53. At Chuk Yuen, which lies in the foothills of the Lion Rock range of hills north of Kai Tak, a temporary resettlement area to house perhaps 10,000 former squatters was under development before the department was formed. During the year under review most of the proposed site formation, drainage and road works were completed, and mains water was installed. In accordance with the policy already described most of the structures built at Chuk Yuen were either of wood, or partly of wood and partly of granite.
54. This method of resettlement in temporary structures is quick and comparatively cheap to the taxpayer, but it raises problems which are not always easy of solution. The voluntary welfare agencies have been very active in resettlement areas since about 1952; they showed themselves to be most vigorous in expanding their activities during the year under review, and it is obviously very much in the public interest that they should be encouraged and assisted to do so. On the other hand, by the nature of their activities, they require buildings of a more permanent and substantial nature than the domestic structures in temporary resettlement areas. Thus the department is faced from time to time with the task of allocating, for instance, a site for a six-classroom private school, costing perhaps $60,000 $70,000, in a temporary resettlement area. Clearly such a building, once built, ought to be allowed to remain undisturbed for a reasonable length of time; on the other hand the future of these temporary resettlement areas is to a great extent a matter of conjecture. In such circumstances the alternatives are either to refuse to take a decision at all until all the facts are known, or to take a chance, after consultation with the town-planning authorities, on it being possible for the proposed building to fit in for a reasonable length of time with such permanent development as can be foreseen. The first course would cause the imposition of quite unacceptable delays and frustrations, and the second is normally adopted. This involves for instance the attempt to site buildings at the correct level, and at the correct distance from the kerb of a road which may not be built for many years and which indeed may never be built at all if, as is quite possible, the town plan for the
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