CO129-615-6 Royal Institute of International Affairs- paper on future of Hong Kong 30-12-1947 - 8-1-1948 — Page 15

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Kong. The same does not hold good in the small area

known as the "New Territories" leased by China to

Britain, for defensive purposes, in 1898 for a period

of 99 years. Here every attempt was made to accommodate

the new regime to the existing organization of the

village communities, subject always to the overriding

validity of the laws of the Colony. It is suggested

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that the New Territories Registration Ordinance might

profitably be studied in detail, particularly as

regards the registration of landed property and the

exceptional powers of the local Land Officer. The

existing title deeds when the territory was taken

over were often obscure, and the task of the early

Land Court to give them legal form was a heavy one;

but it is probably on some such lines that China

will have to proceed if her vast agricultural area

is to be brought into some conformity with modern

legal usage.