ENG-1965 — Page 198

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PUBLIC ORDER

which may be carried out far from the institution, is always of a constructive kind such as forestry, drainage, building or road works. It gives the prisoners a pride of achievement and at the same time greatly benefits the areas where it is carried out.

The training centres, which take 490 boys between the ages of 14 and 21, are set in healthy rural surroundings and all are run on modern open lines. The daily tempo is brisk and the boys are fully occupied in studies, vocational and trade training, hobbies and sports. The value of this form of training, which is followed by statutory after-care, is illustrated by the fact that almost 75 per cent of those discharged are never reconvicted. Few, if any, overseas reformative systems for young delinquents can equal this figure.

Hong Kong has statutory after-care for all training centre inmates and voluntary after-care for drug addicts at Tai Lam. Case workers, who are serving members of the department, advise and assist the prisoner both during his sentence and on his release. The con- tinuity made possible by having after-care officers as integral members of the department's staff is of the utmost importance in the successful rehabilitation of discharged prisoners. The Dis- charged Prisoners' Aid Society, an independent body under an honorary committee, works closely with the department and takes an active part in the social rehabilitation of discharged prisoners. The society maintains four hostels and is planning a fifth to be opened early next year.

The Prisons Department has a disciplined staff of 25 gazetted officers and 913 subordinate officers and warders. They are sup- ported by 144 professional, executive and clerical grades and 65 auxiliary and minor staff.

FIRE SERVICES

The Hong Kong Fire and Ambulance Service has an establish- ment of 240 officers and 2,100 other ranks, excluding clerical and executive staff. Among those from overseas are officers from 59 fire brigades in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, so that collectively the service possesses a cross-section of fire engineering experts and knowledge unequalled elsewhere in the world. The title 'Fire and Ambulance Service' no longer wholly