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MR. C. K. CHAN:-Normally, I understand that the extra cost of this installation would be met by the tenants as far as the ground-floor restaurant or other shops are concerned. Of course, if we study it and possibly the cost will have to be met by the tenant if the Government is not going to do it. Of course, we all agree that air conditioning is a bit of a luxury, if they cannot afford the luxury.

MR. BERNACCHI :—On a point of personal clarification, the former Deputy Director of Medical & Health Services said that air conditioning in Resettlement Estates is not a luxury: it is a necessity.

MR. C. K. CHAN:-All the better for the question and in that case would all accept a study whether it can be installed at the cost to the Government. If so, what would happen and what would we have to do and the other alternative if it is to be paid by the tenant, but I think we will study both possibilities and let the public know.

We do owe the public a duty that they should know what the position is.

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:--I was going to say, Mr. Chairman, that these points have been considered at some length by the Select Committee concerned, and as the Director of Public Works has just explained, it is just not possible to ascertain how much to charge each tenant if it was to be done on a direct charge basis, as I have mentioned also in my reply myself. It is all very well to ask the tenants, to send round a questionnaire as to who wants to have air conditioning. But you cannot get any final answer out of them, unless they know what the cost is going to be, and I do not think you can commit any tenant to make a once and for all decision if he wants to have air conditioning some time in the future, or now, or whenever.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, could you not refer to the Resettle- ment Policy Select Committee the desirability of their having air condi- tioning in Mark VII since it may be too late for Mark VI? (Laughter).

DR. HUANG: Mr. Chairman, may I ask two supplementaries? I myself would be very happy to see all our Resettlement Estates air- conditioned in the future, so that we can show our foreign visitors how wonderful our public housing project is; but unfortunately, I do not see it being practical for the time being because so many people are waiting for resettlement space to accommodate them. The first question I would ask the Resettlement Commissioner, if I may, is that, to my knowledge, each air conditioner would cost something like $60 per month if it is used every night. Would the Commissioner for Resettlement answer me what is the average rent for each unit of a Resettlement Estate?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-The standard rent varies between $18 in the Mark I Estates to about $35 in the later Estates.

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DR. HUANG-My second question is, it is obvious that a Resettle- ment Estate is a kind of Government subsidized public housing, is it fair that we should encourage people to put air conditioning in when they are enjoying the public subsidy, and secondly, I would rather doubt the wisdom of the retired Deputy Director of Medical & Health Services, he mentioned it is a necessity. If I were one of the occupants of a Resettlement Estate unit, I would not like my neighbour to fit an air conditioner when I am not able to do so. Firstly there would be dripping of water in the public corridor, at least as far as Mark I and Mark II are concerned, and secondly there would be a lot of noise caused to the neighbours. Thirdly, I think that, psychologically, it would make people who cannot afford to have air conditioning un- happy, so I do not think it is really practical at this stage to discuss this problem.

MR. BERNACCHI:—As Chairman of the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, I would like to answer this supplementary question.

CHAIRMAN: Which question? (Laughter).

MR. BERNACCHI:-Dr. HUANG's question. Really the problem is in two parts. No one has suggested that Government should pay for an air conditioning service. The problem that faced the Resettlement Policy Select Committee was confined to the new Mark VI, not Mark VII resettlement, and it was confined to Mark V under construction or to be under construction.

MR. SALES: Mark VI is under construction, Mr. Chairman, Mark VII was contemplated by me. (Laughter).

MR. BERNACCHI:-The problem that the Resettlement Policy Select Committee was concerned with was whether or not to introduce standard wiring that would be capable of taking air conditioning plants on the assumption that at least half the domestic tenants would install air conditioning and no decision has been taken on that, because, as was said by the Commissioner in his answer, a further paper will shortly be put before members.

CHAIRMAN: -I think we should leave it at that.

MR. C. K. CHAN:-Mr. Chairman, may I have your indulgence to ask one more minor supplementary question?

MR. BERNACCHI:-I have not finished my answer. The problem of inconvenience to other tenants of the air conditioning equipment itself is being considered by the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, but that only arises if the Resettlement Policy Select Committee approve in principle that air conditioning is desirable, and that step has not yet been taken.

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