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hand bills have to be printed, more films have to be produced, and local organizations have to be approached for assistance. All this has to be accomplished without reducing work in the districts where the campaign is already being waged.
The department receives excellent support from the Education Department, the Police Force and Kaifong associations. Efforts are continually being made to foster good relations with every agency which can usefully assist in the campaign.
I have doubts about the merits of a special 'Keep Your City Clean Week', as compared with the present campaign carried on by gradual extension to new districts. A special week would presumably cover all the urban areas and would be unlikely to achieve much in those places which the regular campaign has not yet reached. It is also a cardinal principle of the present campaign that it should operate by means of steady pressure. To turn the heat on for one week and then turn it off again would be, no doubt, a fine gesture, but it is unlikely to produce practical results without greatly increased resources at the disposal of the department. In short, the present strategy is to attack successive districts with concentrated forces rather than to attack everywhere at once with dispersed forces."
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- May I congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on the results which have been achieved. In connexion with the fourth part of your reply, may I ask whether the Hawkers' Association was ever approached officially for their co-operation and support?
CHAIRMAN:- I am not personally aware that it has been.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- If not, Mr. Chairman, could the Select Committee concerned consider the desirability of doing so, which, I think, would be a good idea.
CHAIRMAN:- I will refer it to the relevant Select Committee.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Thank you, Sir.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
"As the Commissioner for Resettlement is aware, a special programme for very-low-cost housing was initiated more than a year ago, with priority for persons in tenement buildings which are in danger of immediate or imminent collapse with consequent serious loss of life:-
(a) Can the Commissioner for Resettlement give his firm assurance that actual building in connexion with this programme is now well under way?
(b) Can the Commissioner further give his assurance that accommodation of the nature required by this programme will be available in case of necessity or if there is an emergency situation during the rainy season this year?"
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
"(a) No construction work has started on the new housing units. Sites are available at Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong and Shek Kip Mei and further sites have been tentatively reserved. Detailed layout plans and estimates have been prepared for the three sites referred to and, subject to the approval of Finance Committee, tenders will shortly be invited for site formation works at Kwun Tong and for the first phase of the estate at Wong Tai Sin. It is expected that preliminary engineering works will begin at Kwun Tong this month; progress at Wong Tai Sin has been delayed by the need to await approval of the Town Plan for the area before issuing notices of resumption but it is expected that work on the site will begin about the middle of the year. Tenders for building work on both these sites will follow as soon as site formation is sufficiently advanced to enable building to start. The Wong Tai Sin project, when completed, will provide housing for about 12,400 persons and that at Kwun Tong for 5,750. Work on the Shek Kip Mei site is dependent on private development on the adjacent site and it is hoped that this question will be resolved shortly.
(b) It will be apparent from my answer to the first part of the question that no buildings will be ready by this summer. I can, however, give an assurance that the victims of any natural disaster, whether resulting from the collapse of buildings or other causes, will receive appropriate assistance, as they have in the past, from the Resettlement and Social Welfare Departments."
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- I have no supplementary, Mr. Chairman, since it took me two questions and one annual meeting of the Housing Authority to get this reply.
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