Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1962-1963 — Page 19

for such consent were received, and 206 (including 10 1961-62 applica- tions) were approved on certain conditions. Two applications were withdrawn and 89 were pending at the end of the year. Delays in dealing with applications were unavoidable owing to the acute shortage of legal staff, and it was found necessary to institute a priority system under which applications are dealt with strictly according to their turn. In practice the delays in the Land Office do not always affect developers, who generally submit their applications early while site formation and piling are still in progress. Owing to the considerable amount of time and trouble involved in dealing with such applications, it was decided to charge a fee of $1,000 for each case when the lot is held under Conditions of Sale. This charge became effective as from 31st August 1962, and during the rest of 1962-63 33 fees of $1,000 each were collected for the Registrar General's consents to agreements for sale.

Modification of Lease Covenants

36. Before the war many lots were sold with height and other restrictions which are, under the changed conditions of modern Hong Kong, no longer considered necessary. There are therefore many cases in which Government is prepared to grant modifications of the original restrictions on terms usually including the payment of an additional premium. During the year 96 applications for modifications were received, 39 fewer than in 1961-62. Most of the modifications were wanted to enable the lessee to build blocks of flats. Any questions arising out of the applications are normally discussed and decided at the meetings mentioned in paragraph 32.

37. There was also a decline from 28 to 7 in the number of New Territories modification cases on which the Land Office gave advice to the New Territories Administration.

New Territories Section

38. It has always been the practice for the New Territories Adminis- tration to refer various land matters to the Land Office for legal advice or in the interests of maintaining uniformity of practice with that prevailing in the urban areas. As the tempo of development in the New Territories has increased so have the numbers of cases referred to the Land Office, and in order that these cases might be more expeditiously disposed of a New Territories Section of the Registrar General's Department was on 13th November 1962 established in the New Territories Administration Headquarters on the fourth floor of the North Kowloon Magistracy Building. This Section was staffed by a

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