The result is that the resettlement estates and areas into which squatters are moved will also contain the same proportion of undesirable elements, and these were ready at hand on October 10th, 1956 to take advantage of the emotions aroused when Chinese Nationalist flags and emblems stuck on the walls of some of the buildings in the Li Cheng Uk estate were removed. The resulting riots, which spread to other parts of the Colony, have been fully described in an official Government Report which was put on sale in Hong Kong in January, 1957. These criminal elements are, of course, only a small proportion of the population of the resettlement estates and areas, the majority of whom are respectable families whose main preoccupation is the earning of enough money to keep themselves and their families alive: and this they would much prefer to do by honest means. The danger is that they may be intimidated by the unscrupulous minority.
25. Between February and September 1956, when immigra- tion restrictions were temporarily relaxed, there was a serious increase in the number of huts built on the rooftops of private tenement buildings and urgent action had to be taken to prevent the development of a new health and fire risk which. would be comparable to that of the old squatter areas which had been cleared. A quick survey was made of the existing huts in November after which legislation was introduced to give patrols the necessary powers to enter rooftops and to order the demolition of all huts erected after the date of the survey. A considerable increase in staff was required in order to ensure that all rooftops would in future be visited at least once a week.
26. Another new development during the year has been in connexion with the problem of resettling shops, workshops and factories. The ground floor rooms in multi-storey estates have for some time been offered to squatters who had been operating retail shops in squatter areas and towards the end of the previous year the experiment of using these rooms for simple workshops was tried and proved successful. During the year under review the Urban Council agreed to modify its licensing requirements to enable former squatters to establish restaurants, cafes, fresh meat and fish shops, and roast meat shops in the 240 sq. ft. ground floor bays of multi-storey buildings. There
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