by the parties interested when there is, as commonly, a divided ownership in the soil, has still to be finally ascertained. It should be possible, however, in the near future when full materials are available to formulate general Rules which, if not unduly rigid, will be capable of general application.
15. As to the form of Titles it has been definitely decided that a Land Registry on the Torrens System is to be established for all land to the North of the Kowloon Watershed leaving New Kowloon under the Land Office in Hongkong. I have now in preparation a Draft Code to regulate Transfers and Mutations in Chinese Customary Land.
Results achieved.
16. The results achieved by the Land Court during the last 18 months may now be briefly recapitulat- ed as follows. The whole of the New Territory on the mainlaind exclusive of the Sai Kung Peninsula and of Ts'in Wan has been demarcated,) while each owner of land has a number ticket for every lot he claims to be his property. Over more than two-thirds of this area the claims have been already got in, and the balance should be in my hands within the next three months. The disputes in the outlying districts are relatively few in number, and several months of regular sittings will probably dispose of those already in my hands. The total number of claims received over the whole Territory up to 31st December last is 69,253. The total number of lots demarcated being 158,598. Eleven thousand three hundred and fifty (11,350) houses have been numbered to supplement those of the Survey Maps that have been plotted on a 16" scale. Rent Rolls of the Tai Pó District and again of Tung Chung and Mui Wo, which comprise the greater part of the cultivation in Lan Tao, are now being made out, and fresh districts will be proceeded with as soon as, to the materials now in my hands, are added the completed lot areas now under computation by the Cadastral Survey Staff.
STAFF.
17. The personnel of the Land Court was largely augmented during the year.
The native field staff was increased from 88 to 190 men; the establishment has been further strengthened by the appointment of an Additional Registrar (Mr. E. D. C. WOLFE); Deputy Registrar, (Mr. CHEUNG TSOI); and two Demarcation Officers-(Messrs. S. R. MOORE and A. J. MACKI) Mr. B. W. GREY was attached to the Court as Special Survey Officer during the greater part of the year.
In December, Mr. H. E. POLLOCK having resigned the post of President, I was appointed by the Governor as his successor, Mr. H. L. DENNYS, late Crown Solicitor, joining the Court to fill my place as Member of the Court. I must express my hearty thanks to Messrs. TATE and NEWLAND, the Officers.successively in charge of the Indian Survey, for their cordial co-operation and their unfailing readiness to assist in every detail of the difficult work of demarcation in a new country.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
H. H. J. GOMPERTZ, President, Land Court.
APPENDIX A.
DEMARCATION RULES.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
The object of Demarcation is to ascertain on the spot the exact position and area of each indivia holding in order that it may be recorded in the Survey Map and an appropriate Lot Number given to To this end it is important that all persons claiming lund should have full notice before Demarca
rommences.
Notices should be distributed in the adjacent villages for at least a week before beginning work c the 'emarcator and his coolies should go about and inform people that they must come forward and po. out their land.
The evening before Demarcation begins the area it is expected to cover on the following day should t marked out with tall bamboos surmounted with a red flag; these should be left standing, while the wor yoes on, to show the villagers on what land the Demarcator is working.
1. The Demarcation should start close up to the Boundary Line of a Survey District and wor along it, the lots being numbered consecutively from the commencement.