REVIEW
21
to that which would arise if the city of Chester were razed to the ground, but it was also faced with a wholesale re- appraisal of existing policy which was no longer a practical proposition in terms of available land. Three immediate deci- sions were taken which formed the basis of a new policy which is still being applied today, three years later, with marked success. The decisions were, first, that the land cleared by the fire should be used to the maximum practical intensity for the resettlement of the fire victims; second, that Government would itself build and finance the resettlement buildings; and third, that Government would make itself responsible for the provision of food for the homeless until they could be resettled in permanent buildings.
It will be appreciated that these three decisions constituted a radical departure from every aspect of the policy which had been applied hitherto, and, in particular, that they im- plied that Government now assumed direct responsibility for the squatters in their moment of extreme need, and that Government would, from now on, itself enter the field of resettlement using public funds and its own constructional resources. There is no doubt that these decisions were not taken without a full appreciation of the implications or with- out many misgivings. But they were taken and there is no doubt that they were right. Their effect was to place upon a community still suffering, with some indignation, from the economic effects of the China embargo, a vast new burden which would not be lightened for many years to come. Hong Kong has entered upon many major public works since the war. A $125 million reservoir is nearing completion, a $110 million airport is in process of construction, a $50 million hospital is about to begin, and reclamations costing a total of $30 million have been constructed to provide land for industry, for housing, for open spaces and for civic purposes. But those three decisions in early 1954 implied a greater com- mitment than any of the major schemes just mentioned,- perhaps something short of $250 million-and of this com-