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WITNESS Generally speaking, I do not think it is desirable to resume insanitary properties. I think a great deal can be done to improve the existing insanitary state of the properties without any resumption at all. There may be a few cases where lots have been divided and sub-divided, such divisions and sub-divisions being now held by different owners. In such cases perhaps no satisfactory arrangement could be made with the present owners with a view to generally improving the property, and the Government would have to resume in order to carry out a complete scheme for the improvement of the property; but such cases, I anticipate, will be extremely rare. I have worked out the figures for the resumption of Taipingshan which I thought might be of interest to the Commission. The conditions under which that property was resumed were very different from those under which insanitary properties at home are resumed. At home, when the Local Authorities resume insanitary properties, special conditions are made as to the deductions for illegal rents and the insanitary condition of the property, but in regard to Taipingshan no mention was made-
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-Do you think illegal rents did exist in the Taipingshan district ?—That was a question which was not decided by the Arbitrators. There is not the slightest doubt that there was a good deal of overcrowding and a good deal was done contrary to the laws, but evidence of this nature was apparently not admitted by the Arbitrators. The amount awarded for Taipingshan was altogether $763,097, and the Crown rent, capitalized at 5 per cent., was $24,395, bringing the total up to $787,492. Added to that is $12,508 for contingencies, and we bring the amount up to the round figure of $800,000 as the total cost. The area is 272,021 square feet, so the average cost was practically $3 a square foot. The area available for rebuilding is 200,000 square feet, or about 75 per cent. of the total property resumed. That means that the area lost in improving property, increasing the width of streets, and constructing back lanes, was about 25 per cent., so that the average price to repay what has been spent on Taipingshan Resumption will be $4 per square foot. Then adding to this $100,000 for cost of im- provement the total cost is brought up to $900,000 for 200,000 square feet of building area, which is equivalent to $41 per square foot. I do not think myself that, great as the improvement in Taipingshan will be, you can say that financially it will be a paying concern. Of course the selling price of the property will depend very much upon the class of persons who buy property in that part of the city and the class of tenants they are likely to get; but that at present must be a matter of speculation. This fore- cast is I believe practically confirmed by experience in England. There are very few of these improvement schemes that give a satisfactory financial return. There are a few exceptional cases where improved frontages can be obtained, and there are cases in which financial success has been secured by the erection of very high buildings for the housing of the poorer classes with a view to getting the maximum population on a small area of ground. But such structures have now been condemned and I understand that they are not now legal-at any rate, not in the city of London. It always has to be remembered that when property is compulsorily resumed it is a standing rule that an addition of 10 per cent. is made to meet contingencies, such as disturbing tenants, and so on, to the market value of the property. Of course, if any resumption is made-I refer now to the second paragraph in the Commission-I would strongly advocate the adoption of the lines that have been followed in England for similar resumptions under the Housing of the Working Classes Act and similar Acts. There are several of such Acts in Liverpool. I believe Liverpool is the only city that has obtained a private Act which does not compel the Corporation to provide for the persons removed. This Act is an old one and dates back to 1864, but if large areas are resumed here it will I presume rest on the Government to provide if necessary for the housing of the people temporarily turned out. In this Colony the thing is to take very small blocks indeed and deal with them. There are generally a few empty houses in the Colony in which the tenants could find lodgings. There might be a little over-
crowding for the time being, but it would be better than dealing with a large section of the town and so dislocating the trade and so forth.