some dangerous bends. The 254 persons involved in the clearance were given alternative accommodation in the Chai Wan Resettlement Estate. In Tai Wo Hau Cottage Area, Tsuen Wan, which now has only 118 cottages, 525 structures were similarly cleared to make way for more intensive development. The area is now so diminished in size that it is being looked after concurrently by the Area Officer in charge of Shui Ngau Ling Cottage Area, which is also located in the New Territories. By the end of the year further clearance notices had been served on the occupants of 346 cottages and huts in Ho Man Tin/King's Park, Shek Shan, Tung Tau and Chuk Yuen Cottage Arcas, and on 14 fac- torics in the Tung Tau Cottage Area, to meet the demand for land for redevelopment.
46. Settlers pay quarterly permit fees for the sites they occupy, the amount depending both on the size of the site and the situation of the area; for a typical site of 160 square feet, the permit fee is $5 a quarter in outlying areas and $15 a quarter in the more central areas. If the permittee does not own the premises he is living in, he also pays rent of either $10 or $15 a month to the Government or to a Welfare Agency, such as the Church World Service or the Methodist Mission, or a hire purchase instalment to a private owner.
47. On 31st March, 1963, there were 9,033 stone or brick cottages in resettlement areas, a decrease of 559 from the previous year. There were 2,773 wooden huts, a decrease of 740. There were also 74 factories and small workshops, and 211 shops. The authorized population of the cottage areas decreased by 6,279 during the year. Details of population are given in Appendix I at the end of this report.
48. Departmental staff were active throughout the year in effecting improvements to the amenities, hygiene and sanitation of Rennie's Mill Village in Junk Bay in the New Territories and an office was established there.
CHAPTER V
THE MULTI-STOREY ESTATES
49. By the end of 1953 it had become clear that cottage resettlement was too slow and too wasteful of land to solve the squatter problem. In the event urgent action was enforced on the Government by the Shek Kip Mei squatter fire on Christmas night, 1953, in which 53,000 people lost their homes and it was to provide for the victims of this fire that the first multi-storey resettlement blocks were designed. These
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