Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 38

purpose were issued in January 1969. These outside extensions are built by the restaurant owners at their own expense and the size varies from around 360 square feet to a maximum of about 1,500 square feet depending on the amount of open space available adjacent to the

restaurants.

85. Restaurants in the two earliest marks of block had to con- struct their own chimneys. In the Mark III blocks, there are larger, specially designed premises for restaurants at the end of a number of blocks, with built in chimneys. In the sixteen-storey Mark IV and V estates, this is not practicable and in any case the ground floor is unsuitable for restaurants, because of the load-bearing walls. The answer has been to provide single-storey free-standing or annexe buildings. Eight of these restaurants (which provide an internal seating area of nearly 1,400 square feet) were completed and allocated in Ham Tin and Shek Lei estates during the year. However, it has been found that even these restaurants are too small and in future it is intended to build larger two-storied restaurant buildings which will be let by open tender.

HAWKERS

86. No account of trading in the estates would be complete without a reference to the hawkers, who meet an extensive demand for a wide range of goods from food of all kinds to clothing and simple kitchen. hardware, at minimum prices. Hawking also provides a whole or part- time occupation through which many households can supplement their income, and a high proportion of hawkers are themselves resident in the estates. The many problems of estate management which they present were intensified during the year. The main problems are the obstructions to cleansing; the reduction of open space; and the unfair competition to shops presented by illegal meat, fish and cooked-food stalls. At the end of the year there were over 12,000 stalls averaging 29 square feet each. Of these, 2,000 were selling cooked-food or were engaged in other illegal trades. Although responsibility for controlling hawkers lies with the Urban Council and the Urban Services Depart- ment with the support of the Police Force, the Resettlement Depart- ment is inevitably closely involved. The Urban Council is considering plans for a new approach and a long-term solution to the problem; meanwhile, the department has consulted the Council on certain interim measures and during the year a number of 'tidying-up' operations were carried out to improve the position, without prejudicing any overall long-term plans for hawkers which may be evolved.

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