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Mr. Johnson
55 Kung Lok Road,
Kwun Tong,
Kowloon,
Hong Kong.
13th. January, 1974.
AVA
I wish to draw the attention of interested embers of Parliament to the injustises suffered by poor people in Hong Kong, who have no representatives to take up their cases, no ways of appeal and no means of redness against any Government official who may abuse them.
In the case which follows, it should be mentioned that by law an official of the Government's Squatter Control Section is protected by against all accusations false or uine, in that he is not responsible for loss incurred by the nor of premise demolished by him: the result is that dishonest officials may rod the victim with impunity. I have made a number of complaints about such robberies, but without exception have been told that the complainant was making unfounded allegations: all the people are wrong all the time under this bureaucracy called the Colony of Hong Kong. The story is told by the man himself, whom I have interviewed on several coasiens.
I am satisfied that he is neither a mental case, nor is he lying.
"I wish to inform you that my family consists of persons (7 children) residing at 60 Upper Tung Tau Village, Tuen Mun, Castle Peak, New Territories. My wife and I earned our living by farming.
"We felt our house was overcrowded, so I applied to the Long, for permission te hire a piece of Crown Land to domestic purposes. I had a lease.
District Office, Yuen build another hut for
District Office came to she wanted to keep it, a permit I refused the money and he left angrily.
"On 11th. March, 1972, an area Officer named Lee of the my home and instructed my wife to demolish our hut. If he acid, she had to give him a bribe of $200. As I had
"On 23rd. March, 1972, we were out and only our children were at home. On our return, we found our hut was demolished and our money ($850) inside a drawer had been stolen. We were told by the children that Mr. Lee and staff of the Squatter Control had come to carry out demolition on that day.
"I then went to the Tuen LongDistrict Office hoping to
ncgotiate with them for compensation. However they accused me of causing a Misturbance and eventually I was taken by police to the Police Station, where I was detained for 5 hours. Tefore going to the District Office I had reported the incident to the Tolice Station.
"Because of this incident, both parties appeared before the Fanling Magistrate and the Tsuen Wan Magistrate twice, but without succesa in my claim for compensation. Afterwards I appealed to the Supreme Court, where I was advised to go to UMELCO for assistance. There I was interviewed by a Miss Cheng and later she advised me that she could not help me.
"On 29th. June I again approached the Tsuen Wan Magistracy and there a magistrate advised me to go to the Legal Aid Department for help, and he gave me $50. The matter was in the hands of the Legal Aid Department for several months and eventually they told me that my application had failed.
After this incident I was in great financial difficulty, and sold one of my sons for $12,000. I have been receiving Public Assistance from the Social Welfare Department ever since the incident. However I have had to borrow money from relatives and friends.
"I now wish the District (ffice concerned to:
1. rebuild my hut the same size and shape as the one demolished;
2. refund me the stolen $50; /
3. compensate me in cash for losses during demolition;
4. compensate me for loss of face because they arrested me and forced me
to receive treatment from the Castle Peak Mental Hospital;
5. ensure that such an incident will not occur again.