CHAPTER IV
THE COTTAGE AREAS
47. When squatters are cleared they are resettled; that is, they are provided with somewhere else to live. The first clearances in Hong Kong were in 1948; squatters in central areas, chiefly bombed sites, were offered sites in more outlying areas, which, it was then thought, would not be required for other development in the foreseeable future. These areas were designated 'resettlement areas'. Government laid out the areas with roads, paths and drains and installed latrines, water stand pipes and public lighting; but the settlers at first built their own structures. Not surprisingly most of these structures were not of a very high standard.
48. The many attractive cottages now to be seen in the resettlement areas are largely the work of charitable and non-profit making organiza- tions. In September 1952 the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation was set up, financed partly by Government and partly by private subscription; it built over 1,500 cottages which were sold to settlers by hire-purchase, the instalments being either $20 or $35 a month depend- ing on the size of the cottage. The National Catholic Welfare Conference has built 2,744 stone cottages. The title to these cottages has been transferred to Government and they have been administered as Government-owned cottages. The Methodist Board of Missions has built 411 cottages which are administered by the Methodists themselves under the supervision of Resettlement Department staff. Church World Service has built 401 cottages, which are administered in the same way as the Methodist cottages. A further 634 cottages, built in small groups by various other charitable organizations, have been donated to settlers.
49. Attractive though many of the cottages are, Hong Kong can unfortunately no longer spare the land for this type of development, at least in the urban areas. The cottage areas are also uneconomic since the cost of building and maintaining terraces and paths is dispropor- tionate to the value of the cottages themselves and is greater than can reasonably be recovered from the settlers in rents and permit fees. Only 131 new cottages were built during the year. These cottages were all built in Chai Wan by the Methodist Board of Missions and most of them were allocated to settlers who had previously been living in wooden huts, 675 persons being provided for in this way. Existing cottage areas are now gradually being cleared to make way for more intensive development. A total of 1,491 cottages and huts were cleared
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