at a licensed place of worship, or contracted as a civil marriage before a Deputy Registrar. Where he is satisfied that there are special circum- stances justifying his doing so, the Registrar may issue the certificate at any time within the fifteen days. Under Section 12 the Governor may, when he sees fit, grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether or with the certificate of the Registrar or with both. Such licences are given only in very special circumstances.
134. Notices of marriage are exhibited at the Registry where given and also at the principal Marriage Registry, to which records of all marriages are sent for permanent retention.
135. The Marriage Ordinance does not apply to non-Christian customary marriages duly celebrated according to the personal law and religion of the parties, and in spite of the rapid increase that has taken place in recent years in the number of marriages under the Ordinance, there are probably about as many unregistered marriages as registered. As mentioned in previous Reports the position with respect to these unregistered marriages is far from satisfactory, the great majority being of doubtful validity since they have been contracted not in accordance with the full traditional forms prescribed by Chinese custom, but in supposed conformity with Articles 980 to 988 of the Civil Code of the former Nationalist Government of China. There are also large numbers of irregular unions in which the two parties live together, have children, and are regarded by themselves and others as to all intents and purposes married. This unsatisfactory position continues to be a matter of concern to Government, but the problems raised are exceedingly difficult and Government has not yet completed its study of the problems and of the measures required to cope with them.
136. In the urban area two new full-time Marriage Registries were opened on 1st May 1963, one at Farm Road, Kowloon, in the premises of the Births and Deaths Registry there, and one at Kwun Tong in a combined Marriage and Births Registry which had been specially designed for use for marriages. These brought the number of full-time Marriage Registries functioning in the urban areas to five, the three others being the principal Marriage Registry at the City Hall, the principal Kowloon Registry at Mongkok, and the Causeway Bay Registry, the two former being capable of operating two marriage rooms simultaneously at rush periods. There are also two part-time Registries in the urban area, one at Aberdeen and one at Shau Kei Wan, but little use is made of them, and they are therefore open only two days a month.
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