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30,000 persons are distributed approximately 13,000 in
Hong Kong and 17,000 in Kowloon.
These street sleepers can be classified in two ways:-
(a) They include some 9,000 destitute persons of
both sexes, of whom some 3,000 are refugees.
(b) They contain some 6,000 women and children of
whom probably the majority are destitute:
1,500 of them are believed to be refugees.
It is to be assumed that few of these 9,000 persons have
any accommodation to which they could repair in the winter
months. Assuming 1,500 able-bodied men, there remain at least 7,500 destitutes for whom housing will be required in two or
three months' time.
CAMPS FOR DESTITUTES OTHER THAN ABLE-BODIED MEN.
Government proposes to erect at once temporary accomodation
for 3,500 destitute women, children and infirm men at the following points-
Accommodation for 1,500 at North Point.
2,000 at Kowloon Tsai.
The latter camp will be as far from Waterloo Road as is
conveniently possible. In both cases the camps will be designed for rapid extension, but while the scheme is in its present experimental stage it is considered unwise to carry it
out on a larger scale. The estimated capital cost of such buildings, capable of accommodating 3,500 destitutes, is put at between $350,000 and $400,000 which must be accepted as a provisional figure only. The cost of administration of camps containing that number is put at a rate of $285,000 per annum.
TUNG WAH HOSPITAL CLEARING HOUSE CAMP. The second class
of refugees is transient, on its way to other places. These are being dealt with through the agency of the Tung Wah