multi-storey blocks at Wong Tai Sin were completed, were resettled directly into these blocks. One block of self-contained flats was built in Wong Tai Sin Estate to provide for better class families who would be affected by later clearance in the area.
47. Despite these provisions there was at first some opposition to moving. The opposition, quite understandably, came mainly from 'illegal' landlords, cultivators, and shop-keepers and from the owners of soy and preserved fruit factories, because they were the hardest hit by having to move. The clearance of the Wong Tai Sin area was a formidable problem. In order not to disturb the livelihood of the people more than necessary it was decided to undertake the clearances in phases, one block at a time, in accordance with a programme planned to suit the construction requirements of the Public Works Department. Operations commenced in June 1957 with the clearance of the site for Block 'E', when fifty seven structures occupied by 124 families totalling 726 persons were cleared from two acres of land. Special preparations were necessary to ensure the success of this first operation, and the staff engaged on it had to use all their powers of persuasion to convince these families that they would be better off in a $14.00 room in the new Lo Fu Ngam Estate than in their existing cubicles. Persons living in better type accommodation were selected to move into the self-contained flats at Lo Fu Ngam Estate. Some of the larger families were allocated two flats.
48. Subsequent clearances at Wong Tai Sin were undertaken at approximately monthly intervals, until by the end of the year the sites for seventeen blocks had been cleared by the removal of 701 structures and 1,597 families, comprising in all 8,843 persons. A total of 24.08 acres had been released for development and ex-gratia compensation amounting to $261,720.92 had been paid for 9.198 acres under cultiva- tion.
49. Four further operations were undertaken in January and February 1958 to clear land required for resettlement schemes. Two of these were made in a valley just north of Lo Fu Ngam Estate when eighty structures occupied by 817 persons (168 families) were cleared in part preparation for an extension to the estate. The other two opera- tions were made to clear part of the area reserved for the new Jordan Valley Estate at Ngau Tau Kok to enable construction work to commence on a large storm water nullah as a preliminary to the develop- ment of this area.
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