implies, are allowed to remain undisturbed until they have to be de- molished to make way for permanent development, when the occupants are resettled into the estates. When a Resettlement Assistant finds an entirely new building, or an unauthorized extension to a tolerated structure, he tries to persuade the owner to demolish it. If the owner fails to do this (as happens more often than not), the building is demolished by the department and the confiscated building materials may subsequently be used to help the poorer squatters in building huts in licensed areas.
16. The remaining list of duties performed by the Squatter Control Sub-Division is a varied one. There is a good deal of case-work and investigation, and Resettlement Assistants are sometimes asked to settle disputes and complaints among squatters. They are required to stop interlopers from taking up residence in huts which have been screened for resettlement, and they play a part in the procedure of clearing an area during a resettlement operation. They assist in the registration of squatter families whose huts have been destroyed or damaged by fire or typhoon, arrange temporary shelter in transit camps, of which the department maintains seven in Hong Kong, Kowloon and Tsuen Wan, and arrange for the subsequent resiting of the families concerned, if necessary. They also keep a record of destroyed or seriously damaged huts after natural disasters so that rebuilding and other grants can be paid to the victims from the Community Relief Trust Fund.
17. During the year under review, a total of 12,941 new or re-erected structures or extensions to tolerated ones were demolished by the squatter control staff, and another 3,388 were dismantled by their owners. 379 of these were on the roofs of permanent buildings. The figure for all demolitions is about 1% higher than that of the previous year. 66 tons of materials, mostly loose wood and tin sheeting, were confiscated. By the end of the year under review, there were estimated to be 358,000 people still living in tolerated squatter huts (or the like), which again represent a reduction on previous years, as the following table in round figure illustrates:
31st March
1965
...
***
***
1966
噜
...
1967
1968
1969
---
+
1970
•
1971
***
***
***
...
...
Squatters
Resitees!
Licensees
463,000
75,300
430,000
84,800
428,000
57,100
409,000
33,600
401,000
27,700
...
380,000
31,145
...
358,000
34,700
6
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