}
152
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
the provision of low-cost housing for the population. Indeed if the efforts of the Resettlement Department, which has housed over 200,000 persons, be taken into account, it can be stated that accommodation on a non-profit-making basis has been provided or is planned for over 300,000 persons or approximately 12% of the population. It is nevertheless evident that the needs of the increased population are still out-stripping the housing provided, and that a solution of Hong Kong's housing problem requires an all-out effort, which must, in practice, be limited by the availability of land and capital, and by the capacity of the building industry.
In order to obtain a clearer appreciation of the whole problem the Governor in February 1956 appointed a special committee, under the Chairmanship of the Director of Urban Services, to investigate and report on the Colony's housing situation, including resettlement of squatters, in relation both to the needs of the population, now and in the foreseeable future, and to the resources likely to be available for the purpose. The Committee was to make specific recommenda- tions as to the measures, both direct and indirect, which Government might take to ensure that those needs are met so far as is practicable. In its first interim report, which was accepted by the Government in July, the committee recom- mended that the resettlement programme should be expedited, and that a Development Division of the Public Works Department should be set up in order to plan and carry out large-scale engineering works designed to open up new land for housing and industry. The second recommendation, the acceptance of which represented a new departure in the Government's land development policy, reflected the com- mittee's belief that the most important and urgent task was to relieve the basic land shortage and that such a programme, though expensive, would bring in, as it proceeded, substantial revenue from land sales as well as the benefits for which it was primarily designed. Difficulties in recruiting the