LAND AND HOUSING
129
balconies and their own water supply. These rooms in urban estates are let at a total monthly rental-including rates of $56.50 to families who have been cleared from better-than-average structures.
In 1964 the original H-block was abandoned in favour of a new design. The new blocks were first of eight storeys (Mark III), and then of 16. The first versions of the 16-storey design were known as Mark IV, and during the year these began to be superseded by a development known as Mark V-essentially similar to the earlier design, but with room sizes more closely related to family sizes. The new design differs fundamentally from the older ones in that access is from a central corridor on each floor instead of from external common balconies. This makes it possible to give each room a private balcony. Other innovations include refuse chutes, the installation of electrical power and light points in domestic rooms, private lavatories, in place of the former communal latrines and wash-houses, and, in Mark V and the later Mark IV blocks, a private water-tap. The 16-storey blocks have lifts serving the upper 10 floors. These blocks cost more to build but they represent a considerable advance as they provide better facilities and ventilation, more--privacy and more open space between the buildings. The monthly rent of a standard domestic room of 129 square feet in an urban Mark III block is $31.50, composed of $23 basic rent with elements for rating and water charges; a room of the same size in a Mark IV block costs $35. By the end of 1967, three Mark III and 38 Mark IV or Mark V blocks had been built, bringing the total number administered by the Resettlement Department to 449, housing 943,942 people. One new estate started to come into occupation during the year.
Despite the large population and the wide variety of rents now charged, the number of tenants failing to pay is still extremely small. Of a total of $59.5 million due in rents for the year, only about .075 per cent had to be written off as irrecoverable arrears.
The resettlement estates are virtually townships (the population of Tsz Wan Shan estate, for instance, is around 116,600) and a wide range of community facilities must be provided. Ground floor rooms are let as shops or workshops to settlers who operated similar businesses in clearance areas. Shops sizes vary. Those of