HONG KONG
ANNUAL REPORTS 1950-1
QUARTERING AUTHORITY
ANNUAL DEPARTMENTAL REPORT
BY THE
QUARTERING AUTHORITY
FOR THE
FINANCIAL YEAR 1950-1.
PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY NORONHA & COMPANY, LIMITED
GOVERNMENT PRINTERS & PUBLISHERS
OLD BAILEY STREET. HONG KONG.
CONTENTS.
REQUISITIONING
CONTROL OF HOTELS
OFFICE ACCOMMODATION
ACCOMMODATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICERS
Non-departmental quarters
Hotels
Hostels
STAFF
Paragraphs.
1 - 6
7 9
-
10
11
15
11
-
12
13
14 - 15
16
1.
REQUISITIONING.
For the purposes of this Report, requisitioning is dealt with under four heads:
(A) Property Requisitioned during the 1945/6 Military Administration.
2. Several new Police Stations have been built during the year and this has enabled Government to release a number of requisitioned buildings which were being used for that purpose. In all 14 units were derequisitioned by Government. The total number of units held under requisition has been reduced from 76 to 63 units which are divided between Government and the Services as follows:
Royal Navy 2 Army 94 R.A.F. 12
Government 391
It will be noticed that there is an increase of one in the number of units held by the Army. This is not a new requisition but is due to one of two rooms in a building being transferred from Government to the Army. Both rooms had previously been shown as 1 unit held by Government.
(B) Property Requisitioned by Government to relieve the housing
shortage.
3. No further requisitioning for this purpose has taken place and 31 units were still held under requisition at the end of the year. (C) Property Requisitioned by Government since the Military
Administration.
4. One of the 11 units mentioned in the last Report was derequisi- tioned during the year but with the transfer of another unit from the Royal Air Force, the number of units held under requisition remains the
same.
(D) Property Requisitioned for the Services since 1st May, 1949.
It
5. In the last Report the problem of assessing adequate compensa- tion for new buildings which had been requisitioned, was mentioned. was stated in this connexion that action to amend the Compensation (Defence) Regulations, 1940 had been initiated by Government but that approval for this legislation had not been received up to the end of March, 1950. Approval has since then been received and in July, 1950, the Compensation (Defence) Modification Regulations, 1950, were brought into force. Immediately this was done, the Military Authorities com- menced payments of compensation for new buildings requisitioned after 1st May, 1949.
1.
6. Very little requisitioning for the Services has taken place during the year. The total number of units requisitioned was 13 and in all cases except one, was in respect of land in the New Territories, the one excep- tion being an unoccupied house in the urban area. At the same time 79 units were released by derequisitioning etc., so the actual number of units held under requisition at the end of the year has been reduced from 250 to 184. These were divided between the Services as follows:
7.
Royal Navy 6 Army 157 R.A.F. 21
CONTROL OF HOTELS.
The duration of the Hotels Ordinance, 1949, was up to the 31st December, 1950, but by a Resolution made and passed by the Legislative Council on the 13th December, 1950, the Ordinance was extended for the term of one year with effect from the 1st January, 1951.
8. There has been a fairly steady demand during the year for Re- sidents' Cards which entitle the holders to accommodation in the controlled hotels at reasonable rates. Members of H. M. Forces, in particular, have availed themselves of this privilege as indicated by the fact that they obtained 380 of the 738 cards which were issued during the year. The total number of cards which have been issued since the Ordinance came into force on the 8th March, 1949, is 3,275 of which number 736 have been issued to members of H. M. Forces.
9. The demand for accommodation in some of the less popular of the controlled hotels eased to a small extent during the year as on occasions vacant rooms remained unoccupied for some time. In the more popular hotels the demand still continued, though towards the end of the year there was a noticeable diminution in the number of Services' families accommodated in these hotels.
OFFICE ACCOMMODATION.
10. There have been no major changes in the position regarding Government Office accommodation and none are likely to occur until the new block of central Government offices has been built.
ACCOMMODATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICERS.
(A) Non-Departinental Quarters.
11. At the end of last year there was a total of 242 non-departmental quarters divided into grades as follows:
2
'A' Grade 12 quarters
'E' Grade 64 quarters
'B'
49
'F'
8
>>
'C'
82
'G'
0
"}
"
>>
'D'
27
Total
»)
22
242 quarters
This total did not include 8 quarters which were loaned to the Army, etc.
12. The total number of quarters has been increased during the year by the erection of 3 bungalows at Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong and the purchase of 4 small flats at Carnarvon Road, Kowloon. In addition one departmental quarter was made non-departmental, a requisitioned flat was transferred to Government and the gradings of seven non- departmental quarters were revised. The total number of non-depart- mental quarters at the end of this year was 251 and Table I gives a list of these quarters by grades and the estimated number of officers eligible to occupy them.
(B) Hotels.
13. The number of officers accommodated in hotels remained fairly constant up to October, 1950 but from then onwards the number increased monthly until at the end of January, 1951, the total number of officers in hotels was 54, there being 18 single officers and 36 married officers, 19 of whom had children. This was the highest number of married officers accommodated in hotels since May, 1949, and some considerable difficulty was experienced in providing suitable hotel accommodation for them. The cause for this increase can be attributed to the usual end of the year return of officers from leave coupled with the fact that there had been an unusual number of new appointments as departments filled their vacancies. As the greater proportion of these newly-appointed officers had children of an age which necessitated the provision of two or more rooms for their accommodation, it meant that only a limited. number of families could be accommodated in the Arlington Hostel, which is primarily a married families' hostel, with the result that the overflow had to be accommodated in hotels. Since the end of January, 1951, the number of married officers accommodated in hotels has decreased gradually as they moved into quarters which had been vacated by officers proceeding on leave. The number of officers in hotels at the end of the year is shown in Table II.
(C) Hostels.
14. There has been no change in the number of Government Hostels which provide accommodation as follows:-
(1) Arlington Hostel with 24 double and 9 single rooms for
married officers, single women and single men.
3
(2)
(3)
The Hermitage with 17 single rooms for single women only.
Macdonnell Road Hostel with 11 single room's for single men only.
(4) Buxey Lodge with 11 single rooms and 2 double rooms for
single men only.
15. The accommodation in the hostels has generally been utilized to its full extent during the year and more especially so in the ones which provide accommodation only for single officers, the majority of whom appear to prefer hostel accommodation to sharing a quarter with another officer. The number of officers in hostels at the end of the year is shown in Table II.
STAFF.
16. In July, Mr. A. St. G. Walton was transferred to another depart- ment and Mr. T. S. D. Whitley was appointed to act as Quartering Authority with effect from the 12th July, 1950. On the 21st August, 1950, Mr. R. A. L. Ellery was appointed as an Hotel Inspector in place of Mr. T. W. Carr who was transferred to another department.
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T. S. D. WHITLEY, Quartering Authority.
TABLE I.
Numbers of Non-Departmental Quarters and Estimated Number
of Officers Eligible to apply for them on 31st March, 1951.
Estimated No. of Officers Eligible to apply
Grade of Quarters
Govt. Property
Leased
Ex- Requisi-
Enemy
Total No. tioned of Quarters
Married
Single
A
12
1
13
35
1
BU A
43
2
1
2
48
41
3
C
72
6
82
76
16
33
2
35
106
45
E
50
19
2
71
53
26
F
2
2
10
11
G
7
20
Totals:
212
26
3
10
251
328
122
Note:-(1) Eight quarters loaned to the Army etc. are NOT included in the
above figures.
(2)
The numbers of officers shown include those on leave but do not include officers in Departmental Quarters.
TABLE II.
Numbers of Officers in Hotels and Hostels on 31st March, 1951.
Single Officers
Married Officers
Total
Male
Female
Hotels
17
1
17 (7)
35 (7)
Government Hostels
32
18
18 (8)
68 (8)
Non-Govt. Hostels
►
18
1
1
20
Totals
67
20
36 (15)
123 (15)
Note:-(1) Figures in brackets indicate numbers of married officers with
children in the Colony.
(2) Single Officers include officers whose wives are not in the Colony.
Married Officers are those whose wives are in the Colony.
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