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and their needs, they sit there and cut our children's education to a dollar pattern. Is Government afraid to hand this vital public affair over to the Urban Council, in case the Council widens it to meet public needs? Education is a matter for a democratic body, and the Urban Council is the only partially democratic body in the Colony. (Applause). I call upon Government to bring education under the jurisdiction of this Council.
Now, Resettlement. This burden seems to have thrust itself upon me, in dealing with people in this Colony who are without a voice of their own to ask for human rights. Today I wish to welcome the new Commissioner for Resettlement, Mr. BARTY.
to me.
I realize that I have made myself very unpopular with this Department (Laughter), and one high official specializes in being rude I know I have given the Department a lot of extra work. One officer accused me of writing thirty letters a day. That is not true, but maybe sometimes it does amount to 30 letters a week. This is not because I enjoy writing such letters, or because I am looking for extra work. Many of the problems could have been avoided if the cases had been thoroughly or even fairly investigated in the first place, or if the officers had been willing to show a little patience by listening to the explanations of the people. To those who have complained of extra work, I can only say that I have spent practically all my own leisure-time, and a great deal of my sleep time, on this job of claiming human rights for the poorest people. So long as they have no voice, and need someone to speak for them, I do not mind if I have to write 30 or even 300 letters a day, if humanly possible. Can anyone in Her Majesty's Service blame me for trying to get human rights for Her Majesty's subjects?
One fault I have to find with the Resettlement Department is the lack of guidance from the head of this department to this Council on matters of policy. Knowing full well that the policy is out-dated, the Members of this Council have not been fully informed by the Department of the changes required. And when changes have been suggested by Members themselves, the need has been denied, and the suggestions opposed by some senior officers. I cannot excuse this unprogressive attitude in dealing with human lives. Many people have suffered as a result, among them, innocent children. I trust that, with a new Head in this Department, we shall see a more humane and imaginative policy being placed before the Members of this Council. I trust too that the changes proposed by the Working Party will soon be implemented, especially as we are now entering the coldest part of winter. To a homeless person, a week of waiting is like a year. Government has failed to realize that the resettlement of those who live in huts, or those who are homeless, is a critical matter, and either the speed of building must be stepped up, or others must be invited to undertake the building
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of cheaper homes. At our present speed, we are not even keeping abreast of the population, and at this rate the housing problem will never be solved.
We are now accustomed to hearing the excuse that there are too many people to house. That is true, but Government has aggravated the problem by its land policy. Many people homeless today have been driven from their homes in the past two or three years because of the rent spiral, as well as through house demolition. Government has set the ball rolling, and the landlords follow. What right has Government to complain of people squatting, if land prices and rents are allowed to soar? Shortage of land and houses exists, and both Government and landlords have cashed in on the shortage. The result is, the poorest are suffering. No one with a salary of less than $600 per month if he is single, or $1,000 if he is married, can afford to rent even the cheapest flat now. Then what of those with less than $200 a month? Can we blame them if they pretend to be eligible for resettlement?
Another fault I have to find is the overcrowding in resettlement areas. Many people imagine that the poor in resettlement rooms live in better conditions than before. This is no longer true, especially of those who were resettled several years ago, and whose families have grown. They have less room now than they had in their huts. While a child must have 10 square feet in a private school, he is expected to live, eat, and sleep in a space of 6 to 7 square feet in a Government room. May I ask that the overcrowding in resettlement estates be dealt with at the earliest possible moment? Change of policy on this is already too late. Vice has already crept in disease, drug addiction, hooliganism are all there. The people are crying out that they need decent conditions in which to bring up their families with a minimum of comfort. The wheels of Government move fast on business development, but in the housing of the people, they lag behind in the mud. May we ask Government to give us a solid foundation for our community: that foundation is the happiness and the health of our working people.
Before closing this subject, I should like to remind this Council of the sad experiences this year at Jordan Valley, Seventh Cemetery, Diamond Hill, Mount Davis, Kai Yuen Terrace. I find these cruelties hard to forget, and it will take the people involved a long time to forget. And I hope the Government will not forget this lesson, that they will never again allow such callousness. With a new Commissioner, we have hope for the future, that it will be better than the past.
My next point concerns Public Transport, and the target of my criticism will be the two bus companies. I call upon Government to
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