XN000022-1996-12-11 — Page 45

- 21 -

(iii)

a British subject by registration in Hong Kong under section 7(2) of the British Nationality Act 1948.

These persons may not be able to acquire the Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizen status under the current British Nationality Act which entered in force on 1 January 1983 but they are Hong Kong permanent residents as defined in Schedule 1. Thus they are issued with Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards regardless of how long they have resided in Hong Kong.

The number of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards issued in each of the past

is as follows:-

five

years

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996 (January-October)

421,571

458,979

500,961

503,702

517,607

The Immigration Department does not keep a separate record of the number of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards issued to Hong Kong permanent residents who are non-British Dependent Territories citizens and who have resided in Hong Kong for less than seven years.

End

Ex-gratia allowance for Lam Tin shop tenants

Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Mr Dominic Wong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

A group of Lam Tin Estate Grade B shop tenants affected by the Housing Authority (HA)'s Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme have recently lodged a complaint with the Office of the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints to express their discontent with the method of calculating the ex-gratia payment adopted by the Housing Department (HD). The shop tenants pointed out that the tenancy cards signed between the former Resettlement Department (RD) and the tenants did not specify the areas of the shops premises concerned, and that the area of the shop premises specified in the Light Refreshment Restaurant Licences issued to these shop tenants by the Urban Council was determined by reference to the floor area of the shop premises in accordance with the Food Business (Urban Council) By-laws (Cap. 132). However, when calculating the ex-gratia payment for these shop tenants, the HD has not included the area of the frontal section of the shop premises. According to the HD, this was because rent had not been charged in respect of the area of the frontal section of the shop premises in the past. In this connection, is the Government aware of: