HOUSING
113
raised from 31% to 5% per annum. The Government main- tains a general control over the Authority's activities, and all its housing schemes must receive its prior approval.
It was not at any time intended that the Authority should have the monopoly of providing low-cost housing, and private development receives every encouragement. A number of larger business concerns have constructed quarters for their employees, and schemes of this sort are aided by the allocation of land on favourable terms. The Government itself has started a scheme to assist local officers (who are not, except in special cases, provided with official quarters) to build their own homes on a cooperative basis, and several of these projects are now under way. In addition, the Hong Kong Housing Society (see Review of the Year), the Hong Kong Model Housing Society, and the Hong Kong Economic Housing Society are making significant contribu- tions to dealing with this difficult problem. The last-named completed its housing estate at Tai Kok Tsui referred to in last year's Report.
The routine administration and execution of the decisions of the Authority are carried out by the Housing Division of the Urban Services Department, under the control of the Director of that Department, who is con- currently Chairman of the Housing Authority. Only a nucleus staff is so far operating, but it is anticipated that in 1956 recruitment will be on a brisker basis. A housing manager has been appointed from the United Kingdom, and is expected to arrive in April 1956. Salaries of all staff are repayable to Government, plus a 30% surcharge to cover the cost of pensions, quarters, passages, etc.
The full organization of the Division will include sections to deal with administration, accounts, and estate management, but of these only the first has so far been set up. Due to shortage of staff in the Public Works Depart- ment, the designing of the Authority's projects has so far been entrusted to private architects, but the possibility of setting up an architectural section within the Division is under consideration.
Much of the first year of the Authority's existence was taken up with the preliminary planning needed to set its schemes in motion. By the end of 1955, this work was largely completed. An efficient and comprehensive system of select