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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
for not affording the time to amend the Urban Council Ordinance in time for next year's March Election, and I say that it could be amended, and should be amended, easily before next March, and if the Final Register did not appear in print until late in February or even 1st March, that would be a slight price to pay for these amendments. I welcome indeed Government's intention to appoint a Working Party to consider enlargements to the electorate—better late than never!
CHAIRMAN: - The motion before the Council has been proposed by Mr. BERNACCHI and seconded by Mr. SALES.
The question was put.
The motion was carried, with 13 for, 5 against, and 3 abstaining.
(2) MRS. E. ELLIOTT moved the following motion:
That this Council request Government urgently to consider and investigate the possibility of utilizing the nearby islands for the resettlement of Hong Kong squatters, as an alternative to their resettlement in the outlying areas of Kowloon, provided that they are served by cheap and efficient ferry services.
She said: Mr. Chairman, in rising to move this motion, I should like to mention the thoughts that led me to move it.
I have watched with a heavily-burdened heart the growing problem of housing for the poor. Every house demolished or declared dangerous means hundreds or even thousands more people homeless. There is yet no law that obliges the landlords to rehouse the people evicted from such buildings, and new houses being built are not for working-class families, but mainly for the upper middle class, or the privileged.
The various housing projects in which this Council is involved are a valiant effort to keep a shelter over the heads of people displaced by Government clearances, and it is hoped that soon they will give priority to the victims of dangerous buildings.
As more and more people are being uprooted and sent far from their places of work, a new problem almost as great as the housing problem has arisen: that is the distance these rehabilitated people have to travel, and the problem of their transport. The problem is being aggravated now by the removal of thousands of squatters from Hong Kong to the outlying districts of Kowloon. The time and money consumed in travelling are adding greater and greater burdens to the workers; meanwhile the roads have become totally insufficient to support the burden of traffic, and the transport system has broken down.
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Criticism in the past has always condemned Government for lack of forward planning. The time has come when sweeping changes must take place, and far-reaching plans must be visualized, before we reach a complete impasse on our roads.
Last month in this Council I invited Members to make a journey from Tsz Wan Shan to Wan Chai, to see for themselves the heavy burden in queuing and costs that our programme is imposing on the people, especially those resettled in Kowloon from Hong Kong. Many of these people are labourers earning $200 a month, and they can afford neither the time nor the expense of the long daily journeys.
I suggest that the time has come for us to explore the possibility of developing the nearby islands for resettlement of the people to whom a journey to the outskirts of Kowloon is more tiring and slower than a journey across to the islands. A boat journey would be more comfortable and healthy, and workers would no doubt prefer sitting on a ferry to standing long hours in a bus queue.
If, after investigation, it were found possible to develop islands such as Lamma, Tsing Yi, even Lantau, and so on, resettlement could be speeded up by setting out on a crash programme, to break the back of the housing problem. If the scheme were possible, careful planning would be necessary, for I would by no means submit to allowing people to be dumped on the islands without the necessities of life. We should need to plan water supplies, schools, hospitals, and all the amenities found in the urban areas. Industries too could be set up on the islands.
One of the most important matters in such a plan would be transport. It would be necessary to place the housing estates in areas suitable for ferry services, and these ferry services would need to be both cheap and efficient, preferably run by Government on a non-profit-making basis, with the possibility of a hydrofoil "taxi" service. If 50,000 people were moved from the Shau Kei Wan area, it would be essential to have a ferry directly to Shau Kei Wan; likewise all large clearances would require to be served with ferries to the same areas. Such ferry services would need to run at frequent intervals during peak periods, and at regular though less frequent intervals at all times.
If the boundaries of our urban areas were extended across to the islands, many others, besides the squatters, would benefit. Not only would the children living on the islands have a safe and healthy place to play, but those living in the overcrowded areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong would have a better chance of going for outings, at present greatly restricted through lack of suitable transport. It would also slow down the growth of chaos on our roads.
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