feet; and eight in respect of lots in the New Territories totalling 1,021,433 square feet.
Card Index of Owners and Mortgagees
61. Besides complete card indexes to all lots and sections of lots, the Land Office maintains an index, not open to the public, of all persons registered as the owner or mortgagee of land in the Colony. According to this, on 31st March 1965 there were 97,781 landowners (excluding mortgagees). Many of these own several properties, many simply a small undivided share in a property coupled with the right to a flat. In a sample study of 2,000 index cards, 500 each from the landowners bearing the Chinese surnames Chan, Cheung, Li and Wong, it was revealed that 33% of these own one property; 10% more than one prop- erty; 48% one flat; and 9% more than one flat. Table VI shows the growth of the number of landowners (excluding mortgagees) since 1959–60. The figures, however, cannot be taken as completely accurate since it is possible that the holdings of two people with identical names, both in Romanized form and in Chinese characters, may be on the same card,
Safe Custody of Deeds, Wills, etc.
62. Under Section 22 of the Land Registration Ordinance deeds, wills, etc., may be deposited in the Land Office for safe custody. A fee of $15 is normally payable in respect of each document so deposited, but where two or more instruments relate to the same property the charge is $15 for the first instrument and $2 for each additional instru- ment. Thirty deposits were made during the year.
Liaison with Legal Profession
63. 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. 19 to 22 in the series, were issued. New Solicitors are supplied with back numbers on request.
Crown Rents
64. Tables VII and VIII 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 1,070 to 23,037, and the total Crown rent by $718,683 to $3,702,537. The principal increases were of 161 Inland Lots on Hong Kong Island, 390 Kowloon Inland Lots, 258 New Kowloon
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