in 1947 to accommodate squatters cleared from Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai. Many of the original inhabitants were still living there and all held Resettlement Area Permits. A few of the families met the Hong Kong Housing Society's require- ments as to monthly income and family status, and these were rehoused by the Society. The majority moved into cottages which had been built by the National Catholic Welfare Association in the Chai Wan Resettlement Area.
53. Finally there was one most important clearance at Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. 12 acres of land on either side of the Castle Peak Road which had been occupied illegally for several years mostly by shopkeepers, many of whom had built quite substantial two-storey structures of stone or brick, had to be cleared by early April, 1956 to enable the Public Works Department to lay the 48" water main from the new reservoir at Tai Lam Chung. Any delay in this clearance would have meant putting back the date by which the much needed water from the Tai Lam Chung Reservior could be supplied to the urban areas. In March, 1955 it had been decided that a new market area should be constructed at the foot of the Tai Wo Hau Resettlement Area in Tsuen Wan, on which these shopkeepers would be able to build new shops at their own expense. Un- fortunately the negotiations for the surrender of the private land required for this market area took a considerable time with the result that it was not until the end of November that the contractors were able to start work. This work involved the cutting down of a substantial hill and the dumping of the spoil on adjacent lower ground and was not completed until very shortly before the final date for the clearance. It was a race against time but enough shop sites were finally made avail- able to enable the demolition of the substantial illegal shops on the Castle Peak Road to be finished by the end of March. The completion of this operation, which changed the face of the centre of Tsuen Wan, was a fitting climax to a year in which the department had been able to free substantial areas of land for important building schemes.
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