In the older residential districts of Kowloon, the lower levels of the Peak immediately above the Central and Western districts of Victoria, and in the Causeway Bay area there are large old houses, many of which to-day accommodate entire Chinese families with their numerous dependants who in some cases use each floor, or sections of each floor, as separate apartments for their own immediate families. Similar arrangements are made by many of the older Portuguese families resident in Kowloon.
The most thickly-populated areas are those consisting of accom- modation of a lower standard, occupied almost entirely by Chinese; Wanchai, the Central and Western districts of Victoria, and a large part of Kowloon consist of row upon row of 4-storey buildings, the ground floors of which are usually shops, while the upper floors are dwellings, each floor consisting of one large room subdivided into cubicles of approximately 64 sq., ft., in which an entire family may live, using a communal kitchen and latrine shared by three or four families. In many of the older buildings of this kind, there are no washing facilities, and the inhabitants are dependent upon public conveniences and bath-houses. Many of the defects in this type of housing are due to lack of controlling legislation in the latter part of the last century, when many of these houses were built. Public Health & Buildings Ordinance, 1903, was the first governmental attempt at improving standards, but of course the standards of those times fell far short of what would be considered appropriate to-day. Control is now maintained under the Buildings Ordinance, 1935, which laid down certain improvements in the lighting and ventilation of old buildings and the provision of yards, scavenging lanes, latrines and bathrooms. Since this date buildings erected to accommodate the lower income groups have shown a great improvement, and with the advance in ideas about housing this improvement can be expected to continue.
The
Many of the Chinese who have taken refuge in Hong Kong during the last two years have been unable to obtain accommodation of any sort, and as a result colonies of squatters' shacks have been constructed. Since many of these are built of wood, packing cases, corrugated iron and sacking and are constructed extremely close to one another the dangers of fire and disease are great. Efforts to keep the centre of the city free from squatters' huts have been successful, and special sites have been provided in certain localities where squatters may build for themselves at a low cost huts of a standard design. The problem, however, remains acute.
Rural Housing
In the New Territories there are few houses of European type, the largest groups of these being along the Castle Peak Road and on Cheung Chau. Housing for the main population in the New Territories market towns is similar to that of the urban areas, and in most of these towns there is similar congestion of population.
Some villages are
Housing in villages varies considerably. surrounded by a wall and moat and still retain heavy gates at their one entrance. The bolting of these gates and the maintenance of the outer walls have, however, lapsed with the increase of security in this area since British administration began.
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