Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1955-1956 — Page 11

Fees

13. Land Office fees, excluding fees collected in the District Land Offices, amounted to $385,197, yet another record figure.

14. The New Territories Land Registration fees amounted to $38,209.40, in addition to which Crown lease fees totalling $60 were received.

Crown Rents

15. The number of lots on the Principal Rent Roll, includ- ing for the first time Shek O Headland Lots let on five year leases, increased by 426 in the year to 16,251 and the total of Crown rents on the Annual Rent Roll by $80,284.50 to $1,487,800.93. Table IV

Table IV gives particulars by localities, the principal increases being 111 Inland Lots (Hong Kong) and 27 Marine Lots on Hong Kong Island, and 137 Kowloon Inland Lots and 87 New Kowloon Inland Lots on the mainland.

16. The number of lots included in the Village Rent Roll summarized in Table V has dwindled further to 1,802, 11 less than in 1954/55. The total Crown rent for the Village Lots is now only $1,179.50.

17. The Crown rents of 240 sections of lots were deter- mined under the Crown Rents (Apportionment) Ordinance (Cap. 125), the fees for which amounted to $3,228. 20 years have now elapsed since the Ordinance was passed on 31st January, 1936, and reference to such records as are available discloses that the Crown rents of over 3,000 sections have been determined under its provisions. That its usefulness is by no means spent is demonstrated by the fact that every year there is a steady stream of applications for determination of Crown rent. Applications may be made either by the owner of the Remaining Portion of a lot, in which case the rents of all the sections are determined, or by a Section owner, in which case the rent of his section only is determined, the Crown rent of the remainder of the lot being reduced correspondingly. Upon determination of the rent of his section, the owner is deemed to hold the section as if a separate Crown lease for it had been granted to him at the determined rent.

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