Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1963-1964 — Page 18

area of the cultivation plots. Farmers on what was formerly leased agricul- tural land are eligible for crop compensation and disturbance allowance, but since October 1954, ex-gratia compensation has also been paid to squatter cultivators who were already in operation at that time. Crop compensation is paid at the rate of the market value of the crops on the day of identification. Disturbance allowance in the urban area is 60c. per square foot if the cultivator has been working the land since before the Japanese occupation in 1941 and 10c. a square foot for land that has been opened up between then and October 1954. No compensation is payable for land opened up after this date. In the New Territories different criteria apply. Owner-cultivators receive 10c. a square foot however long they have been cultivating the land, while other cultivators, if they are in the Tsuen Wan/Kwai Chung layout area, are paid 60c, a square foot for land opened up before 1941, 10c. if it has been under cultivation for six years before clearance, and 5c. if between two and six years. For the rest of the New Territories the rates are respectively 10c., 10c, and 5c. Disturbance allowance is determined after the cultivator has been inter- viewed at the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, or in the New Territories at the District Office. Crop compensation and any other compensation for private land under the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance is paid before the land is finally cleared.

(c) Clearance During the Year

35. As in the past the department has concentrated much of its effort this year on making available new land for resettlement estates, at Tung Tau (Stage II), Sau Mau Ping, Yau Tong, Ham Tin and Aberdeen, and for this purpose cleared about 78 acres involving the resettlement of 13,246 people.

36. Expansion of the low-cost housing programme was still in full swing and 19 acres of land were cleared of 2,451 squatters for such projects at Kwai Chung, Hung Hom and Aberdeen. 1.36 of an acre was cleared of 2,584 people for other housing schemes.

37. 0.97 of an acre was cleared to provide sites for two schools, a welfare club, playgrounds and parks, involving the clearance and resettle- ment of 223 persons, while 31.29 acres were cleared for new roads, the widening of existing roads and various drainage and reservoir schemes, and 15.35 acres for public buildings. 10,928 persons were resettled in these operations. 43.02 acres (21,874 people) were cleared for land sales, and 1,711 persons (0.20 acre) were resettled from land not required for development (mainly victims of fires or natural disasters, or pavement

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