the milk of human kindness. The success of a housing estate lies finally in the quality of its management.
14. The Authority believes in good housing management, and insists that its management staff is carefully selected and properly trained.
15. The small architectural team recruited at the beginning of 1960, under the Housing Architect, has had a busy year. It has designed, and is supervising the erection of, the Ma Tau Wai Estate, and has prepared layouts, designs and estimates for estates at Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan, in addition to carrying out research on housing design, the use of materials, estimates and statistics. The Housing Architect acts as liaison officer and co-ordinator in the schemes carried out by private architects, and many of his own ideas are incorporated in these schemes.
16. Financed by Government Loans the Authority has its own Accountant and accounting staff, and the Secretary of the Authority, with a remarkably small staff, deals with general administration and all committee work. The efficient functioning of the Authority and its committees is due largely to the energy, enthusiasm and wide knowl- edge of the history and work of the Authority which the present holder of this post possesses.
17. Under the Housing Ordinance, the Governor may issue directions on the preparation of schemes, and the fixing of the income groups and method of selection of the families which the Authority endeavours to house, but no such directions have ever been issued. In fact the Authority has been allowed full scope for its initiative and resource.
18. The need for a well defined policy has been apparent for some time, and at the instigation of the Commissioner for Housing a small ad hoc committee was formed in November 1960, with the following terms of reference:
(a) Review the policy of the Authority;
(b) Examine the need for an Executive Committee; and
(c) Submit recommendations to the Standing Committee as soon as
possible.
19. This ad hoc committee met on ten occasions and presented a final report to the Authority in February 1961, which was adopted with minor amendments. The resultant statement of policy was then forwarded to Government, whose reaction is awaited with interest.
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