ENG-1976 — Page 247

THE ARMED SERVICES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES

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motor cycle reconnaissance of damaged roads, reporting accidents, manning typhoon shelters, assistance in the registration and feeding of the homeless, forest fire fighting and anti-oil pollution tasks. The Civil Aid Services also provides assistance in govern- ment campaigns, charity drives and other projects.

The adult establishment of the Civil Aid Services was reduced from 4,320 to 2,300 in 1975 as an economy measure, but at the beginning of 1976 approval was given to raise the establishment to 2,750. Volunteers are recruited from almost every walk of life and are always ready to perform arduous and often hazardous tasks at any time and in any weather conditions.

In May the Civil Aid Services completed its year-long task of staffing the camps set up for 3,900 Vietnamese refugees who were given temporary asylum in May 1975 after escaping from the fighting in and around Saigon on a small Ocean going vessel and then being taken aboard by a Danish ship. The last remaining refugees were provided with accommodation in the Kowloon Bay resite area.

The organisation has a junior wing, the Cadet Corps, which comprises 2,020 youths aged between 14 and 18. The aim of the Cadet Corps is to help boys develop, to make them aware of their civic responsibilities, and to provide organised camps, sports and expeditions. Recruits are mostly from low cost housing estates and other heavily populated urban areas and they are posted to a cadet unit in the area in which they live. In January the Cadet Corps became an independent unit within the Civil Aid Services.

Cadets are taught the basic skills as practised in the adult services as-well as camping, trekking, forest conservation, life saving and mountaineering techniques. For the 17 to 18 age group, more advanced courses are held in mechanical engineering, fibreglass canoe making and allied subjects. Development of a 50-acre campsite on a plateau 750 feet above Tsing Lung Tau on Castle Peak Road continued during the year, and a contract was signed for the construction of an administration building at a cost of $170,000. Other developments included the forming of a football field, a basketball field and tent camping areas, and the renovation of the old village type houses on the campsite. The work was financed largely by a donation of $250,000 from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. In 1977 it is planned to establish a campsite by the sea on the Sai Kung peninsula at Tai Tan where aquatic activities can be organised for cadets.

Auxiliary Medical Service

The Auxiliary Medical Service was founded in 1950 and has a membership of nearly 6,000 volunteers. Its members include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dispensers, radiographers and other volunteers from all walks of life. There is always a waiting list of young people who wish to join the service. Non-professional members are given training in first aid, nursing and other subjects which form part of the regular medical and health services. The majority of these non-professionals are aged between 17 and 25 years.

In the event of an emergency, members of the Auxiliary Medical Service are mobilised to augment the Medical and Health Department and also to assist the