Miscellaneous
193. In June 1963 the Registrar General, Mr. W. K. THOMSON, gave two talks on Radio Hong Kong on the work of the Department in the series, 'The Government and the People'. The talks were repeated on the Chinese wavelengths by Mr. S. S. TAN. The Registrar General also addressed the Society of Chinese Accountants and Auditors at their Golden Jubilee Dinner on 1st November 1963.
Social and Welfare
194. The Annual Departmental Dinner was held at the Café de Chine on 4th December 1963 when 142 members of the staff including a sprinkling of wives enjoyed both the dinner and the preliminary mah jong, Russian poker, and other games. Contrary to custom there were two speeches because the opportunity was taken to present the retiring Senior Assistant Registrar, Mr. S. A. FOWLER, with his retirement gifts.
195. An informal Christmas Eve party was held in the Land Office, on which members of all other branches converged in the afternoon to exchange Christmas greetings in an atmosphere of general jollification. Finally, as in previous years, the legal officers, Assistant Registrars and Executive Officers met for lunch together every three or four months.
196. The Department has a Charitable and Benevolent Fund sup- ported by voluntary contributions from members of the staff of the rank of Class I clerk and above. No levy was made during the year, but miscellaneous income produced $60.80. An interest-free loan was made to a messenger, and duly repaid. $288.40 was applied towards a deficit on the Departmental Dinner and $20 to repairs of the radiogram in the Amenities Room. At the end of the year the balance on hand amounted to $605.40.
Acknowledgments
197. To anyone who has had the patience to read thus far it will be sufficiently evident that the Department was throughout the year operating at full pressure and under considerable strain. No one deplores the delays which occurred in certain sections more than the writer of this Report, who when he leafs over the Land Office files of pre-war years when files were thin and minutes if not exactly monosyllabic were often monolinear, cannot but envy the lot of his predecessors. The public may, however, be assured that every effort was made to keep the delays within bounds, and to that end many officers at all levels did an enormous amount of hard work and overtime. To these officers I, and the public
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