ENG-1972 — Page 25

REVIEW

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sardine-like conditions now look for something better from a society which, though not affluent by international standards, seems affluent to them. In a city of rising standards and rising expectations, it is not a situation that can be accepted readily.

Only a major effort can solve the problem and the determined action that the government proposes is to build on such a scale that, within 10 years, there will be enough permanent homes, self-contained and with good amenities and in a reason- able environment, for everyone in Hong Kong.

When realised, this will mean the virtual disappearance of squatter areas, and the elimination of the worst of overcrowding. This means building homes for 1.8 million in a decade.

Given Hong Kong's grave shortage of land and the fact that almost every avail- able hillside in the urban areas has been terraced for housing sites, it is clear that the bulk of the new housing must be in the New Territories.

But providing new towns is not enough. To be acceptable to their inhabitants, there must be good communications. There must be social facilities. Above all, there must be employment close by.

With this firmly in mind, the new towns will be planned as complete communi- ties. They will have schools, clinics, markets, police, fire and ambulance stations, parks and playgrounds and community centres. There will be sites, too, for private and commercial development.

Even remote areas in the New Territories will share in this plan for a brighter tomorrow. Not only will people in rural areas benefit, but there will be a chance for boat squatters to move ashore.

The new housing programme demands a high degree of efficiency and co- ordination. Unified control and administration will be vested in a single body which will be responsible for planning, administering and constructing all public housing in Hong Kong.

These measures mark the government's determination to give new impetus to the solution of this problem.

New Look for Welfare

In the 1950s, with the population swollen by the influx of people from China, social welfare in Hong Kong was largely a series of uncoordinated emergency opera- tions, providing dry rations and cooked meals as relief for the destitute and those made homeless by fire, flood or typhoon. It was thought then that the bulk of new immigrants would return to their homeland when conditions settled. But they stayed and the problems grew.

Public policy at that time was largely concerned with the creation of wealth. It was believed that the rapid growth of the economy and the accompanying demand for labour would result in higher incomes for the poorer sections of the population. In the event, there was a tendency for social progress to lag behind economic progress.