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"putting it off". He will be aware that the problem in the old Mark I and II estates was exhaustively discussed in the appropriate select committees and that approval was given to pursue two lines of approach, firstly by allowing covered seating outside in suitable places, and secondly by increasing the size of existing restaurants by trying to recover adjacent bays. As regards the first course, there are one or two technical questions to resolve before I can give restaurant owners a sufficiently complete picture of the proposal, but I hope to be able to do this in the near future. The second course is necessarily a slow and long term one, but the department will do its best to ensure its success.
11. I might add, in relation to the old estates, that there is generally nothing to prevent single bay shops converting to light refreshment restaurants, nor shop tenants of two or more bays converting their premises to restaurants. The fact that we receive so few applications to do so perhaps suggests that there is not enough business to make conversion worth while: the Hong Kong businessman has as keen a nose as anyone for a profitable outlet.
12. I am afraid there is little scope for increasing the existing number of ground floor restaurants in Mark III blocks because the corner bays are generally the only location where it is feasible to provide an enclosed back-yard and a chimney flue discharging at roof level. In Mark IV blocks it is doubtful if ground floor restaurants are feasible at all, partly because of the cost of carrying a flue up to and beyond the 16th floor, and partly because the walls between bays will be load-bearing. The department is therefore at present in consultation with the Public Works Department on the possibility of accommodating restaurants in annexes.
13. All these matters will shortly be referred to the Resettlement Policy Select Committee in a paper which is in process of drafting and I shall therefore say no more here, beyond repeating a warning which I have had occasion to mention before. If the object of the exercise in increasing the number of restaurants is to eliminate cooked food stalls, then I have grave doubts as to its efficacy, although a sufficiency of restaurants may justify the Council in getting tough with the vendors. Cooked food stalls have two major advantages over restaurants which will still obtain even if there are more of the latter: these are lower prices because their overheads are smaller, and mobility, which enables them to take food practically to their customers' doors.
Transfer of Shops
14. I should like to assure Dr. LEE that, provided there are no complications, the procedure for the transfer of a resettlement shop from one tenant to another should not occupy more than one or two weeks. But too often the matter is not straightforward. For example, as can happen in the older estates, if a transferring tenant either lives, or has members of his authorized household living in the shop, in addition to other members of his family living in a domestic room, arrangements have to be made for the inclusion of the former in the domestic room. If the addition results in overcrowding which is sufficiently serious to warrant priority in relief, then an empty domestic room of the right size has to be found, offered and accepted by the transferring tenant. All of this takes time, before the shop transfer can be completed, especially if the tenant rejects the larger room, or if there is no appropriately sized room available in the same estate.
15. The particular case of Kwok Shun-lei of Kwun Tong, to which Dr. LEE referred, was even more complicated and I cannot accept it as an example of defective administrative machinery. Kwok was the transferee but could not take possession of the shop until the transferor's tenancy had, at his own request, first been split into two separate ones in the names of different branches of the same family. The process of finding, offering and accepting appropriate rooms occupied a considerable time, much of which was spent waiting for the transferor to make up his mind.
Overcrowding
16. The problem of overcrowding in our older estates clearly worries several Members. Serious though it is, it does not help if people exaggerate its magnitude as Mrs. ELLIOTT did when she said "Last year we deplored on this Council the reduction to 16 sq. ft. per adult, and now we are down to 12". I am not sure that I understand what meaning that sentence was intended to convey, but the implication of it, read with the sentences that followed, was that no family is offered a larger room until its density reaches 12 sq. ft. per adult. She also suggested that there are thousands of families in Shek Kip Mei, Li Cheng Uk, Tai Hang Tung, Hung Hom, Wong Tai Sin and Tung Tau who have 12 sq. ft. or less of living space per adult. Both suggestions are quite untrue. The number of families living at that degree of overcrowding at the end of November was 338, all of which, apart from one isolated case at Chai Wan and 4 in Kwun Tong, are in Shek Kip Mei, Tai Hang Tung and Li Cheng Uk. Incidentally, that figure of 338 is 0.2 per cent of all families in resettlement estates. My department offers, and will continue to offer better accommodation to any family that reaches a density of 16 sq. ft. in accordance with the Council's decision. The trouble is that overcrowding occurs in the older estates where no new blocks are being built and in which, therefore, empty rooms very rarely become available. If an overcrowded family is prepared to move to a new estate, their problem can very quickly be solved. But the majority refuse to move and insist on waiting until a room of the appropriate size becomes available in the estate in which
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Page 269 of 382
Page 269 of 382
516
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
"putting it off". He will be aware that the problem in the old Mark I and II estates was exhaustively discussed in the appropriate select com- mittees and that approval was given to pursue two lines of approach, firstly by allowing covered seating outside in suitable places, and secondly by increasing the size of existing restaurants by trying to re- cover adjacent bays. As regards the first course, there are one or two technical questions to resolve before I can give restaurant owners a sufficiently complete picture of the proposal, but I hope to be able to do this in the near future. The second course is necessarily a slow and long term one, but the department will do its best to ensure its success.
11. I might add, in relation to the old estates, that there is generally nothing to prevent single bay shops converting to light refresh- ment restaurants, nor shop tenants of two or more bays converting their premises to restaurants. The fact that we receive so few applica- tions to do so perhaps suggests that there is not enough business to make conversion worth while: the Hong Kong businessman has as keen a nose as anyone for a profitable outlet.
12. I am afraid there is little scope for increasing the existing number of ground floor restaurants in Mark III blocks because the corner bays are generally the only location where it is feasible to pro- vide an enclosed back-yard and a chimney flue discharging at roof level. In Mark IV blocks it is doubtful if ground floor restaurants are feasible at all, partly because of the cost of carrying a flue up to and beyond the 16th floor, and partly because the walls between bays will be load- bearing. The department is therefore at present in consultation with the Public Works Department on the possibility of accommodating restaurants in annexes.
13. All these matters will shortly be referred to the Resettlement Policy Select Committee in a paper which is in process of drafting and I shall therefore say no more here, beyond repeating a warning which I have had occasion to mention before. If the object of the exercise in increasing the number of restaurants is to eliminate cooked food stalls, then I have grave doubts to its efficacy, although a sufficiency of restaurants may justify the Council in getting tough with the vendors. Cooked food stalls have two major advantages over restaurants which will still obtain even if there are more of the latter: these are lower prices because their overheads are smaller, and mobility, which enables them to take food practically to their customers' doors.
Transfer of Shops
14. I should like to assure Dr. LEE that, provided there are no complications, the procedure for the transfer of a resettlement shop from one tenant to another should not occupy more than one or two weeks. But too often the matter is not straightforward. For example, as can
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
517
happen in the older estates, if a transferring tenant either lives, or has members of his authorized household living in the shop, in addition to other members of his family living in a domestic room, arrangements have to be made for the inclusion of the former in the domestic room. If the addition results in overcrowding which is sufficiently serious to warrant priority in relief, then an empty domestic room of the right size has to be found, offered and accepted by the transferring tenant All of this takes time, before the shop transfer can be completed. especially if the tenant rejects the larger room, or if there is no appro- priately sized room available in the same estate.
15. The particular case of Kwok Shun-lei of Kwun Tong, to which Dr. LEE referred, was even more complicated and I cannot accept it as an example of defective administrative machinery. Kwok was the trans- feree but could not take possession of the shop until the transferor's tenancy had, at his own request, first been split into two separate ones in the names of different branches of the same family. The process of finding, offering and accepting appropriate rooms occupied a consider- able time, much of which was spent waiting for the transferor to make up his mind.
Overcrowding
16. The problem of overcrowding in our older estates clearly worries several Members. Serious though it is, it does not help if people exaggerate its magnitude as Mrs. ELLIOTT did when she said "Last year we deplored on this Council the reduction to 16 sq. ft. per adult, and now we are down to 12". I am not sure that I understand what meaning that sentence was intended to convey, but the implication of it, read with the sentences that followed, was that no family is offered a larger room until its density reaches 12 sq. ft. per adult. She also suggested that there are thousands of families in Shek Kip Mei, Li Cheng Uk, Tai Hang Tung, Hung Hom, Wong Tai Sin and Tung Tau who have 12 sq. ft. or less of living space per adult. Both suggestions are quite untrue. The number of families living at that degree of over- crowding at the end of November was 338, all of which, apart from one isolated case at Chai Wan and 4 in Kwun Tong, are in Shek Kip Mei, Tai Hang Tung and Li Cheng Uk. Incidentally, that figure of 338 is 0.2 per cent of all families in resettlement estates. My depart- ment offers, and will continue to offer better accommodation to any family that reaches a density of 16 sq. ft. in accordance with the Council's decision. The trouble is that overcrowding occurs in the older estates where no new blocks are being built and in which, therefore, empty rooms very rearly become available. If an overcrowded family is prepared to move to a new estate, their problem can very quickly be solved. But the majority refuse to move and insist on waiting until a room of the appropriate size becomes available in the estate in which
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