POPULATION
245
A mid-term census was taken in the summer of 1966. The boat people were counted between 18th and 22nd June and the remainder of the population between 19th July and 2nd August. The first results show a 20 per cent reduction in the marine population and a considerable slowing down of the rate of increase of the land population.
BIRTHS AND DEATHS
The registration of births and deaths is compulsory, and facilities for registration are provided throughout the Colony. The General Register Office is situated at Li Po Chun Chambers, Connaught Road Central, Victoria, where all records of births and deaths are maintained. Sub-registries have been established in all main urban and rural districts, while in outlying areas and islands, births are registered at rural committee offices by visiting district registrars and deaths are registered at local police stations.
The statutory period during which a birth should be registered, and is registered without fee, is 42 days from the date of birth. Between the end of the 42-day period and the expiration of one year from the date of birth, the birth may be registered upon payment of a fee of $2. During the year, 92,476 live births and 18,700 deaths were registered, compared with 102,195 and 17,621 respectively in 1965. These figures, when adjusted for under- registration, give a natural increase in population for 1966 of 77,200. Only 67 illegitimate children were registered without the name of the father in the birth entry.
A birth which has not been registered within one year after the date of birth may be post-registered with the consent of the Registrar and on payment of a fee of $15. During the year 2,619 such births were post-registered. Most of these were adults and older children born in the New Territories, where facilities for registration were not available until 1932. The New Territories cases are dealt with at local sub-registries or by mobile registration teams. There were also several hundred post-registrations of births in the urban areas, many being in respect of births in the war years, when there was no registration of births. All applications for post-registration are passed to a legal officer in the Registrar General's Department for final approval.