14
REVIEW
May 1844 and since then over 400,000 memorials have been regis- tered, more than half of these being deposited since 1946, including 28,000 in 1962-3 alone. Fortunately these land office records remained largely intact during the Japanese occupation when many other records were lost.
All lots when sold by the Crown are given a lot number; there are many series of numbers according to the nature and location of the lot, such as marine lots, Kowloon inland lots, rural building lots, etc. A comprehensive card index, open to the public, is kept of all these lots and their sub-divisions; by using this it is a simple matter to trace the records relating to any property. The street index shows where any lot in the urban area is and conversely the lot number on which any given house stands. These records can all be inspected during working hours at a fee of $1 a record and photostat copies can be obtained at a reasonable charge. Thus the interests of prospective purchasers are safeguarded since they or their solicitors can always discover the conditions under which any particular property is held, any restriction on use or extent of building, or whether the property is subject to a mortgage or other charge.
The principal Rent Roll for lots registered in the Urban Land Office as at 31.12.62 was as follows:
Locality
Hong Kong
Kowloon
New Kowloon
NT Lots
· +
Exempted from NT Ordin-
ance and registered in the Land Office
NT Mining Lots
Pier Leases
No of Lots
Total Crown Rent
10,644
$960,056.66
6,259
$803,511.76
3,779
$436,966.92
79
$ 29,493.00
3
67
$1,715.00 $148,859.34
20,831
$2,380,602.68
In addition, at the same date the separate Rent Roll of village lots in the urban area contained 1,320 lots at a total Crown rent of $1,066.60. New Territory lots registered in the various district land offices are not included in the above, but when the New Territories were first leased 354,277 lots were surveyed and 15,919