space than can be provided, for example, timber yards and waste or scrap metal dealers. These matters are kept constantly under review by the Industrial Sites Co-ordination Committee which consists of repre- sentatives of the departments most concerned. Following the committee's recommendations, certain ground floor units were modified during the year to permit electro-plating to be carried out, while Executive Council approved a scheme for temporarily setting aside areas of land not required for immediate development for use by certain trades requiring more storage space than can be provided in resettlement factories. These areas will be administered by the Resettlement Department.
120. Though a higher rent is charged for ground floor units, their ease of access makes them more popular than those on upper floors. Trades that require the heaviest floor loading have priority for ground floor units. Floor loadings range from 300 lbs. per square foot on the ground and first two floors, to 120 lbs. on the fifth and sixth floors.
121. Resettlement factories are not easy to administer. The accom- modation is of a relatively high standard, is available in small units and for a long time was cheap compared with the alternatives available in the open market. This is no longer the case, and rents in resettlement and commercial flatted factories are now roughly comparable. In the newest resettlement factories, rents vary from 55 cents per square foot on the ground floor to 25 cents on the fourth floor, while in some commercial flatted factories accommodation can be obtained at rents ranging from 55 cents per square foot on the ground floor to 30 and 35 cents above the second floor. There is a temptation for factory tenants to sublet their premises to outsiders under the guise of installing a manager. This is particularly attractive to those tenants who have had, usually unwillingly, to change their trade in order to qualify for resettle- ment. Where subletting occurs, the rent is always higher than that charged by Government. Permitted transfers of tenancy to any other domestic or business tenant of the department are also quite frequent because of the inducement contained in the transfer fee, which the transferee customarily pays the transferor to cover the cost of decorating the units. The installation of machinery has to be carefully regulated to take floor loading and electrical safety into account. Changes of trade, or of tenancy, usually mean a change of machinery, in whole or in part, and since some tenants tend to install machinery without obtaining prior approval, control of machinery is a constant problem. Tenants tend to prosper after setting up in resettlement factories, and to install additional or more powerful, machinery. The attendant difficulties of providing and
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