Marriage Registries at Farm Road, Kowloon, Kwun Tong and Tai Po, and a 'part-time' Registry at Sai Kung. Birth registration facilities were also improved by the opening of the Kwun Tong and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Registries and the move of the Tai Po Registry to new premises. 14. The number of births registered in 1963 rose by 3,358 over the 1962 figure to 115,263 including 113,720 Chinese and 1,543 non-Chinese. More than two-thirds of this increase was accounted for by the overall increase of 2,369 in the New Territories. The year's birth rate of 32.1 per 1,000 was 0.7 down from the 1962 rate. 6,475 births were post-registered in 1963-64 more than one year after birth as compared with 7,124 in 1962-63. In 1963-64 the number of adoptions registered dropped by 52 to 121.
15. 12,700 marriages were registered, of which 11,262 were civil marriages performed at the Registries, and 1,438 church marriages. These totals exceeded the previous year's figures by 1,513 and 189 respec- tively.
16. In spite of the increase in population over the year from 3,526,500 to 3,642,500 the number of deaths in 1963 was at 19,748, 576 less than in 1962, and the crude death rate per thousand dropped accordingly from 5.9 to 5.5. The infant mortality rate showed a further gratifying drop of 4 full points from 36.9 to 32.9 per thousand live births.
Revenue and Expenditure
17. The grand total of the Department's contribution to the Colony's revenue in 1963-64 was $5,158,056, which was a new record total ex- ceeding the previous year's total by $46,000. The approved estimated revenue for the year had been $4,589,300, but thanks to the continued booms in land transactions and company registrations the Land Office and Company Registry fees exceeded the estimates for these branches by $128,000 and $410,000 respectively. Details of the Department's revenue are given in Table XXXIX.
18. Once again the Department spent substantially less than the year's estimate, the total of $2,690,288 being $354,000 below the estimate. $262,000 was saved on Personal Emoluments, mainly owing to the slow recruitment of legal staff. The other principal savings were in Stores and Equipment ($19,000), Rent ($12,000) and Travelling Expenses ($11,000). Of course, the $2,690,288 spent does not by any means repre- sent the total cost of the Department. To arrive at that one would have to add the cost of the Government accommodation occupied and a sum representing the value of pensions and other 'fringe' benefits. On the
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