ANNUAL REPORT
PART I-LAND OFFICE.
Registration.
1. The total of instruments registered pursuant to the Land Registration Ordinance was 6,779. Of these 2,702 represented Assignments as against 2,855 Assignments registered in the previous year, and 1,629 in 1946/47, but the total consideration on such Assignments was $155,597,001.77 as compared with $143,640,294.72 in 1947/48, $64,441,664.07 in 1946/47 and $23,236,495.71 in 1939.
2. There was a considerable increase in the number of Mortgages registered, there being a total of 1,680 as against 1,348 in 1947/48. The total amount involved in these Mortgages was $115,410,875.00 as compared with a total of $72,276,730.00 in 1947/48 and $41,012,489.00 in 1946/47.
3. The total consideration in respect of Sales, Mortgages and all other instruments registered was $314,678,956.77 as com- pared with $253,562,305.21 in the previous year, an increase of $61,116,651.77. In 1939 the total consideration in respect of all transactions registered in the Land Office was under $50,000,000.00.
4. The totals of instruments registered in the last ten years for which records are available are shown in Table I and cate- gorical and monthly analyses appear in Tables II & III.
Crown Leases.
5. In view of heavy pressure of other work and the difficulties of obtaining sufficient qualified legal staff the work of the pre- paration and issue of Crown Leases came almost to a standstill in the years immediately following the re-occupation of the Colony with the result that a very heavy accumulation now exists. Satisfactory arrangements for resuming the work were recently concluded as a result of which it is hoped that the number of Crown Leases issued each month will be substantially increased. In the year under review 86 Crown Leases were issued as compared with 6 in the previous year, the fees collected under this head being $10,045.00 as compared with $360.00 in the previous year. Particulars of these are shown at Tables IV and V and the totals for the last ten years (for which figures are available) are shown in Table I.
Exemptions from the Moratorium.
6. The restrictions imposed by the Moratorium against transactions affecting land which had been dealt with during the period of the Japanese occupation were lifted as from 1.12.48 and Table X shows the number of applications received during 1948/49 up to that date, the number of lots or sections of lots involved and the totals in respect of all applications received since the re-occupation of the Colony. In the second part of this Table