general. The Committee held four meetings during the months of February and March 1964, mainly in connexion with the proposed new procedure for speeding up the handling of applications for the Registrar General's consent to agreements for sale of units in uncompleted sub-divided buildings as mentioned in paragraph 45.
60. From time to time the Land Office issues Circular Memoranda to all Solicitors on matters of land policy and Land Office practice. During the year four such Memoranda, being Nos. 15 to 18 in the series, were issued. New Solicitors are supplied with back numbers on request.
Crown Rents
61. At the earliest land sales following the foundation of the Colony, bidding took place according to the amount of rent offered. Since 1851, however, bidding has been according to the amount of premium offered, the rent being fixed at a moderate 'zone rent' arbitrarily determined according to the district in which the lot lies. It is interesting to note that a century ago land rents amounted to nearly half of the Colony's revenue, and that even 70 years ago they amounted to over 10 per cent of the Revenue. Now, they amount to under one half per cent! In many cases the annual value of a piece of land is now hundreds of times greater than the Crown rent being charged for it.
62. Tables VI and VII give details of the numbers of lots on the Principal and Village Rent Rolls. The number of lots on the Principal Rent Roll increased by 783 to 21,967, and the total Crown rent by $290,595.34 to $2,983,853.44. The principal increases were of 134 Inland Lots on Hong Kong Island, 195 Kowloon Inland Lots, 191 New Kowloon Inland Lots, and 130 Kwun Tong Inland Lots. The increased number of lots was due partly to new sales, partly to the splitting of large lots into smaller lots.
63. The number of lots on the Village Rent Roll continued slowly to dwindle, the total of 1,301 being five less than last year. The remaining lots produce only $1,015.64 per annum, most of the rents being less than $1. In order to reduce the cost of collection, Demand Notes for rents of less than $5 per annum are now issued every five years instead of annually. The next five-yearly collection will be for the five years ending 30th September 1964.
64. The Crown rents of 240 sections of lots were determined under the Crown Rents (Apportionment) Ordinance (Cap. 125). Applications under this Ordinance may be made either by the owner of the Remaining
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