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off of firecrackers. We are very seriously concerned about this matter and we have given every support and encouragement to the efforts which have been made so far this year to achieve better control over the burning of firecrackers at this time.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, could you give us statistics on how many persons have been blinded because of firecrackers?
CHAIRMAN: I may say this is quite irregular; this is a new question. (Laughter).
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS :—Sir, my figures for 1966 were 160 eye injuries and, in 27 of those cases, blindness in one eye resulted. Those are the figures. I hope they are correct.
(At this point Dr. COOMBES indicated that the figures given by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs were correct)
MR. HU:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, there was an Ad Hoc Committee of the Urban Council on this subject several years back, and I am sure many members are still very interested in this. So, after the Secretary for Chinese Affairs has had an opportunity to assess the results, would he be good enough to supply Members with such assessment when it is available?
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: With an assessment of the comparative results this year as compared with last year?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Yes, whatever report or assessment is available.
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -Yes, certainly.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you.
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(3) MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:
As Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estate is one of the most overcrowded estates under the management of the Urban Council, can the Commissioner for Resettlement investigate what steps can be taken to have transferred on a voluntary basis some of the population there to other estates, in order to provide much needed services such as nurseries, recreation centres, and welfare centres?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
There is at Shek Kip Mei, as at other estates, a programme for relief of overcrowding, and, as Members are aware, this consists in moving families who are living at a density of 16 square feet per adult or worse to larger rooms in the same or other estates. In addition, under what we call the "indirect decantation" scheme, families who are not necessarily so crowded are encouraged to move out to the newer estates, thereby vacating rooms for further relief of overcrowding in the old estates.
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There has, however, been a marked reluctance even by very overcrowded families to move to new estates where rooms are available, but which are quite a distance from their existing social and economic ties and, may be, even from other old established centres of population. Thus, during 1966 we found larger rooms in Shek Kip Mei Estate for 305 overcrowded families comprising 2,226 people, but only 156 overcrowded families numbering 988 people agreed to move to other estates, while those who moved voluntarily, although not overcrowded, totalled only 278 in 47 households.
Although, therefore, there are 742 ground floor rooms used for domestic purposes in Shek Kip Mei, and of course it is only ground floor or rooftops which can be used for welfare purposes in these Estates, from our present experience I cannot hold out much immediate hope of inducing tenants to vacate these rooms voluntarily. The opening of Pak Tin Estate in 1968 might result in a sufficient transfer of population to permit the conversion of some ground floor rooms for welfare purposes, as Mr. CHEONG-LEEN suggests, provided that agencies are willing and have the means to occupy them.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, there is a new estate, I believe, being built behind Shek Kip Mei. Is it possible that a kind of community centre, or perhaps a special building might be put up to house the social welfare facilities which might also come in for the old Shek Kip Mei estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—Yes, Mr. Chairman, the estate to which I think Dr. BELL refers is the one we call Pak Tin Estate. Site formation is in progress, but building has not yet started. Insofar as this would be a new estate, I would assume that there would be one or more welfare buildings constructed simultaneously with the domestic blocks, since it is now approved policy that there should be a welfare building for approximately each 50,000 population in any estate.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, with regard to the last point mentioned in the reply of the Commissioner, could his Department go
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