LAND AND HOUSING
89
The number of instruments registered during the year rose by 23.1 per cent from last year's total of 73,946 to 91,057. The figure included 1,798 assignments of whole buildings or sites (against 1,727 in 1971), 28,491 assignments of flats and other units in multi-storey buildings (against 22,695), 14,760 agreements for sale of such flats and units (against 13,007), and 23,902 mortgages (against 17,440). As a consequence of the continuing high rate of new building projects, the number of building mortgages registered during the year rose from 145 to 196, although the number of orders ex- cluding premises from the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which usually have to be obtained prior to redevelopment of the sites of old buildings, decreased by 29 to 195. Orders requiring redevelopment of the sites of demolished buildings totalled 127 (against 108). The number of searches rose by 12.4 per cent from 108,632 to 122,139, which provides a good index to the state of the property market as searches are nor- mally made prior to every land transaction. Compared with 1971 the grand total of considerations recorded in all instruments registered rose by $2,975 million, or 47.9 per cent, to $9,181 million.
The volume of work in several other sections of the Land Office was influenced by the prevailing market conditions. During the year, 258 conditions of sale, grant, exchange, etc, were registered as compared with 292 in 1971. Consents granted to for- ward sales of flats in those cases where the conditions under which the land is held give the necessary power of control, totalled 169 (against 202 in 1971). The number of modifications and deeds of variation of lease conditions-often a prelude to multi- storey development-decreased by two to 60. The number of Crown leases issued was 157, compared with 209 in 1971.
There were 139 determinations of Crown rent and premium under the Crown Rent and Premium (Apportionment) Ordinance, and 147 corporations were registered under the Multi-storey Buildings (Owners Incorporation) Ordinance, bringing the total number of corporations on the register to 429 compared with 282 at the end of 1971.
At the end of the year, the Land Office card index of property owners contained the names of 217,467 people (an increase of 16,647 over the previous year), some own- ing several properties, but most being merely owners or part owners of small individual flats.
Survey
Land survey in Hong Kong serves two main purposes; first, the delineation of town planning layouts, the setting out of public works and the boundaries of private lots and government sites, i.e. cadastral survey; and second, the production of plans and maps. To implement this policy there are two divisions, Hong Kong and Island Survey Division and Mainland Survey Division with the work of the branch as a whole being divided into the four main sections set out below.
Control Survey
This section is responsible for the provision and maintenance of a rigid frame- work of fixed points on both vertical and horizontal planes on which all surveys are based, viz triangulation stations, traverse stations and level datum bench marks.