that all rooms could be allocated in advance. At the same time the Estate staff prepared the occupancy cards to be displayed by each household in its room, pasting on each card a group photograph of the household in question. Rent cards to be kept in the Estate rent office were also prepared.
29. In the fourth week the move took place. On four successive days about 135 families got up early and packed their belongings. At nine o'clock the head of household walked round to the Li Cheng Uk Estate office, handed over his letter of authority and received in exchange his rent card, on which his room number and the amount of the rent had already been entered. He then paid his first month's rent at the Treasury office next door, where the shroff issued a fixed fee receipt and entered the receipt number on the rent card. The rent receipt was then pasted on the occupancy card
card which
was handed to the head of household with instructions that he was to display it in his room so that the staff could check at a glance both his rent payments and the group photograph of persons authorized to live in the room. The rent card would be kept in the Estate office until the head of household's due date for payment of the following month's rent, when he would collect it and once again produce it at the Treasury office. Finally the head of household was finger-printed.
30. Meanwhile the rest of the family were busy transport- ing their belongings to their new home. The department always provides transport if the distance is more than half a mile or so, but it was not necessary in this case as the Sheung Li Uk squatter area was only 5 minutes walk from Li Cheng Uk Estate. The intake day is a busy day for everyone. While the older children look after the babies, mother will be experimenting with a new kerosene cooker, or supervising the whitewashing of the room, and perhaps even putting up gaily coloured curtains. Father will try to take time off from his work to erect fibre-board partitions, and to buy a dustbin. There is a brisk trade in red papers, lucky And there are fire-crackers to scare
emblems and joss sticks. away the ghosts.
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