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Commissioner for Resettlement that the widow and her unmarried children should be offered resettlement accom- modation on compassionate grounds.

MR. BERNACCHI:-I would like to ask why the Director of Social Welfare has made the recommendation that you referred to in the last sentence if, as you say, the total family income now amounts to $775 per month. Are there sufficient places in resettlement to justify this recommendation on compassionate grounds?

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE:-Mr. Chairman, I can only say that, in all the circumstances of this case, I decided that it was one which merited such a recommendation.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, could it be too that the present income does not amount to $775—at least that seems to have been the impression I got when I interviewed this family yesterday. I rise to ask Question 11.

MR. BERNACCHI:-I would like an answer, Mr. Chairman, to Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's question because, of course, it makes a big difference if the family income does not amount to $770. Then, indeed, there are very much more compassionate grounds, but I cannot but say that I think simply because a question is asked, this family does not ipso facto deserve treatment that is not given to another family in an equal plight and I think it is most important that the total family income level be accurately ascertained because there is the crux of the matter. If the total family income is very much less than $700 then, of course, it is a highly compassionate case. If the total family income is above $700 a month, well even low cost housing would not be available to this family.

MR. SALES: I would like to support Mr. BERNACCHI and Mr. CHEONG-LEEN in this matter. Recently, I had occasion to recommend the compassionate consideration of a family whose head had been in hospital for 6 years. There are a mother and 3 children without any source of income at all and this case has been under consideration for far longer than is justified. If there are any compassionate grounds on which the exercise of discretion can be made by the Social Welfare Department, I cannot in my experience find a better one, and yet in this present instance, on the strength of the information which you have disclosed, compassionate grounds have been determined and discretion exercised. I would like that this matter be given a further explanation, possibly by the issue of a paper to members of this Council.

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE: Mr. Chairman, I'm afraid I couldn't give full and detailed information about the income of this particular family at this moment. I shall be happy to look into it and inform members separately what the precise position is. The ultimate

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point that Mr. SALES has raised, and again I would say I have no information about this case at the moment, is that he could give me precise particulars to enable me to identify it. I shall be very happy to look into it, if he would kindly give me further details about the case.

MR. SALES: Thank you. I will do so.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-May I say that I did speak to this mother and her daughter yesterday and, from the information they gave me, I must admit I did not have any way of verifying this information. But from what they told me, I gathered that only one of the sons was working for approximately $120 a month and the daughter is not working. It is a family of 12 altogether, comprising of the widow and her seven children, plus the daughter's husband and her own children making a total of 12 altogether. According to the widow, the total income of this family of 12 is exactly $420 and it appears that the major income carner in this family is not a son of the widow but her son-in-law. I do not think that it is fair that this widow and her children, five of whom have to go to school, must depend upon a son-in-law, who has a wife and 2 children, to be the bread-earner for the entire family. That is why I personally feel that if this information is reasonably correct, there is strong justification for the Director of Social Welfare to rec- ommend that they be given resettlement on compassionate grounds.

were,

COMMISSIONer for ResetTLEMENT: Mr. Chairman, it might help if I were to explain that this family was turned out of their quarters and therefore, eligible to go to a resite or licensed area. They were, in fact, directed into Wong Tai Sin, an area which will be cleared next year. So that the fact that they have been compassionately resettled now means that they will have advanced some six months in their resettlement.

MR. BERNACCHI :-I must say, Mr. Chairman, that it is distressing to hear Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's description of the family income as so totally different from the description that you gave in your answer. Either Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's description is wrong or your answer is wrong and I should be grateful if you would look into it further, although I have no wish to disrupt the recommendation that they should move into resettlement accommodation six months' earlier on com- passionate grounds.

CHAIRMAN:--Sir, in clarification could I mention that the figure of $775 a month came, as far as I know, from the Social Welfare Department who investigated the case.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Can the Director of Social Welfare give an indication of how long ago that check of income was made?

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