ENG-1956 — Page 33

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

before the Government finally committed itself to a policy which up to the time of writing has accounted, directly and indirectly, for the expenditure of perhaps $330 million from public funds. It remains to give some account of how that policy developed and how it was put into effect.

The story begins in January 1950, when the population was estimated at 2,360,000 and the squatters at something over 300,000. In that month a squatter fire took place in Kowloon City which rendered 20,000 persons homeless. In April immigration controls on entry from China were put into force. These two events had their separate, but to some extent complementary, effect on the policy which was fol- lowed for the remainder of the year. On the one hand, fire was now accepted as the major and immediate danger, and attempts were made to drive fire-breaks through the most congested parts of the settlements with the object of limiting the

scope of conflagrations which were now accepted as being virtually inevitable in the conditions in which the squatters lived and worked. This implied that the settlements were accepted temporarily and that Government action was limited to such practical steps as could be taken to render them less dangerous. The reason for this, as has already been men- tioned, was that it was hoped that with the influx of im- migrants checked, and with a return to more settled con- ✓ditions in South China, there would be a reverse movement of population which might go some way towards solving the squatter problems without intervention by the Government. By the middle of 1951 it was becoming clear that those hopes were unlikely to be realized and a first attempt was made at tackling the squatter problem in its entirety.

A number of small areas were set aside for what were called 'approved' resettlement structures and two or three larger areas for 'tolerated' resettlement. Accommodation in the 'approved' areas was in the form of semi-permanent bungalows and these were reserved for families with longest residence in the Colony and who had the means to conform