I
2
number of Crown Leases issued during each of the last ten years for which figures are available is shown in Table I and Table VI gives the totals of Crown Leases fees collected in those years.
Surrenders.
Q
40 Deeds of Surrender affecting a total of 55 lots were registered as compared with 18 Deeds affecting 22 lots in 1948/49. The total consideration paid being $20,799.00 as against $76,746.00 in the previous year.
Fees.
The aggregate amount of Land Office fees collected (exclu- sive of fees collected in the District Land Office of the New Territories) amounted to the record figure of $220,833.00 repre- senting an increase of approximately 23% on the previous year's record total of $179,533.60, and 132% over the 1939 total of $94,832.00. The pre-war table of Land Office fees was amended (with effect from 30th July, 1948) by the Land Regis- tration (Fees Amendment), Ordinance, 1948, which authorized higher fees in certain cases.
paid, by months and by main cate- For purposes of comparison Table collected during the last ten years
An analysis of the fees gories is given in Table V. VI shows the totals of fees for which figures are available.
In the New Territories Land Registration fees amounted to $61,168.70 as compared with $53,717.50 in the previous year. Crown Lease fees totalled $90, and the aggregate amount of Stamp duty paid on documents there was $278,069.
Stamp Duties.
The total amount of Stamp Duties paid on instruments re- gistered was $5,457,563.05, a decline of 31% from the previous year's figure of $7,940,678.44, and of 43% from the 1947/48 record total of $9,644,078.21. This compares with $269,869 in 1939. This decrease as compared with the two previous years is attributable (a) to the fact that the Excess Stamp Duty on land sales under the Stamp Ordinance 1946 in force up to September, 1948 which had been 10 per cent was re- duced to three per cent by the Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance 1948 which also provided that the excess duty should not be pay- able upon property which had already borne the excess Stamp duty payable under the earlier enactment, and that the amend- ments made by the Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance, 1948, (the effect of which was explained also in last year's Report) were in force throughout the whole year as compared with only seven