the end of the year this population had increased by 42,390 to 278,598 persons, of whom 37,001 persons were squatters cleared and resettled during the year and 5,334 represented the natural increase of births over deaths in the estates and cottage areas.
15. The greater part of this increase was accommodated at Wong Tai Sin Estate whose population rose during the year from 5,669 to 35,620 people. This estate is still not completed; at the end of the year work was in progress on the last eight blocks, the sites for the last three blocks having been cleared in March 1959. The remaining new settlers were accommodated in the cottage areas and in new blocks at Hung Hom and Lo Fu Ngam Estates and in the new estate at Chai Wan, the first block of which was completed and occupied on 3rd March, 1959. Altogether 16 new estate blocks were completed during the year and 806 new cottages.
16. Good progress was made with the redevelopment scheme at Shek Kip Mei Estate and during the year a further ten Bowring Bungalows were demolished and their inhabitants resettled in new multi-storey blocks. The total population of the remaining Bowring Bungalows has now been reduced from 11,173 to 6,442 persons.
17. Most of the squatters cleared were occupying land needed for permanent development and by their removal a total of 105.38 acres of land was made available for use. The greater part of this area was required for the sites of new resettlement buildings, which included new estates at Jordan Valley, Kwun Tong and Chai Wan, and exten- sions to Wong Tai Sin, Lo Fu Ngam, Shek Kip Mei and Li Cheng Uk Estates. In addition, land was cleared for other housing schemes and for schools, factories, a public playground, roads and engineering works to be undertaken by the Public Works Department, and other miscellaneous development.
18. The biggest single clearance undertaken during the year was for a new road to link Shek Kip Mei and Tai Hang Tung. This operation was begun in March 1958, and completed in June 1958. Altogether 8,729 people had to be moved, of whom 8,062 were cleared and resettled during the year under review. Although the clearance area was thickly populated it was not a typical squatter area as most of the inhabitants were living in substantial, though illegal, two- and three-storey buildings, the clearance of which caused a number of com- plications. In addition to the people involved, there were 163 shops and workshops and thirteen small factories in the clearance area, all
1
5