Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1957-1958 — Page 40

PART IX

BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRY

63. The responsibility for the registration of births and deaths was transferred from the Medical Department to the Registrar General's Department on 1st April, 1957, when the Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment) and the Registrar General (Establishment) (Amendment) Ordinances, 1957, came into operation.

64. Following upon the transfer of the Registry some reorganization took place, and additional district registries were established to enable members of the public to register births and deaths nearer their homes. There are now eight district registries on Hong Kong Island and four in Kowloon. In the New Territories, births are registered by district registrars who call at the Rural Committee Offices in the various districts according to a regular programme, and deaths are reported to local police stations. Table XIX shows the present organization of the Registry.

Births and Deaths Registered

65. Registration of births and deaths is compulsory under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174). During 1957, 97,834 births and 19,365 deaths were registered as compared with 96,746 births and 19,295 deaths in 1956. Table XX shows the numbers of births and deaths registered during the years 1946 to 1957.

Post-registration of Births

66. During the year 1957/58, 3,267 births were post-registered with the consent of the Registrar given under Section 9(3) of the Ordinance. Of these 3,267 post-registrations, 1,953 (or 60%) were in respect of births in the New Territories where no facilities for registration were available until 1932, and the facilities then provided were by no means fully used before the war. The consequence is that most people born in the New Territories before the war have to post-register their births if they want a birth certificate, which they frequently do in order to obtain a passport and employment overseas. In fact, most of the 1,953 New Territories post-registrations were in respect of births of persons now over twenty one.

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