TNAG-0620-FCO40-768-Annual-accounts-of-Hong-Kong-Government-for-year-ending-1976-1977 — Page 17

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were close historical connections between the Group A and Group B fishermen,

and the Group A fishermen insisted that the award of housing assistance to

Group B fishermen was a prerequisite to their acceptance of the Government's

offer of compensation to them. It was in there circumstances that the Water

Resources Development Committee decided at its 22nd Meeting that resettlement

houses should be built for those fishermen classified in Group 3, who were

prepared to meet 25%, or roughly $6,000, of the construction cost estimated

in March 1973.

31.

As to the third point, the inclusion of 77 Group C fishermen in

Group B was decided in July 1975. Group C were the fishermen considered to

be unaffected by the water scheme. The New Territories Administration

recognised in 1975 that the distinctions drawn between various groups

of fishermen had disregarded the very important factor of social links

and indirect economic links within the Leung Shuen Wan and Kwun Mun

community. It was thought necessary, in equity, to bring into Group B

all the fishermen in the Leung Shuen Wan and Kwun Mun areas previously

in Group C.

32.

It is

As regards the fourth point, the Director of Audit suggests that

the advice of Agriculture and Fisheries Department should have been sought

in counting pine trees for which compensation was to be granted.

established practice for areas in the New Territories that the counting

of trees should be carried out by the New Territories Administration, and

the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries is consulted only in those cases

where professional knowledge is required, such as the identification of

tree species. This exercise was essentially counting, and thus the

Agriculture and Fisheries Department was not consulted. It was impossible

to conduct an empirical count, and the land staff of the New Territories

Administration thus deduced a multiplier from sampling results and then

calculated the total tree population. It was impossible to verify the

/accuracy.....