then collected, and separate payments of rates to Government by the tenants rendered unnecessary.
INSURANCE
43. All the Authority's estates are insured against fire (at 50% average), public liability, cash-in-transit, and fidelity guarantee risks. Typhoon risk has been covered by self-insurance, i.e. the creation of an insurance fund reserve.
TENANT SELECTION
44. Concurrently with planning and building, work proceeds on the selection of tenants for the Authority's flats. This is done on the basis of a points scheme, in which the most important factor is the applicant's housing need. To assess this need, points are awarded for such condi- tions as overcrowding, lack of a seeparate home, and the inconvenience a family suffers through members having to live apart, because of the lack of accommodation. In the final selection regard is had to current service in the local auxiliary defence forces, etc., and additional points are also given where tuberculosis exists in the family. No special priority is given to any particular section of the community.
45. When the waiting list first opened on 1st November, 1956, applications were considered only from persons over 21 years of age who had lived in Hong Kong continuously since 1st July, 1948, and who had a total family income of between $300 and $900 a month.
46. By 31st March, 1959, 44,774 application forms had been issued, and 23,351 completed forms returned. The sorting of applications is a continuous process, and much work is involved in visiting applicants in their homes, to check the particulars given.
47. In May 1959, the Authority approved in principle the basic qualifications for applicants for flats on the So Uk Estate. The main difference between these and the conditions previously stipulated was the abolition of the residential qualification referred to in paragraph 45 above, although a scheme was devised to give some measure of priority to long-term residents. The income range catered for was also extended to $300 - $1,200 a month.
48. The general register of applications, from which tenants were selected for tenancies on the North Point Estate and at Sai Wan Estate, closed on 31st July, 1959, since when applications have been accepted only for So Uk. At that time over 50,000 forms had been issued, and
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