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they are living. It then becomes necesary to reserve the few rooms that do fall empty in that estate for the worst cases of overcrowding, and it is here that people may have to wait until their density reaches 12 sq. ft. before their turn for relief comes. Short of compulsory transfer of households from one estate to another against their will, no amount of new building is going to be much help in dealing with the back-log until we begin to occupy the new estates at Cheung Sha Wan, Pak Tin, and possibly Ngau Tau Kok in a few years' time. Located, as they will be, near some of our older estates, I hope that they will help to overcome the present reluctance of tenants to move away from their places of employment and from their children's schools.

Ward System

17. Those Members who mentioned their experience of the Ward system agreed that the majority of inquiries and complaints which they receive concern resettlement. Even if only one in ten of these brings to light a justifiable cause for complaint, I count the effort worth while, not only for the grievance put right, but also for the reassurance which the other nine inquirers may receive that they are not the victims of faulty administration or worse.

18. One result of the system which I have noticed is an increase in the practice, by members of the public, of pursuing an inquiry through two or more Councillors at once, or in succession if they do not get the answer they want on the first occasion. To save duplication of effort, Members may wish to consider asking them whether they have already taken their request to another Councillor.

Education

19. Mr. Li Yiu-bor drew attention to the low salaries paid to teachers in rooftop schools and attributed this to the low fees charged and the lack of any financial assistance from Government. Members will be aware that, in fact, rooftop schools do receive special considera- tion in that their rent is the nominal sum of $1.00 per month. As Chairman of the Resettlement Management Select Committee, Mr. Li will also remember that, in June this year, his committee approved an increase in the maximum fees which may be charged by rooftop schools. That decision should enable these schools to improve their standards both generally and because they will be able to offer more attractive conditions of service to teachers. In accordance with the policy for expanding the system of aided primary education, rooftop schools of acceptable standards are now eligible for full subsidy in the same way as other non-profit-making private primary schools. The Director of Education has recently invited the sponsors of 16 selected rooftop schools to apply for subsidy and proposes to extend full subsidy to further rooftop schools as funds become available and provided the schools are of an acceptable standard.

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20. Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, as a member of the Resettlement Manage- ment Select Committee, will also know that, in each estate, we are giving wide publicity to the existence of vacancies in schools within easy reach. It would be out of place for me to speak on the wider aspects of educa- tional policy which he and others raised, but I would invite their atten- tion to the White Paper on "Education Policy”, published by Govern- ment in April 1965.

Planning of Estates

21. An uninformed listener might be forgiven for assuming, from some remarks of Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN'S, that Members of this Council are not consulted at all on the planning of future resettlement estates. It is almost exactly a year ago since the Deputy Director of Public Works (Buildings and Lands) became a member of the Resettle- ment Management Select Committee, and since then the committee has been consulted on a number of occasions, notably on the design of the latest Mark V blocks (which was also referred to the Policy Committee), on the building programme, and on detailed planning of services and amenities in new urban estates. My recollection is that the committee did not wish to become too deeply involved in detailed planning of all the multifarious services which are required in each estate, such as the precise locations of hawker bazaars, bus termini, refuse collection points, fresh provision shops, parking areas, welfare and medical facilities and so on. But I can assure Mr. CHEONG-LEEN and Mrs. Li that these matters are the subject of almost daily consultation between my depart- ment, the Architect, and other departments and agencies concerned, and that the process does not end with the opening of a new estate, nor even with its complete occupation.

Family Planning

22. Mrs. Li spoke about another kind of planning: family plan- ning. With the approval of the Resettlement Management Select Com- mittee, the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong now runs clinics in nine of our estates, and liaison between the Association's case workers and our estate staff is excellent. Proposals are now being examined jointly with the Medical Department for the Association to share premises with other voluntary agencies as a possible means of more rapid expansion.

Review of resettlement housing priorities

23. I have spoken about overcrowding in resettlement estates and typhoon shelters. A change of policy on either, involving the reserva- tion of considerably more accommodation for people from these sources, could not come about without a review of the priority categories for resettlement set out in the White Paper, for which, as Mr. BERNACCHI

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