final award the amount of the award and interest accrued thereon constitute, until they are paid, a charge on the property in favour of The Colonial Treasurer Incorporated in trust for the persons entitled to the compensation and interest. During the year The Colonial Treasurer Incorporated as chargee exercised his statutory power of sale in respect of seventeen properties comprising 13,750 sq. ft. at prices totalling $1,059,500.
Sales by Mortgagees
58. For the past four years the Land Office has kept records of advertisements published of sales of land by mortgagees in exercise of their power of sale. The numbers of cases advertised were as follows:
Whole Lots/Sections
Undivided Shares
1965-66
1966-67 1967-68
...
1968-69
:
Urban
New Territories
Urban
New Territories
76
32
71
5
77
24
119
1
76
16
118
5
64*
17
71
1
* Includes 35 by order of The Colonial Treasurer Incorporated as chargee under the Demolished
Buildings (Re-development of Sites) Ordinance.
Card Indexes of Owners and Mortgagees
59. 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 1969 there were 161,722 landowners (excluding mortgagees), an increase of 15,646 over the previous year's total. Many of these own several properties, many simply a small undivided share in a property coupled with the right to a flat. Table VIII shows the growth of the number of landowners (excluding mortgagees) by more than 110,000 from 47,926 in 1959-60 to 161,722 in 1968-69. 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.
60. 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
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