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100. The above items give some indication of the scope of a Town Planning Scheme in so far as it may affect private property. No Town Planning or Slum Clearance Scheme, however ideal on paper, can be given effect without the aid of the law. The value of a plan is conditioned by the extent to which it can be given legal effect. In Hong Kong the only law which in any appreciable way assists redevelopment is the Valuation and Resumptions Ordinance. This however is limited in scope as it only provides for the compulsory purchase of property for a public purpose. The law of town planning is the machinery necessary to give effect to town planning. In Hong Kong the machinery is quite inadequate for the purpose. The law in other countries may or may not be adequate, but such as it is, it is based on local conditions and therefore cannot be arbitrarily taken over for use in Hong Kong. In view of the many matters with which such a law must deal, and the time which it would take to formulate, it is sufficient for this report to indicate its nature and necessity and leave the actual framing to a legal and technical committee appointed for the purpose.

101. Finally the constitution and organisation of the planning and housing authority itself remains to be considered. In England the Housing and Town Planning Authorities are usually separate committees elected from the Municipal Council. For housing itself there is usually a separate municipal department, but town planning is normally a sub-department, working under the City Engineer, an arrangement which has few advantages and many drawbacks. In European continental towns Housing, Town Planning and City Engineering are normally separate departments. In America arrangements vary considerably but it has been advocated by a prominent American town planner that the best system would be the appointment of a permanent City Planning Commission, with its own technical staff, and that the heads of various departments such as Engineering, Architectural and Legal, act as advisors.

102. It must be remembered that Housing, Slum Clearance and Town Planning deal largely with private property, and work on any appreciable scale will mean direct contact and many difficult and protracted negotiations with owners. It would not be fair to throw this work and its attendant responsibilities onto a single Govern- ment official, nor should he be made to accept nominal responsibility for the work, if carried out by a subordinate.

103. For Hong Kong a suitable organisation would be for the general direction of and responsibility for the work to be in the hands of a permanent committee, assisted by an executive and technical staff attached to the Public Works Department. for administration only, but responsible directly to the Committee for the technical side of its work, Town Planning, Housing and Public Works are closely related and co-operation is essential, to avoid overlapping or working at cross purposes. If the Director of Public Works or his representative, such as the senior Assistant Direc- tor, be an ex-officio member of the Committee, contact is maintained, and by, the attachment of the Committee's technical staff to the Public Works Department, administration expenses can be saved and close contact between the two staffs made possible.

104. In this report we have been compelled to deal largely with generalities rather than with precise detailed facts, the collection of which would be better left in the hands of a permanent authority. The abnormal poverty of the masses. precludes any possibility of providing decent housing accommodation for all, even of a low standard, without the supply of large sums of money from Government or charity. For a certain number however, possibly a quarter or a third of the population at a guess, it does seem possible to provide adequate housing accom- modation at little or no cost to Government. Slum clearance will cost money, but, by the allocation each year of a not unreasonable sum from public funds, progress. can be made, even though it be slow. Finally, even if little can be done about the slums, there is no obstacle in the way of preventing their spread, by the simple expedient of properly planning future development, with a building unit of shallower depth and wider frontage, and zoning for different land usages. The provision of simply laid out parks, cheaply developed, would be a decided asset to induce the slum dwellers into the fresh air. These parks should be in or near the congested areas and easily accessible.

W. H. OWEN.