three years, all such deeds, etc., which are not registered shall, as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration, be absolutely null and void. No notice, actual or con- structive, of any prior unregistered instrument affects the priority of any duly registered instrument. Legally the system is one of registration of deeds and not of title; but in view of the above provisions instru- ments relating to land are always registered promptly after execution, and the Land Registers show the devolution of title to each property and all incumbrances on it. The result is that in practice the system is regarded as virtually equivalent to registration of title.
4. Among the other functions of the Land Officer are the checking and registration of Conditions of Sale, Grant, and Exchange of Crown Land, the issue, renewal, variation and termination of Crown leases, the granting of Mining Leases, and advising the Government generally on matters relating to land.
Deeds Registration
5. Table II shows the numbers of instruments registered for each year since 1951-52; Table III, the numbers of instruments registered by categories for each year since 1956-57; and Table IV, the total con- siderations in the principal categories for each year since 1951-52.
6. The building boom of the past few years gathered momentum in 1960-61 and there was tremendous activity in the property market. Encouraged by quick and easy profits obtained from the construction of blocks of flats for sale as individual units, property owners, land development companies, and land brokers were all seeking fresh land to develop. As a result the price of land of all descriptions and in all localities soared higher and higher as the year progressed, and every- where throughout the Colony people were busy demolishing old (and some not so old) three and four storey buildings and replacing them with huge, towering blocks of flats, many of which had been sold before the pile drivers had ceased to pound the site. That this practice is attended by a grave risk was illustrated by the sad fate of the pur- chasers of flats in Peony House West Block referred to in Part VIII of this Report, where the developing company was unable to complete the building, and the purchasers had to contribute a further 30% of the agreed purchase price to complete the building and save their original investment. This case, however, did not give more than a temporary jolt to the confidence of flat purchasers, and the practice of buying, and paying substantial deposits on, flats in the air soon revived in full
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