Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1958-1959 — Page 16

Resettlement Departmental Reports 徙置事務處年報 All

33. By the end of the first week most of the questions have been answered and a great many personal problems have been solved or alleviated. By the second week registration is usually complete and all 'white cards, birth certificates, identity cards and other documents checked to ensure that no additions or substitutions have been made since screening took place. Each household is then required to produce a group photograph of all members of the family; when this is pro- duced the head of household is given his letter of authority to enter a particular resettlement area or estate. During the third week a nominal roll is prepared showing the composition of each household and this, together with all the group photographs, is forwarded to the estate staff one week before the move so that all rooms can be allocated in advance.

34. In the fourth week the move takes place. If the clearance is a large one as many as 1,000 persons may move in one day. Transport is provided both for the squatters themselves and for all their personal belongings. By this time they will have sold their structure to con- tractors for the demolition value of the materials; and within a few days of the move the clearance area will have been freed for permanent development.

35. In many clearances areas of cultivation surround the squatter huts, and for the cultivators clearance would mean the loss of their existing livelihood. The shortage of land in the Colony is unfortunately so acute that no alternative land suitable for cultivation can normally be offered to persons involved in these clearances. If such land is leased from the Crown it has first to be resumed under the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, and the former owner is legally entitled to the full market value of the land as assessed by a Compensation Board, one member of which may be nominated by the former lessees, and to which any former lessee may make personal representation. In addition, the former lessee or his legal tenant is entitled to compensation for the crops. If the land is only held on a temporary permit, or if it is Crown Land cultivated without a permit, the cultivator is not legally entitled to any compensation. In October 1954, however, it was decided that crop compensation should also be payable as an ex-gratia measure to illegal cultivators because of the virtual impossibility of their finding other land to cultivate. In April 1957, it was decided also to pay an additional special ex-gratia allowance, the amount of which depends on the length of time the cultivator has been in occupation and the area of land cultivated. In addition to domestic accommodation, cultivators

10

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.