Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1962-1963 — Page 39

for the lunar year happened to be an unpopular 'blind' year as ex- plained in paragraph 12. Nevertheless the extent of the drop was very disappointing, and it is evident that much remains to be done in the way of instruction and persuasion before the majority of the poorer people are won over to Registry marriages. Some encouragement may however be derived from the fact that marriages in the New Territories Registries rose by 86 to 436.

Fees

100. The Marriage Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order,

1963, introduced a new Table of Fees with effect from 1st March 1963. Under this while the principal fee of $10 for a marriage in the office of the Registrar remained unaltered, the fee for a notice of marriage was increased from $1 to $2. At the same time the $1 fee payable for the Registrar's certificate of notice given was abolished, so that the total fees normally payable for a Registry marriage remained unchanged at $12. The object of this change was to cut down clerical work by typing the certificate simultaneously with the copy notice for exhibition. With the same object the prescribed declarations made prior to civil marriages were printed on the back of the Registrar's certificates. in such a way that the names and addresses of the parties do not have to be repeated unnecessarily in longhand. Among the other changes made in the fees were increases from $60 to $100 in the fee for the Registrar's certificate issued after less than 15 days' notice and from $150 to $400 in the fee for a special licence by the Governor.

101. The fees collected during the year totalled $134,805, some $6,000 down from the previous year's total particulars are given in Table XX.

General

PART VII

BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRY

102. The registration of births and deaths is compulsory under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174). A network of District Registries has been established in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. Besides the General Register Office at Li Po Chun Chambers, 92-97 Connaught Road Central, there are now ten District Registries on Hong Kong Island, four in Kowloon, one at Tsuen Wan and one at Yuen Long. In the New Territories births are, with the

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