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payable. In winding up the debate on the White Paper in Legislative Council, the Colonial Secretary said on 30th September:-

"I doubt if we are in a position to say categorically to what extent and in how many cases the deposit required will exceed the compensation due. But, clearly, where special hardship arises we may have to consider special arrangements.

In any event in the light of my honourable Friends' remarks I would like to say that Government is willing to give further thought to the exact details of these proposals." Further detailed consideration has accordingly been given to the Rent Advance Scheme and I have been authorized to say that Government has decided that the scheme should stand for the time being as originally published in the White Paper. In making this decision, Government has had the following considerations in mind:-

(i) recent statistics for families given relief after the closure of dangerous buildings show that the average family (equivalent to 3 adults) would only have to pay a rent advance of about $1,400 which, on the information so far available, does not seem likely to be unduly burdensome for many families;

(ii) the scheme was not designed to tie the advance payable to the compensation received. Very little evidence, if any, is available to support the view that savings are not available to these people and this view may eventually turn out to have as little reality as the doubts expressed in 1954 over the ability of squatters to pay the rent of the original Mark I resettlement blocks. In that case, experience has proved that there is little difficulty in collecting rents even at the higher levels of Mark III blocks and that bad debts run at a negligible figure of 0.002% of the total rent roll;

(iii) with no conclusive evidence yet available as to how much tenants of dangerous buildings can afford as down payment, the only way to obtain adequate evidence is by trial and error and it would be easier later to revise the payments downwards rather than upwards;

(iv) it is important to stress that persons accepted for resettlement under this scheme will be resettled ahead of others who also have a strong case for resettlement;

(v) on 10th November Government introduced a scheme whereby interest-free advances are made to needy domestic tenants from dangerous buildings closed by the Building Authority.

It is for these reasons that Government has decided to let the Rent Advance Scheme stand as originally proposed for the time being. But a close record will be kept of how the scheme works out in practice

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and it will be reviewed as soon as there is adequate evidence to justify the need for it. In any event, if a family is still unable to afford the advance of rent after one year in a Licensed Area, my friend the Director of Social Welfare will be prepared to consider their circumstances, to determine if special hardship exists.

Sir, I have pleasure in supporting the motion before this Council.

MR. BERNACCHI:-On a point of order arising out of the remarks by the Commissioner for Resettlement, the matter under consideration by the Resettlement Policy Select Committee is an appeals board, not a compensation board. There is, I think, a very great difference and I think that in view of the last remarks that Government has decided to make no alterations in the amount of advance payment of rent, any complaints committee would have its work cut out.

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I do not quite follow Mr. BERNACCHI'S point. I did not mean to say compensation committee.

MR. BERNACCHI:-I am sorry. What I mean is a complaints committee, but the complaint will be that they cannot afford the amount of advance payment of rent, whereas the appeals board merely hears an appeal against a certain departmental decision.

(At this point the Secretary for Chinese Affairs left the meeting)

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE:-Mr. Chairman, speaking as a member of the Hawkers Select Committee of this Council, I feel that we have, during the past year, made some progress in our thinking on several aspects of the hawker situation. Progress is, I fear, bound to be somewhat slow, in a matter as complicated and delicate as this. A great deal of time and thought has been given to this by members of this Select Committee, which is one of the busiest of the 17 Committees which transact so much of the Council's day-to-day business. We have met no less than 24 times during the past year.

Progress stems partly from the closer working relationship which has been built up with the Police, particularly through the continuous liaison provided by a Police-Urban Services Department Working Committee and I think that a word of appreciation is due to the Commissioner of Police and his officers, both for the active interest which they have shown in the problems facing the Council and for their ready co-operation. Another development which is already paying dividends is the new post of Senior Executive Officer to serve as Secretary to the Hawkers Select Committee and to assist the Select Committee in forward planning and the drafting of policy.

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