built over 1,500 cottages for sale to their occupants by hire purchase, a scheme which has long been completed. Some voluntary agencies continue to administer their own cottages, collecting the rent, supervising the tenancies and performing all the necessary maintenance under the general oversight of the department, but most agencies found it more convenient to transfer the ownership to the Government, and the Reset- tlement Department has since administered them as if they had been Government-built. Details of the permit fees for occupying the land and of the rents charged are in Chapter 9 and Appendix 4.
65. Such has been the rapidity of change in Hong Kong that many of the cottage areas which were originally in outlying districts have become isolated pools of single-storey buildings amidst multi-storey urban development. Such areas are particularly liable to early redevelop- ment, and indeed all but the most remote are likely to be required for permanent development in the years to come. During this year, section 8 of Ngau Tau Kok Cottage Area lost 191 Government-owned cottages so that the hill on which they stood could be cut back and terraced to prevent land-slides into a Government Low Cost Housing estate, while Ho Man Tin Cottage Area lost 21 combined shops and homes for the widening and improvement of Pui Ching Road. As a result, 1,371 persons were rehoused in resettlement estates compared with only 321 from cottage areas in 1965-66. Still more resettlement of this kind was, however, caused by natural influences that had not been planned. The torrential rains of early June 1966 did a great deal of damage at So Kon Po and also affected other areas. It was necessary to declare 178 cottages dangerous and demolish them, the 1,513 occupants being offered alter- native accommodation in the estates. Thereafter, extensive and expensive repair works were carried out to various hillslopes that had collapsed, channels and surface drainage that had been damaged and to areas threatened by dangerous boulders that had become exposed and under- mined.
66. The running down of the urban cottage areas is accompanied by a slight increase in responsibilities in the New Territories. The new cottage area at Fo Tan, close to Sha Tin, which has been mentioned in recent annual reports, is the welcome product of public funds supple- mented by a generous donation from the Community Relief Trust Fund, and was almost ready for occupation at the end of the year. Final completion had been delayed for lack of funds required to complete certain construction work (including water standpipes, fencing, railings and steps for the terraces), but this has now been made good. Fo Tan
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