report all defects, and also to assist, as necessary, in the supervision of the maintenance and new construction work which is carried out by the Department's Construction Unit or by contractors under its supervision.
90. During heavy rains the area staff keep a close watch for any signs of erosion which may lead to landslides or collapses of terraces. There is, indeed, a special organization which comes into operation whenever there are heavy rainstorms. This danger is particularly acute in such areas as Ho Man Tin and King's Park where the terraces have been cut in steep hills of heavily decomposed granite scarred by deeply eroded gullies. During the past four years a considerable programme of anti-erosion and rainstorm protection work has been carried out by the Department's Construction Unit. Without this the expenditure on the repair of rainstorm damage, resulting from the exceptional rain- storms of May 1957 and the passage of typhoon 'Gloria' in September of that year would have been much greater than it was.
91. The most immediate sufferers from any heavy rainstorms are the settlers living in wooden hut areas. On 22nd September, 1957, typhoon 'Gloria' caused damage to 1,568 huts and cottages. Welfare organizations and schools in the areas provided temporary shelter for 2,300 settlers, and the Social Welfare Department supplied emergency feeding for 5,152 persons in Ho Man Tin, Chai Wan and Chuk Yuen during the period when they were repairing or rebuilding their huts. In many cases building materials were supplied to the settlers, and the majority of them were able to return to their homes within two weeks.
92. Officers in charge of cottage areas are also responsible for day- to-day minor maintenance work, and each area has a small labour force for this purpose in addition to the labour force engaged on scavenging and sanitation. As in the estates it is the policy to employ settlers for all unskilled or semi-skilled work and also as casual labourers when new construction work is being carried out.
93. Apart from the type of maintenance work to which reference has already been made the following Government buildings are main- tained by the Construction Unit: nineteen offices and stores, forty six quarters for Area Officers, and 1,658 Government-owned cottages.
94. The Construction Unit's work falls into four main categories: maintenance and new construction work carried out by its own labour force; the preparation and supervision of contracts; rainstorm pro- tection work; and the preparation of surveys and plans for cultivation
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