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11. For convenience of reference, all paragraphs in this Report contain- ing recommendations by us are indicated with an asterisk.

12. Having made the above preliminary remarks, we now proceed to deal with the first of the two branches of the housing question referred to us, namely:-

Recommen dations.

First branch of Inquiry.

are :

I.--Measures for Increasing the Quantity of

Housing Accommodation.

13. This branch of our Inquiry falls broadly under 5 sub-heads which

(1) Opening up and laying out of new sites for building purposes. (2) Improvement and extension of communications with outlying

districts.

(3) Encouragement of building, and Government facilities.

(4) Utilization to best advantage of land already available.

(5) Provision of an adequate staff for the Public Works Department.

Sub-Head (1)—Opening up, etc., of New Sites for Building Purposes.

Sub-heads of Branch of Inquiry.

new sites.

14. This sub-head comprises the speedy opening up, laying out, level- Opening up ling and draining of large areas of land in both Hongkong Island and Kow- loon, so as to make them available for buildings.

15. Crown lands suitable for building houses for the various classes of the community, and already available for building on, are scarce; and we regard this scarcity as the chief preliminary obstacle to building develop- ment. Few of the potentially available sites are marked out or measured, with the result that the all-important work of building new houses on new sites is being delayed and held up. One of the consequences of this delay is that would-be investors in landed property are necessarily driven to invest their money in schemes of reconstruction, which do not help much in increasing housing accommodation, and have, in addition, the undesirable effect of creating competition for skilled labour and building materials, which are so urgently needed for new houses on new sites.

Scarcity of available building-

of laying-out work, etc.

* 16. We therefore regard it as imperative for the Government to speed Speeding up up the work of laying out, marking and draining extensive areas for building, especially in the Kowloon Peninsula, which presents a vast and promising field for building development; but it is absolutely impossible for this recommendation of ours to be speedily and efficiently carried out, without the considerable increase of staff in the Survey Office which is referred to in paragraphs 57 to 60 of this Report.

*17. We commend to the consideration of the Government the desir- ability of expediting the completion of the Praya East Reclamation by making extra payments to the contractors, such payments to be debited to the Praya East Reclamation Fund, and to be divided in proportion to the areas of the respective holdings of the marine lot-holders concerned.

Expediting Praya East Reclamation work.

Military lands.

* 18. We also recommend that the Government bring every possible Transfer of pressure to bear on the proper Authorities to expedite the removal of the Military from the central and already levelled and drained sites in the heart of the City of Victoria and of the Kowloon Peninsula. These sites, which occupy some hundreds of acres, are vital to the residential and commercial expansion of the Colony.