ENG-1960 — Page 219

SOCIAL WELFARE

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The Junior Chamber of Commerce has equipped and stocked 19 libraries for children since 1951 and it is intended that every urban playground should eventually have its library. The Depart- ment's mobile library van visited sixteen districts in the New Territories regularly and had 2,500 readers a month, mostly children. Apart from difficulties of accommodation, staff and money, there is a lack of good children's books in Chinese which suit the Hong Kong setting and are free of political undertones. The Department has started two experimental recreation centres in resettlement estates to cater for children in the bi-sessional schools which cannot give recreation for the free half of the day; there are signs that the great strides made in providing primary education may lead to a change of emphasis in this direction. A need is also emerging for more open clubs and other group facilities for young people who are increasingly open, in Hong Kong as elsewhere, to anti-social influences.

Youth work in Hong Kong is co-ordinated by the Standing Conference of Youth Organizations, on which sit representatives of the main voluntary organizations and interested departments of Government; the Standing Conference runs one holiday camp and will be entrusted with establishing the new camp which the United Kingdom donation will pay for.

Probation and Delinquency. Probation is a way of dealing with offenders outside an institution which can play a part in the prevention of delinquency as well as in its cure. Hong Kong recognized its value as long ago as 1932 when probation officers were first appointed under the 'Juvenile Offenders Ordinance; in 1951 a Principal Probation Officer with United Kingdom training was first recruited, and five years later the Probation of Offenders Ordinance gave the Courts authority to make probation orders in the case of adults as well as those under 21. The Probation Section of the Social Welfare Department works closely with in- stitutions which help potential juvenile delinquents, provides a service in the Court and is responsible for two institutions for juvenile offenders; it has also begun to assist in prison welfare and after-care and keeps in close touch with the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society.

In the Courts this method of treating offenders is now used for a wide variety of offences ranging from larceny, which is by far