1.6.1. Magazine (hazazi's
в
now the oldest Ordinance on the Colony's statute book, was enacted to 'provide for the registration of deeds, conveyances, wills and judg- ments affecting real or immovable property'. At first the Land Office formed part of the Surveyor General's Department, but on 16th June 1883 the Office was transferred to the Supreme Court Building in Queen's Road Central, and the Registrar of the Supreme Court became Land Officer with a Deputy Land Officer to assist him. The Land Officer became an independent post on 1st January 1902, and remained independent until on 1st April 1949 the post was merged in that of Registrar General.
4. The Land Office was exceedingly fortunate in that its records survived the Japanese occupation virtually intact, a circumstance which has been, attributed to the reverence in which documents relating to land are held by the Japanese, though no doubt this motive was fortified by the practical utility of the records for the purpose of estab- lishing the ownership of all property in the Colony. Among the pre-war records that survived the occupation are copies maintained by the Land Office of Secretariat files going as far back as 1855. These will no doubt some day provide a mine of information to future social and economic historians, and in the meantime the simplicity of the problems and the brevity, if not the orthography, of the minutes, excite the envy and admiration of latter-day Land Officers. A few years after the war a catalogue of the subjects of these files was prepared, many of which sound most intriguing and some slightly improbable, e.g. Opium farm, Tenders for (1894), Lease of One Tree Island (1898) Devil's Peak-Erection of boathouse and slipway at (1906), Chinese Public Motunity Hospital (1907), Bathing at North Point Beach (1910), and Golf Course Crown Land between Nathan and Middle Roads, on permit (1930). During the year several photographic copies were taken of the catalogue, and copies distributed to the Secretariat, Public Works Department and New Territories Administration. Many refer- ences are made in the files to clubs and institutions, and any body seeking information as to its early history ought to inquire whether these old files throw any light upon it.
Functions
1
5. Under the Land Registration Ordinance (Cap. 128) the Land Office is responsible for the registration of deeds and other instruments relating to land in Hong Kong, Kowloon, portions of New Kowloon, and a few lots in the New Territories which have been exempted from
•
2