569 at Sham Shui Po and 694 at Kwong Wah Hospital. In the New Territories decreases were recorded in all areas with a few unimportant exceptions.
167. 916 multiple births were registered in 1968, 910 of twins and 6 of triplets, producing altogether 1,838 liveborn babies. 94 births were registered as illegitimate, as compared with 83 in 1967. The births registered also included 18 foundlings.
Post-registration of Births
168. Owing to the absence of facilities for registration in the New Territories until 1932, very few births in the villages were registered before then. In that year facilities were provided for registration at various places in the New Territories, but a great many villagers still neglected to register the births of their children. Under modern condi- tions a birth certificate has, at least for the young, become practically essential, and for many years past there has been a constant flow of applications to post-register births in the New Territories. To deal with these, three mobile teams have been operating throughout the year, visiting outlying villages according to a regular programme.
169. During 1968-69, 2,193 births were post-registered more than one year after the date of birth, as follows:
Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon
New Territories;
Islands District
Sai Kung District
Tai Po District
Tsuen Wan District
Yuen Long District
Total
:
1,419
37
26
326
65
320
774
2,193
This total represented a drop of 280 compared with the 1967-68 total of 2,473. At one time there used to be long waiting lists of applicants, but the substantial reduction in the number of applications since the peak of 7,124 in 1962-63 has enabled the registration teams to reduce delays to the minimum required for the process of verification, and by 31st March 1969 the total number of applications on the waiting list for all districts, urban and rural, was only 64. Of these, 38 were in the urban area, and the remaining 26 in the New Territories.
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