General
PART IX
BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRY
63. The registration of births and deaths is compulsory under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174). During the year, facilities for registration were further improved by the establishment of two additional district registries, one at the Tung Wah Hospital and the other at the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital. Besides the General Register Office which is situated on the second floor of Li Po Chun Chambers, 92-97, Connaught Road, Central, there are now ten district registries on Hong Kong Island and four in Kowloon. In the New Territories, births are registered by district registrars who call at the Rural Committee Offices in the various districts according to a regular programme, and deaths are reported to local police stations. Since February 1959, a mobile team has been in operation in the New Territories dealing with applications for post-registration of births. Table XIX shows the present organization of the Registry.
Births and Deaths Registered
64. During 1958, 106,624 births and 20,554 deaths were registered as compared with 97,834 births and 19,365 deaths in 1957. The births figure has increased every year since the war, and the total for 1958 was the highest ever recorded in Hong Kong. Table XX shows the numbers of births and deaths registered during the years 1946 to 1958.
Post-registration of Births
65. During the year 1958/59, 2,036 births were post-registered with the consent of the Registrar given under Section 9(3) of the Ordinance. Of these, 1,076 (53%) were in respect of births in the New Territories where no facilities for registration were available until 1932, and the facilities then provided were by no means fully used before the war. There has therefore been for many years a constant flow of applications for post-registration in the New Territories, and the District Officers of the New Territories Administration have rendered valuable assistance in dealing with these applications. However the work involved has in recent years increased to such an extent that it has been found necessary to form a mobile team which will ultimately relieve the District Officers
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