ENG-1966 — Page 25

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REVIEW

possibly not without justice; namely the tendency to proceed on disparate lines, each service seeking the most desirable objects in its own way and at its own pace, and the absence of a coherent approach to the whole problem of social development. Informed opinion both in Hong Kong and elsewhere is coming nearer and nearer to the view that the social services, quite as much as being overlapping professions, are also aspects of a single intellectual discipline. In any case it is now very apparent that in all these fields the habit and discipline of deliberate planning is now not merely feasible in a way in which, in earlier years, because of the sheer necessity to provide as quickly as possible for the greatest and most obvious needs, it could not be contemplated, but is also generally accepted as necessary.

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The progress of Hong Kong's social services over the past decade is best appreciated in a wider historical setting, and for this it is necessary to go back to 1945, when the Second World War ended and Hong Kong was reoccupied.

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THE POST-WAR HERITAGE

Between 600,000 and 650,000 people were living in Hong Kong in 1945, in anything but affluent conditions, and they were to be supplemented in the following 12 months by about 1,000,000 people who were no better off. These numbers were further swollen in 1949-50 as a result of political upheavals in China. Until the more stringent immigration controls of comparatively recent origin, there has been a continuous incursion forcing the growth of Hong Kong's population. Between 1951 and 1956 the population was thought to be increasing by 100,000 to 150,000 a year, and in 1956 there were believed to be about 2.5 million people living in the Colony.

The damage to housing during the Japanese Occupation was considerable, and although much damaged property was repaired quickly, despite post-war shortages, it was some time before that which was totally destroyed was replaced. Overcrowding was there- fore general and people began to squat in and around the city. As early as 1948 squatters were being moved from central districts to 'tolerated areas' on the outskirts, and a little later approved resettle- ment areas were established where elementary, but fire-resistant