Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 49

of renting factory space in the private sector. It was therefore decided to allow these tenants temporarily to rent vacant units in the more outlying factory blocks: Some 400 units were thus let.

108. About 80 different types of manufacture are represented in resettlement factories, a microcosm of Hong Kong's light industries. The commonest trades are metalwork, plastics, woodwork, weaving and printing. There are in all 15,000 workers employed in these factories, many of them from the neighbouring domestic resettlement estates. Particulars are given at Appendix 7. Once established, factories are regularly inspected by officers of the Labour and Fire Services Departments, and also by the Commerce and Industry Department when Certificates of Origin and Commonwealth Preference Certificates are required for exporting.

109. The older factory buildings, which have five floors, are similar in appearance to a residential 'H' block, while the new ones with five or seven storeys are all built to an 'I' pattern. In the 'H' blocks, each bay accommodates two 198 square feet units, and in the 'I' blocks the units are of 256 square feet, lying three abreast in each bay. To save space as well as make it easier to allocate units to large factories, some of the newest blocks are four bays in width. Access to each floor is by a central staircase and ramp, with additional stair- cases at each end of the block. There are no lifts as the intention is to reduce building cost as much as possible, consistent with functional efficiency. A balcony around each floor gives access to all units and there are communal latrines and bathrooms. The roofs of some buildings are used for drying purposes. A plan of a three-unit bay, seven-storey factory block is at Appendix 13 and rents are described in Chapter 9 and listed at Appendix 4.

110. The minimum area which may be allocated to any one concern is one unit of 198 or 256 square feet, and the maximum is approxi- mately 5,000 square feet-twenty-five units in the old and twenty in the new factories. The latter figure reflects one of two limitations which operate when clearing factories and workshops into resettlement accommodation. This is that a squatter factory that exceeds 5,000 square feet of covered enclosed working space is not eligible for resettlement as it is considered that a business of that size should

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