded in 1934. The latter, who have inter-communion with the Anglican Church, hold their services in St. Andrew's Church Hall, Kow- loon, and are known as the Orthodox Church.

There are comparatively small groups of Chinese Muslims and non-Chinese Muslims, mostly Pakistanis and Indians. The first mosque was built in 1850 on the present mosque site in Shelley Street; the existing construction dates from 1915. A second mosque was built in 1896 in Nathan Road, Kowloon, but in 1902 was transferred to the care of the military authorities for use by Indian troops.

The Parsees were among the foreign communities which arrived with the British in 1841. In 1829 they had established a prayer- house and cemetery in Macau, and in 1852 they established their first cemetery in Hong Kong, in Happy Valley. In 1874 they established a prayer-hall in Elgin Street, which was moved in 1931 to a new site on Leighton Road. There is no Fire Temple or Tower of Silence.

The Jews, of whom there is a small community in the Colony, were also established in Macau prior to the foundation of Hong Kong, where they were among the earliest residents. Their cemetery, on the slopes of Happy Valley, was founded in 1855, and their religious services were originally held in premises rented in the Peel Street-Staunton Street area of the central district of