HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI moved the following motion:-
THAT the following be adopted as the policy of this Council for Clearance and Resettlement namely that no demolitions of illegal structures should be undertaken by the Squatter Patrols when the occupiers can establish that the premises have been occupied and used as domestic premises for more than 12 months.
He said: Mr. Chairman, the next motion, which stands in my name, is a variation on a motion moved in my name and eventually referred to the relevant Committee in August of last year. I am moving the present motion because it has come to my attention that the Squatter Patrols of late have demolished a considerable number of domestic shacks, housing the poorest of our community, which have been erected for far more than a year. The occupants have been left to sleep in the open, which is a cold and bitter experience in winter, and a wet and bitter experience in summer. Perhaps the Government's policy of stopping more squatting is incapable of being achieved, now that so many old domestic premises have been the subject matter of an Exemption Order and have been pulled down and the rents for new accommodation are beyond the means of our vast poor population. But certainly if this policy is to receive the co-operation of this Council, new squatting must be checked preferably in the first month or, at the most, first two months of the new squatter shack's being erected, and it is primarily up to the Commissioner for Resettlement to put up a scheme to this Council whereby this can be achieved.
It is closing our eyes to the obvious to say that there are no corrupt officials in the Resettlement Department, and the present policy whereby domestic shacks can be pulled down about the occupants' ears, even if they had been erected for years, means that a corrupt official can blackmail the poor occupants out of their hard-made cents almost in perpetuity. When the decision to stop further squatting was first made it was a decision to stop new squatting, the stress being laid on the word "new", but this is now many years ago, and the only sensible thing is that there should not be a date like the date that is often quoted as being "within legal memory", i.e., many centuries ago, but a date that is always shifting forward as year follows year. This can only be achieved by passing the motion to-day, that on proof of the shack having been erected for more than a year it shall be left standing until, of course, the general squatter clearance of the particular area in question, when, naturally, the squatters will have resettlement accommodation given to them in exchange.
I think that Government as a whole is now fully aware of the need to speed up resettlement and low-cost housing schemes generally, but in saying this I maintain that we have to take the responsibility for all those squatters who have resided unmolested for a year or more, and it is necessary for Government, through the Commissioner for Resettlement, as I said before, to devise schemes whereby if squatter control is to continue it is squatter control and not squatter molestation. For these reasons I beg to move.
"That the following be adopted as the policy of this Council for Clearance and Resettlement namely that no demolitions of illegal structures should be undertaken by the Squatter Patrols when the occupiers can establish that the premises have been occupied and used as domestic premises for more than 12 months."
DR. R. H. S. LEE:- Mr. Chairman, I am happy to see my learned and gallant friend's motion being placed before Council again in a slightly modified form, in that the resolution under consideration refers only to illegal domestic structures and not to non-domestic premises. With this change, Mr. Chairman, I can see no reason for its rejection, because the Resettlement Department should have no further excuse for permitting illegal structures to exist without detection for more than 12 months. Sir, I am in favour of giving these poor and unfortunate people who have found a haven in Hong Kong a fair deal. Ever since moving Mr. BERNACCHI's first motion some 7 months ago, I can see no reason why I should change my mind now and not give it my full support.
With these reasons, Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in seconding the motion.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: - Mr. Chairman, I am rather in a quandary over this motion, particularly as Mr. BERNACCHI has made certain allegations without offering any details. I feel that I should invite attention to the wording of Mr. BERNACCHI's previous motion on the same subject which was referred back to the Resettlement & Clearance (Policy) Select Committee in August of last year. The exact wording was:
"No demolitions of illegal structures should be undertaken by the Squatter Patrols where the occupiers can establish that the premises have been erected and used as domestic premises for more than 12 months and that the above Policy shall apply also to non-domestic premises converted to domestic use."
You will note that it differs in some detail from the wording of the motion put forward to-day. The first motion was discussed at a meeting of the Policy Select Committee on the 28th September, 1962, during which there was some divergence of opinion on the merits of its two parts. It was, however, decided to postpone any decision for the time
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