for workshops. Restaurants, cafes and food shops have to comply with the conditions of an Urban Council licence.
63. If the conditions of the tenancy card are not observed verbal warnings are given by the staff, to be followed, if necessary, by pre- liminary and final warning letters. Usually these warnings are effective; but if no notice is taken of the final written warning it may be necessary to terminate the tenancy and to require the tenant and his family to vacate the premises. So far as rent payments are concerned, the con- ditions of the tenancy card provide for cancellation as soon as the monthly rent is in arrears, 254 tenancies had to be terminated during the year; 167 were terminated for non-payment of rent, 35 for un- authorized transfers, 13 for trafficking in heroin, and 39 for miscel- laneous reasons.
64. In order to spread rent collections over the whole month each estate is divided into sections, each of which has a different rent day. This greatly facilitates collection of and accounting for rents. If, for example, the rent day for a section is the 12th the rent paid on that date will be for the period ending on the 11th of the following month. As all the rooms in each section have the same rent day it is easier for the estate staff to remind settlers when payments are due. Out of a total $15,489,553.00 due in rents for the financial year 1961-62 only $5,219.00 had to be written off as irrecoverable arrears.
65. The Urban Council is kept in close touch with the problems of the multi-storey estates. The Resettlement Areas and Estates Select Committee meets once a month. The subjects with which this Com- mittee deals are of great variety and include evictions, heroin cases, applications from voluntary agencies for the allocation of rooftops and rooms, and the hundred and one other matters which must arise when very large numbers of people have to live together at such close quarters. In addition most members of the Council also act as visiting members to a particular estate. By this means Councillors are able to keep them- selves informed of conditions in estates and to bring to the notice of the Resettlement Department any points which they feel require attention.
66. On 31st March, 1962, 180 six- and seven-storey blocks providing a total of 78,831 rooms and 1,063 flats in 11 estates had been taken over by the Department. One newly completed block was then un- occupied. The population in the 179 occupied blocks was 373,274 persons, comprising 72,907 families, the average family size being 5.12 persons. Population details are set out at Appendix I to this report.
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