ENG-1959 — Page 211

LAND AND HOUSING

171

The following extract from the 1958 Report of the Special Committee on Housing gives a brief historical summary of the housing situation :

'During the early and middle "thirties", the housing of the urban areas was increasing at a rate almost commensurate with, but slightly less than, the increase in population, and the housing situation was slowly worsening each year, although still considerably better than in any subsequent period. This situation continued until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. At the beginning of 1937 the total population was just under 1,000,000, increasing annually by about 22,000; the population of the urban area was probably about 800,000. The number of domestic floors in the urban area was about 84,000, increasing at a rate of about 500 floors a year. (The expression "floor" refers to each separate floor of a building. In this context, where the bulk of domestic accommodation consists of tenement houses, the expression is almost, but not quite, equivalent to separate premises). The years subsequent to 1937 saw a large influx of immigrants, which immediately created a severe housing shortage. In the four years 1937 - 1940, the total population appears to have almost doubled. There were signs of an exodus just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific in 1941, but there is no doubt that at that date the existing housing was extremely overcrowded. The damage to housing during the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 was considerable. An official report in 1946 shows that about 20% of the domestic accom- modation in the urban area had been damaged or destroyed, of which almost 10% was totally destroyed. The population, which is estimated to have been reduced to 600,000 in August 1945, jumped to well over a million by the end of 1946; this increase, together with the greatly reduced amount of domestic accommodation, again created extreme overcrowding. Although damaged property appears to have been repaired with com- mendable speed, notwithstanding the post-war shortages of essential supplies, it was some time before the property totally destroyed was replaced. In fact, this probably did not occur until about 1949 1950, but by that time the population had also regained its pre-war level, overcrowding was no less,

-