ENG-1973 — Page 278

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HISTORY

1973. A polytechnic, run by its own board with its first principal appointed in 1971, assumed responsibility for the work of the Hong Kong Technical College in August 1972.

The Social Welfare Office was set up in 1946 and became an independent govern- ment department in 1958 with branches dealing with community services, the prob- lems of the handicapped, family welfare, probation and public assistance. These services are provided both directly and also by grants to voluntary agencies, partic- ularly the 93 organisations affiliated to the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which was founded in 1946. A wider scheme of public relief, inaugurated in 1970, gives needy families cash grants in lieu of assistance in kind.

The rapid industrialisation of Hong Kong has demanded special attention to labour legislation. Hours of work for women and young people were regulated in 1959 and by the end of 1971 were reduced to eight a day and 48 a week. Industrial workers are guaranteed six days paid holiday annually and 12 days sick leave on half pay. All manual workers and non-manual workers earning less than $1,500 a month must be given four rest days each month. In addition, the Labour Department has conciliation machinery to deal with industrial disputes and great progress has been made with industrial health and safety measures. The development of an effective trade union movement has been relatively slow and local trade unions retain strong political affiliations.

The first public housing estate was built in 1953, after 50,000 squatters lost their homes in a Christmas day fire at Shek Kip Mei. These housing blocks had only basic facilities with the intention of providing quickly a large number of homes for victims and other squatters at rents they could afford.

Housing blocks have now been improved and standards of accommodation have been progressively raised in new housing estates. To meet the constant need for more and better public housing, the government has drawn up a massive programme with a target of providing self-contained homes for 1.5 million people in the next 10 years.

A new unified Housing Authority was formed on April 5, 1972, with the respon- sibility of planning, building and managing all public housing estates in Hong Kong. It is served by the Housing Department-the result of amalgamating the former Resettlement Department and the housing division of Urban Services Department. In the past 20 years, the government has provided homes for more than 1.7 million people in its 51 public housing estates, representing more than 43 per cent of Hong Kong's population. Apart from public housing, another 128,000 people enjoy sub- sidised housing provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society, the largest of govern- ment-aided voluntary housing societies.

Post-war Hong Kong has developed into a dynamic industrial and commercial centre and its growth has been truly remarkable. Economic expansion has brought with it a rising standard of living and has made possible more comprehensive social services, although much still remains to be done. Life in Hong Kong has not always been peaceful and the civil disturbances in 1947, 1956, 1966 and 1967 have revealed some of the strains to which the local community is subject.