136
LAND AND HOUSING
of 30 per cent in the case of domestic premises and 45 per cent in the case of business premises. This figure of 45 per cent became 100 per cent in 1949; through further amending legislation in 1953, the 30 per cent rose to 55 per cent while the 100 per cent advanced in two stages to 150 per cent. These increases-55 per cent for domestic premises and 150 per cent for business premises-still stand.
Redevelopment of old buildings is covered by an important provision in the ordinance whereby premises may be excluded from its operation. This power rests with the Governor in Council and, in relation to particular premises, can be exercised only after a recommendation from a tenancy tribunal. Tribunals follow the criterion of public interest and award compensation to tenants based on the hardship which dispossession will cause them. Such compensation recommended by Tenancy Tribunals during 1965 totalled $18,825,592. This large sum must be viewed in relation to the enhanced value of the land resulting from the freedom to rebuild thus acquired. By comparison with the figure of $98,166,305 for 1964, however, it reflects a considerable falling off in the rate of development. This is further illustrated by the fact that in 1964 a total of 885 exclusion orders were made, but only 200 were made in 1965.
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Since 1953 two tenancy inquiry bureaux have operated within the framework of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs to help the machinery of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance work-smoothly. The principal statutory duties placed on these bureaux are to provide tenancy tribunals with factual information whenever appli- cation is made by a landlord' for exclusion from control, or by a tenant for reduction of rent. The bureaux also perform a wide range of extra-statutory duties connected with landlord and tenant legislation. The more significant among these is the satisfaction of a growing need for advice and information on their operation, and of informal mediation in disputes mostly between Chinese landlords and tenants, who by tradition prefer to avoid litigation. Apart from their mediatory and advisory services, the bureaux are responsible for the disbursement of ex gratia advances by the government of statutory compensation payable by landlords to occupants of pre-war dangerous buildings condemned and closed by the Building Authority. The scheme for such interest-free cash advances, which came into operation in November 1964, was