departments previously concerned with the various aspects of the squatter problem, were instructed to form themselves as soon as possible into a new temporary department to be known as the Department of Resettlement. The post of Commissioner for Resettlement, carrying with it temporary ex officio membership of the Urban Council, was created on 19th April, 1954. The Commissioner was instructed that all his functions should be exercised under the general guidance of the Urban Council, he was assured that the Government was now prepared to devote much greater resources to resettlement measures and he was told that the solution of the squatter problem was to be regarded as a matter of the greatest urgency.
15. The first six weeks were devoted for the most part to the planning of an effective administrative organization. The work had in the past been particularly bedevilled by inter- departmental complexities, and it was decided that for the sake of effective direction and co-ordination the Commissioner and his immediate staff should be located in the new Secretariat building. Space was allocated accordingly and this arrangement paid high dividends as the work progressed.
16. Apart from the Head Office there were four separate but inter-related organizations to be set up or taken over; these were:--the squatter patrols, whose duty it is to prevent the construction of new illegal huts or buildings; the "screeners," who carry out surveys of squatter areas and do the preliminary documentation which is required before a clearance; the organization for carrying out clearance and resettlement opera- tions; and the organization responsible for the administration of resettlement areas.
17. The squatter patrols, previously a part of the Public Works Department, and the Resettlement Division of the Urban Services Department were taken over at short notice in late April; the screening officers of the Social Welfare Office, all of whom were engaged in the documentation of the victims of the Shek Kip Mei fire, were not brought under the control of the
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