Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1962-1963 — Page 11

Hall Registry was the scene of 226 more marriages than took place in the principal Registry in 1961-62, when, until 17th March 1962, it was situated in the Supreme Court Building. The decline in the total of Registry marriages was in fact due to a drop in the number performed at the Mong Kok Registry from 5,493 to 4,766. It appears that one reason for the decline is that the lunar year ending on 24th January 1963 was believed not to be a lucky one for marriages, being a 'blind' year, that is to say a lunar year in which there is no first day of Spring, the first day of Spring in 1962 occurring before the lunar year began and the first day of Spring in 1963 occurring after 24th January 1963.

13. The number of births registered in 1962 reached a new high record total of 111,905, 3,179 more than the previous year and 1,238 more than the former record total of 110,667 registered in 1960. The birth rate has dropped to 32.8 per thousand as against 34.2 last year. There is however no true comparison between the rates since the 1962 rate is calculated on the estimated mid-year population of 3,409,700, which includes the major influx of immigrants in May 1962. As the age and sex composition of the immigrants is not known, there is no means of telling what their birth rate was. No firm conclusion may therefore be drawn that there has been a true decline in the birth rate in the sense that women were having fewer babies.

14. Deaths registered totalled 20,324, the highest figure since 1958. This was 1,586 more than in 1961, but owing to the increase in the population the crude death rate remained the same, namely 5.9 per thousand. This was the first time since 1951 that the crude death rate has not shown a decline.

Revenue

15. Thanks mainly to the boom in new company registrations and to substantial increases in the nominal capitals of old companies, the grand total of the Department's contribution to the Colony's revenue for 1962-63 jumped to $5,111,816, exceeding the estimate for the year by $1,470,000, and last year's total by very nearly the same sum. Details are given in Table XXXV. On the other hand the Department spent only $2,323,981 as against the estimate of $2,531,200, saving $70,000 on Personal Emoluments and $83,000 on Rent. Owing to increasing congestion in the Department's main offices in the Central Government Offices, plans had been made to move the Companies and Trade Marks Registries into rented accommodation, but when it became known that additional accommodation was likely to become available

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