Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
DRAFT
Minute
Type 1 +
To:-
Les
Sir Leslie Monson
From
E O Laird Telephone No. & Ext.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
Flag A
Flag B
HONG KONG REHOUSING OF SQUATTERS
1.
Department
The proposals by the Housing Board to re-house a
total of 1,040,000 people for the period up to 1976
are recommendations.
It is to be hoped that the Hong
Kong Government accepts them.
2. As the Governor wrote in his letter of 17 September
1970 to the Secretary of State, the building industry
is already overtaxed and it may not prove possible to
achieve the targets set by the Housing Board especially
in the private sector where the six year total is on
the basis of a higher annual average than has hitherto
been the case.
3. In regard to the statistics in the Governor's letter
although it is not entirely clear, I assume that the
30,000 squatters on land not required for development
are included in the total of 1,040,000 people for whom
housing is proposed to be provided.
4. There is one point which required clarification:
The total number of squatters living on land not
required for development is given as 317,000. The
Governor does not mention whether the balance of
287,000 of these squatters after deduction of the
30,000, referred to in paragraph 3 above, for whom
housing is recommended, is included in the total of
700,000 people housed in temporary structures or
(134392) Dd. 737115 750m 4/70 Hw.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN