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deserve credit for the success they have jointly achieved. How- ever, it is anticipated that owing to a shortage of engineering staff the Public Works Department will not in future be in a position to cope with the huge amount of work in connexion with resettle- ment.
It should also be borne in mind that any increase in Civil service personnel will mean a corresponding increase in the overall annual budget of the Colony, and that the cost of resettling all the squatters, of whom the majority are refugees, will be a very heavy drain on the public purse.
There are some who are apt to look upon the Resettlement Policy with disfavour and skepticism, but they will do well to remember that the question of resettlement is closely tied up with the general development of the Colony, and that unless our re- settlement programme can be expedited, many of our major development projects will be delayed.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, it is perhaps fitting that my return to this Council should coincide with I think the second Motion to be moved by an elected member of the Civic Association after some fifteen months that our elected opponents have been on the Council, and if only for this reason, we of the majority elected party should perhaps lean over backwards to try to support the Motion. I do not however, intend to allow the fact that we will cast our votes in favour of Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen's Motion in any way to stifle some much needed criticisms of it. The fall off in the rate of resettlement has caused grave concern to the Resettlement Policy Select Committee of this Council during the past year.
It has been clear for some time that the rate of construction of resettlement buildings together with the difficulties in obtaining suitable sites for them were the primary cause of the problem that was arising. I am sure that Government has been well aware of the Council's concern in this matter for some con- siderable time, so much so, that the Commissioner for Resettle- ment was able to report to us, before my temporary enforced retirement from the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, that priorities had been revised and a very high priority was now to be given to the rate of construction of resettlement buildings. Furthermore, the Policy Select Committee had numerous discus- sions on the question of sites and it appeared possible that new resettlement estates could be established in Wong Tai Sin, Kun Tong, Chai Wan, Tung Tau and Jordan Valley. These plans had progressed so far that a very full statement was able to be made upon them in the House of Commons a few days ago by the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.
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On occasions, Motions that I and those who stand with me have proposed, have been described as premature, but for myself I prefer to be premature than to attempt to climb up onto the tail of a scheme which has already been so nearly finalized; particu- larly when that scheme is such a stubborn old mule as our resettle- ment problem; and as Mr. Cheong-Leen is now on the Resettle- ment Policy Select Committee he may find that even the tail can provide some unexpected jerks.
In my early days as an elected member on this Council, I found that the normal form of question was one in respect to a policy which had already been decided upon and which was designed to enable the Chairman as a Government spokesman to give publicity to that policy by way of a prepared reply. I cannot help feeling myself that the Motion before Council to-day repre- sents in some degree a variation upon that theme, and the time involved in discussing this Motion which will undoubtedly be formally passed by Council, can only be justified if we go some- what more deeply into the issues to which it gives rise. Although the actual construction of resettlement buildings is carried out by private contractors the designing and planning of the resettle- ment buildings and estates as such is done by the staff of the Public Works Department. By giving a high priority to these resettlement estates we are therefore endangering a number of other projects of great importance to this Council's work. I have in mind the new abbatoir which in 1952, when I first joined this Council I was told it would be ready by 1956, and which I am now told is not likely to be available until 1960 at the earliest. The priorities of the erection of a number of buildings connected with our Public Health Services to say nothing of further public bath-houses and latrines is likely to be seriously affected by accelerating the rate of construction of resettlement buildings. The situation appears to be so serious that although about a year ago, Government announced its acceptance of certain recom- mendations of the Special Housing Committee for the creation of a development division in the Public Works Department, this recommendation has never materialized because the staff are just not available. Since I have been informed that the Official
Page 47 of 115
Page 46 of 115
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deserve credit for the success they have jointly achieved. How- ever, it is anticipated that owing to a shortage of engineering staff the Public Works Department will not in future be in a position to cope with the huge amount of work in connexion with resettle-
ment.
It should also be borne in mind that any increase in Civil service personnel will mean a corresponding increase in the overall annual budget of the Colony, and that the cost of resettling all the squatters, of whom the majority are refugees, will be a very heavy drain on the public purse.
There are some who are apt to look upon the Resettlement Policy with disfavour and skepticism, but they will do well to remember that the question of resettlement is closely tied up with the general development of the Colony, and that unless our re- settlement programme can be expedited, many of our major development projects will be delayed.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, it is perhaps fitting that my return to this Council should coincide with I think the second Motion to be moved by an elected member of the Civic Association after some fifteen months that our elected opponents have been on the Council, and if only for this reason, we of the majority elected party should perhaps lean over backwards to try to support the Motion. I do not however, intend to allow the fact that we will cast our votes in favour of Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen's Motion in any way to stifle some much needed criticisms of it. The fall off in the rate of resettlement has caused grave concern to the Resettlement Policy Select Committee of this Council during the past year.
It has been clear for some time that the rate of construction of resettlement buildings together with the difficulties in obtaining suitable sites for them were the primary cause of the problem that was arising. I am sure that Government has been well aware of the Council's concern in this matter for some con- siderable time, so much so, that the Commissioner for Resettle- ment was able to report to us, before my temporary enforced retirement from the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, that priorities had been revised and a very high priority was now to be given to the rate of construction of resettlement buildings. Furthermore, the Policy Select Committee had numerous discus- sions on the question of sites and it appeared possible that new resettlement estates could be established in Wong Tai Sin, Kun
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
77
Tong, Chai Wan, Tung Tau and Jordan Valley. These plans had progressed so far that a very full statement was able to be made upon them in the House of Commons a few days ago by the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.
On occasions, Motions that I and those who stand with me have proposed, have been described as premature, but for myself I prefer to be premature than to attempt to climb up onto the tail of a scheme which has already been so nearly finalized; particu- larly when that scheme is such a stubborn old mule as our resettle- ment problem; and as Mr. Cheong-Leen is now on the Resettle- ment Policy Select Committee he may find that even the tail can provide some unexpected jerks.
In my early days as an elected member on this Council, I found that the normal form of question was one in respect to a policy which had already been decided upon and which was designed to enable the Chairman as a Government spokesman to give publicity to that policy by way of a prepared reply. I cannot help feeling myself that the Motion before Council to-day repre- sents in some degree a variation upon that theme, and the time involved in discussing this Motion which will undoubtedly be formally passed by Council, can only be justified if we go some- what more deeply into the issues to which it gives rise. Although the actual construction of resettlement buildings is carried out by private contractors the designing and planning of the resettle- ment buildings and estates as such is done by the staff of the Public Works Department. By giving a high priority to these resettlement estates we are therefore endangering a number of other projects of great importance to this Council's work. I have in mind the new abbatoir which in 1952, when I first joined this Council I was told it would be ready by 1956, and which I am now told is not likely to be available until 1960 at the earliest. The priorities of the erection of a number of buildings connected with our Public Health Services to say nothing of further public bath-houses and latrines is likely to be seriously affected by accelerating the rate of construction of resettlement buildings. The situation appears to be so serious that although about a year ago, Government announced its acceptance of certain recom- mendations of the Special Housing Committee for the creation of a development division in the Public Works Department, this recommendation has never materialized because the staff are just not available. Since I have been informed that the Official
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