REVIEW
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before the war were now resumed and extended, and new ones were put in hand. On Hong Kong Island, reclamations at North Point and Causeway Bay provided land and open spaces for two rapidly growing districts. A reclamation in central Victoria broadened the waterfront, the first completed section being reserved for a new City Hall, ferry concourse and tiered car parks. On the mainland, the coastline was pushed outward into the sea at Hung Hom, Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong; the entire Kwun Tong reclamation and part of the Tsuen Wan reclamation being made available to industry.
As noted earlier, the temporary recession of trade that followed the embargo on strategic commodities had caused some falling off in investment in private building, but the Hong Kong businessman, quick to adjust himself to the shifts of fortune, now turned increasingly to industry and found compensation for the loss of China trade by investment in Hong Kong manufactures. There followed a steady in- crease in the number of new factories. And since, in a society as concentrated as Hong Kong's, any one development is likely to set off a series of shifts and adjustments, the expan- sion of industry meant an increased demand for low-cost housing for artisans and white collar workers, particularly in the neighbourhood of the factories. Although money was tighter than it had been, there were still many people with the means to pay high rentals and, therefore, to provide a market for the commercial builder. There was no incentive for the latter to build houses at a rent which the great majority of the community could afford. Only the voluntary housing societies were endeavouring to meet the need for low-cost housing. Pioneers in the field were the Hong Kong Housing Society and the Hong Kong Model Housing Society, which were assisted with grants of land at about one-third of its market value, by low-interest loans from the Government and, in the case of the Hong Kong Housing Society, by Colonial Development and Welfare grants for
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