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THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 2, 1938.
normal. Competent observers have stated that this is three to four times as many as the number usual at this season.
The 30,000 persons are distributed approximately as follows:-
13,000 in Hong Kong,
17,000 in Kowloon.
4. These street sleepers can be classified in two ways:-
(a) they include some 9,000 destitute persons of both sexes, of whom
some 3,000 are refugees;
(b) they contain some 6,000 women and children of whom probably the
majority are destitute: 1,500 of them are believed to be refugees.
It is to be assumed that few of these 9,000 persons have any accommodation to which they could repair in the winter months. Assuming 1,500 able-bodied men, there remain at least 7,500 destitutes for whom housing will be required in two or three months' time.
5. Camps for destitutes other than able-bodied men.
Government proposes
to erect at once temporary accommodation for 3,500 destitute women, children and infirm men at the following points:-
Accommodation for 1,500 at North Point,
2,000 at Kowloon Tsai.
The latter camp will be as far from Waterloo Road as is con- veniently possible. In both cases the camps will be designed for rapid extension, but while the scheme is in its present experimental stage it is considered unwise to carry it out on a larger scale. The estimated capital cost of such buildings, capable of accommodating 3,500 des- titutes, is put at between $350,000 and $400,000 which must be accepted as a provisional figure only. The cost of administration of camps con- taining that number is put at a rate of $285,000 per annum.
6. Tung Wah Hospital, Clearing House Camp. The second class of refugees is transient, on its way to other places. These are being dealt with through the agency of the Tung Wah Hospital and accommodation has been found up to now for them at the old Government Civil Hospital, the old Victoria Gaol, the Kowloon Magistracy and the Tung Wah Hospital, which have served as clearing houses. In this category there are at the present time about 1,800 persons of both sexes. The old Government Civil Hospital has been condemned and the Victoria Gaol and Kowloon Magistracy will be required during the winter by the Street Sleepers' Society, as has been the case previously. The Tung Wah Hospitals have at the present time no refugees other than the sick.
7. In order to deal with this class Government proposes to set up a temporary camp on the Marina site in Kowloon to serve as a clearing house. It will be supervised by Government Departments, the Tung Wah Hospital Committee continuing to deal with the receiving and forwarding. arrangements. The estimated capital cost is $120,000 and the annual cost of administration is put at $81,600. Accommodation for 1,000 persons is being erected in the first instance.
8. Accommodation for refugees with small means.
A scheme has been put
forward by the Emergency Refugee Council. The persons forming this class are needy but able to pay a small rent and subsist themselves. The proposal is to build accommodation for this class of refugees on King's Road towards Shaukiwan, if land is available there. It is pro- posed to let the accommodation to these refugees at the rate of $2 per month per person housed. The initial capital cost of the scheme is put at $35,000 of which Government proposes to advance up to $17,500 on a dollar for dollar arrangement.
A