1964 — Page 71

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themselves that this Report should be made known to the public as soon as possible, so that our own views on the various aspects of it might be debated in public.

CHAIRMAN: --Your point will be put to Government.

MR. SALES:-Thank you, Sir.

MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:-

(a) Could you tell this Council whether any of the Select Com- mittees on Resettlement are consulted before the opening of new resite areas such as that in 9th Cemetery? And are the areas visited beforehand by any Select Committee to see if they are suitable for human habitation? If not, who does decide, and by whom are such visits made? (b) Would it be possible in future for visits of inspection to be made by unofficial as well as official members before squatters are sent to such areas?

(c) May we be given the facts as to how many families have so far been ordered resited to the 9th Cemetery, and what is the capacity of the present water-tanks?

Is there any supply of water from the standpipes at present in that area?

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-

In reply to the first part of the question, it has not been the practice to consult either of the Select Committees con- cerned with resettlement before opening new resite areas and, so far as I am aware, Members of these Committees have not hitherto been invited to visit them before they are opened. These areas are something of an anomaly within the terms of the Resettlement Ordinance; they are an administrative device introduced after the Ordinance became law and might be described as areas of unlawful structures over which some administrative control is exer- cised. They are neither resettlement estates nor cottage areas over which the Council has control in the urban areas as the Competent Authority under Parts IV and V of the Ordinance. I think this explains the lack of con- sultation with the Select Committees of this Council. The Superintendent of Crown Lands selects sites for these areas in consultation with the Resettlement Department and with the other divisions of the Public Works Depart- ment which may be concerned. The Director of Fire

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Services is responsible for advising on the acceptability of

any fire risk involved and on the precautions that are required to minimise that risk. As soon as a site has been selected and it is known that the resiting of squatters

is imminent, the Urban Services Department installs latrines. Arrangements are also made for the installation of standpipes and the supply of water to storage tanks in conjunction with the Water Authority and the Urban Services Department.

In regard to the second part of the question, if Members of this Council would like to visit new resite areas before they are occupied, I shall be glad to arrange this.

In reply to the third part of the question, there is no official No. 9 Cemetery. That is the name given to an illegal burial ground adjacent to No. 8 Cemetery which lies between Diamond Hill and Jat Incline. There are no plans for resiting squatters into this area.

However, between 15th and 22nd May, 682 squatters have been allocated sites in an area known as the Jordan Valley Resite Area 'G' which is, I believe, the area referred to in the question. These constitute the majority of the people whose illegal huts had to be demolished to form a fire lane in Ma Chai Hang. 45 families, mainly single persons, found alternative accommodation elsewhere and refused our offer of a resite. The capacity of the static water supply tanks for this area is 4,000 gallons and 4,800 gallons of water are being supplied to this area each day. It is distributed from the static tanks through standpipes.

After consultation with the Director of Fire Services and the Water Authority, the latter was requested to install a permanent mains water supply for a planned population of 15,000 to 20,000 persons in the whole of this resite area. This request was made on 14th May and it is hoped that by using existing installations, this permanent water supply may be inaugurated within six months.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary question? Are we to understand from this answer by the Commis- sioner that these resite areas do not come under the jurisdiction of this Council?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Yes, that was intended in the reply.

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