the provisions of Part II of the New Territories Ordinance (Cap. 97). The Ordinance provides that all such deeds, etc., so registered shall have priority according to the priority of their respective dates of registration, and that with the exception of bona fide leases at rack rents for any term not exceeding 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 constructive, 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 instruments 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.
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6. Among the other functions of the Land Office 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.
The Property, Market
7. Although the cost of new building work on non-public buildings completed during the year did not reach the record figure attained in 1960-61, boom conditions continued to prevail in the real estate business. In fact, at least to outward view, there seemed to be more building in progress than ever before, and on all the main streets gaunt new buildings, sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, were springing skywards. There was undoubtedly some slackening in the demand for industrial land owing to the uncertainties induced by the Common Market talks and later by the restrictions imposed by United States and Canada on the import of certain classes of textiles from the Colony. Nevertheless in some areas demand for industrial land remained strong. One noteworthy development was the entering of investment companies into the market for industrial land with a view to constructing flatted factories for letting to small manufacturers.
8. In spite of the industrial uncertainties prices of land for residential and commercial purposes maintained the rising trend of recent years. This is due to the fact that even with land values at their present unprecedented levels handsome profits can still be made on
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