37. Since most cottage areas are situated on steep hillsides they are, like the squatter areas, prone to damage from natural disasters. As a result of Typhoon 'Mary' 139 wooden huts were totally destroyed. There were two small fires during the year in which 11 huts were destroyed.
38. Settlers pay quarterly permit fees for the sites they occupy, the amount depending both on the size of the site and the situation of the area; for a typical site of 160 square feet the permit fee is $5 a quarter in outlying areas and $15 a quarter in the more central areas. If the permittee does not own his own home he also pays rent of either $10 or $15 a month to Government or to a Welfare Agency or as a hire purchase instalments to a private owner. Revenue from permit fees amounted to $1,024,120 during the year and rent from Government-owned cottages totalled $324,550.
39. On 1st April, 1961, there were 9,741 stone or brick cottages in resettlement areas, an increase of 462 over the previous year. There were 4,808 wooden huts, a decrease of 91. There were also 75 factories and small workshops and 393 shops. The population of the cottage areas increased by 5,037 during the year. Details of population are given in Appendix I at the end of this report.
CHAPTER V
THE MULTI-STOREY ESTATES
40. By the end of 1953 it was clear that cottage resettlement was too slow and too wasteful of land to solve the squatter problem. This fact was emphasized by the Shek Kip Mei Squatter fire on Christmas night, 1953 in which 53,000 persons lost their homes. It was to provide for the victims of this fire that the first multi-storey resettlement blocks were designed. Two- and three-storey buildings known as Bowring Bungalows were constructed on the fire site to provide temporary homes for the fire victims while the multi-storey blocks were being planned and built.
41. Plans of a typical seven-storey resettlement block will be found at Appendix II Drawing No. 1. It will be noted that these blocks are in the shape of a letter 'H', the crossbar of which accommodates the latrines. The design and construction of these buildings is undertaken by the Public Works Department and the design of the original six-storey experimental buildings at Shek Kip Mei was so successful that few modifications have been found to be necessary. The blocks are now of seven-storeys and their flat roofs have been strengthened and have
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