ין
1
Enclosure:
Vied vorr evidence.
Interviews.
Complaints from distressed teanuts.
Cases under + (1) (.
'ases under 4:01) (09.
Hardship of
tenants.
2
Enclosure & containing cuttings from the local Press, and extract from speech of Vice-Chairman of Kowloon Residents' Association at their last annual meeting, on the subject of Reservations. Enclosure 7.-Map of Hongkong showing proposed British Reserva-
lion.
6. In addition to the above documents, we have taken the following vivê coce evidence (Enclosure 8), namely:
(1) Evidence of 4 witnesses employed in His Majesty's Naval Yard. (2) Evidence of Mr. Lain Woo, contractor, on various points referred
to in the letters in Enclosure 1.
(3) Evidence of the late Mr. J. W. White, the officer then in charge of
the Buildings Office, together with certain papers he handed in.
(4) Evidence of Mr. L. C. Parker Rees, Superintendent of Crown Lands, together with papers which he handed in, and also has since sent to the Chairman.
(5.) Evidence of the Hon. Mr. II. T. Jackman, Acting Director of
Public Works.
(6.) Evidence of Mr. L. G. Bird, partner in the firm of Palmer & to the Turner, Architects, together with letter since sent Chairman.
7. We or the Chairman have also had interviews with the following gentlemen :-
(1) Father Robert, who expressed the willingness of bis Mission to invest money in erecting new buildings on fresh sites, provided that cheap laud could be obtained from the Government. He is in favour of the Hon. Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher's scheme for encouraging the erection of more houses, which is dealt with in
36 of this Report.
para.
(2) Mr. F. P. de V. Soares on a scheme which he, in association with a unmber of wealthy Chinese gentlemen, submitted by letter to the Colonial Secretary, for the levelling and development of the ring of hills surrounding the 'emetery site in the centre of the Kowloon Peninsula for the purpose of building houses thereon for accommodating British, Portuguese and Chinese residents of moderate means, and also the Chinese working classes. This scheme is again referred to in para. 37.
(3) Mr. Fred Ellis, who is interested in a scheme for the formation of a Development, Building and Savings Society. Further reference to this project will be found in para. 36.
(1) Mr. 11. W. Cowling, an expert. in cement-concrete structures, who
was on a visit here from Bombay,
8. The Chairman has also, with the approval of the other members of the Commission, dealt both orally and by letter with numerous applications made to him by distressed tenants who had been given notice to quit under Section 4(1)(a) or Section 4 (I) (/) of the Rents Ordinance, 1922.
9. In all the cases falling under 4 (1) (e) the Chairman was able to assure the tenants of their right to remain where they were.
10. In some of the cases under 1 (1) (f)--the clause re three months' notice to quit, on reconstruction--the Chairman had to appeal to the Hon. Acting Colonial Secretary, who worked hard in the matter, to provide the displaced tenants with other accommodation. Even, however, with such Government help, these tenants have undoubtedly suffered much hardship in many cases, not only by being turned out of their previous dwellings (some of them stated by the Building Authority to be in "good" or "fair" condition, sce items in Enclosure 5, marked with a red cross), but also by being in many instances obliged to pay higher rents than before. This subject of recon- struction is again referred to in paras. 104 to 106 of this Report.
3
11. For convenience of reference, all paragraphs in this Report contain- ing recommendations by us are indicated with an asterisk.
12. Having made the above preliminary remarks, we now proceed to leal with the first of the two branchies of the housing question referred to us, namely:-
are:
I. Measures for Increasing the Quantity of Housing Accommodation.
18. This branch of our Inquiry falls broadly under 5 sub-heads which
(1) Opening up and laying out of now sites for building purposes. (2) Improvement and extension of communications with outlying
districts.
B) Encouragement of building, and Government facilities.
(4) Utilization to best advantage of land already available.
(5) Provision of an adequate staff for the Public Works Department.
Sub-Head (1)--Opening up, etc., of New Sites for Building Purposes.
Recommen. Intions.
First branch of Inquiry.
Sab-heads of Branch I of Inquiry.
new sites.
14. This sub-head comprises the speedy opening up, laying out, level- Opening up ling and draining of large areas of land in both Hongkong Island and Kow- loon, so as to make them available for buildings.
Searcity of available building-
15. Crown lands suitable for building houses for the various classes of the community, and already available for building on, are scarce; and we regard this scarcity as the chief preliminary obstacle to buikling develop land. ment. Few of the potentially available sites are marked out or measured, with the result that the all-important work of building new houses on new sites is being delayed and held up. One of the consequences of this delay is that would-be investors in landed property are necessarily driven to invest their money in schemes of reconstruction, which do not help much in increasing housing accommodation, and have, in addition, the undesirable effect of creating competition for skilled labour and building materials, which are so urgently needed for new houses on new sites.
of laying-out work, etc.
* 16. We therefore regard it as imperative for the Government to speed Speeding up up the work of laying out, marking and draining extensive areas for building, especially in the Kowloon Peninsula, which presents a vast and promising field for building development; but it is absolutely impossible for this recommendation of ours to be speedily and efficiently carried out, without the considerable increase of staff in the Survey Office which is referred to in paragraphs 57 to 60 of this Report.
* 17. We commend to the consideration of the Government the desir- ability of expediting the completion of the Praya East Reclamation by making extra payments to the contractors, such payments to be debited to the Praya East Reclamation Fund, and to be divided in proportion to the areas of the respective holdings of the marine lot-holders concerned.
Expediting Praya East Beclamation VOTI.
Militory lands.
*18. We also recommend that the Government bring every possible Transfer of pressure to hear on the proper Authorities to expedite the removal of the Military from the central and already levelled and drained sites in the heart of the City of Victoria and of the Kowloon Peninsula. These sites, which occupy some hundreds of acres, are vital to the residential and commercial expansion of the Colony.
360
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