M 220
APPENDIX H.
REPORT OF THE REGISTRAR OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS.
The Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance of 1896, which up to 1911 applied only to the Colony Proper, was in the latter year extended to cover the New Territories.
Though applicable to the New Territories little action was taken to enforce compliance with the law until 1932 when the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services became Registrar. In the island of Cheung Chau and in the Police District of Tai O there were a considerable number of registrations but elsewhere in the New Territories there were very few and the Ordinance was more or less a dead letter.
In 1932 it was decided to make an attempt to persuade the inhabitants of the New Territories to comply with the law. The results of persuasion were negligible and it was therefore decided to prosecute for failure to comply. Prosecutions had the desired effect, and registration for the first time became the rule rather than the exception.
The paucity of registrations have up to date made it impossible to calculate death rates and birth rates for the New Territories, but such has been the success of the campaign that in 1934 it should be possible to compile the necessary statistics.
The machinery for the registration of births and deaths in Hong Kong is somewhat complicated and must be studied to be understood. There is a Registrar, and a number of Deputy Registrars. There is a general Registry Office at Medical Headquarters in Victoria. There are a number of District Registry Offices for the registration of Chinese deaths and a separate set of District Registry Offices for the registration of Chinese births. In the New Territories there are District Registrar Offices for Chinese births and deaths.
Chinese can register births and deaths in the districts in which they are living but non-Chinese whether in the New Territories, Kowloon, or on the island of Hong Kong, are obliged to register at the General Registry Office in Victoria.
Why there should be this distinction with regard to race is not clear and it is hoped to bring about a change in the law whereby all will be treated alike.
Death registration in the Colony Proper being a necessary preliminary to a permit to bury it may be taken for granted that practically all deaths are registered. Most deaths in the New Territories were not registered.
Page 585
Page 586
M 220
APPENDIX H.
REPORT OF THE REGISTRAR OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS.
The Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance of 1896, which up to 1911 applied only to the Colony Proper, was in the latter year extended to cover the New Territories.
Though applicable to the New Territories little action was taken to enforce compliance with the law until 1932 when the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services became Registrar. In the island of Cheung Chau and in the Police District of Tai O there were a considerable number of registrations but elsewhere in the New Territories there were very few and the Ordinance was more or less a dead letter.
In 1932 it was decided to make an attempt to persuade the inhabitants of the New Territories to comply with the law. The results of persuasion were negligible and it was therefore decided to prosecute for failure to comply. Prosecutions had the de- sired effect, and registration for the first time became the rule rather than the exception.
The paucity of registrations have up to date made it im- possible to calculate death rates and birth rates for the New Territories, but such has been the success of the campaign that in 1934 it should be possible to compile the necessary statistics.
The machinery for the registration of births and deaths in Hong Kong is somewhat complicated and must be studied to be understood. There is a Registrar, and a number of Deputy Registrars. There is a general Registry Office at Medical Head- quarters in Victoria. There are a number of District Registry Offices for the registration of Chinese deaths and a separate set of District Registry Offices for the registration of Chinese births. In the New Territories there are District Registrar Offices for Chinese births and deaths.
Chinese can register births and deaths in the districts in which they are living but non-Chinese whether in the New Territories, Kowloon, or on the island of Hong Kong, are obliged to register at the General Registry Office in Victoria.
Why there should be this distinction with regard to race is not clear and it is hoped to bring about a change in the law whereby all will be treated alike.
Death registration in the Colony Proper being a necessary preliminary to a permit to bury it may be taken for granted that practically all deaths are registered. Most deaths in the New Territories were not registered.
Page 585Page 586
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