new department until about the beginning of June. The de- partment came into existence officially with its own independent estimates on 2nd June, 1954 and by that time it could be said that an effective unified organization was in being. Most of the work lay in Kowloon and it soon became apparent that a fairly large and centrally situated office was required there. No suit- able accommodation existed and a new building was constructed at Homantin during the summer of 1954.
18. The squatter patrols, in addition to the difficult task of preventing new squatting, had previously been responsible for sanitation work in squatter areas and had carried out certain duties connected with clearance operations. In order that they might concentrate on patrol work they were now relieved of these extraneous duties.
19. As time went on certain other changes in organization were made in the light of experience. Appendix I is a simple chart showing the main features of the department's organiza- tion as it stood at the end of the year under review.
CHAPTER IV
POLICY CONTROL BY THE URBAN COUNCIL
20. The new department faced a miscellany of conflicting demands. There were about 20,000 victims of the Shek Kip Mei fire encamped on the streets and under the verandahs of Shamshuipo, and direct relief measures were costing nearly $50,000 a day. The fire-lane programme required the clearance and resettlement of at least seven thousand five hundred persons. The time was approaching when major engineering projects- e.g. the new airfield, and works in Tsun Wan and Kowloon connected with the Tai Lam Chung reservoir scheme-would be seriously held up unless major clearances could be put in hand to free the areas of Crown land needed. Yet the planning of long-term measures for the solution of the overall problem was no less urgent than the immediate tasks.
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