exception of those in Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long, registered by District Registrars who call at the Rural Committee Offices in the various dis- tricts according to a regular programme, and deaths are reported to local police stations. In addition to the above, three mobile teams operate in the New Territories dealing with applications for post- registration of births. Table XXI shows the present organization of the Registry.
103. A new combined Births and Marriage Registry was opened on 1st May 1962 on the first floor of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building in Yuen Long. The new Registry provides full-time registra- tion facilities for the whole of the Yuen Long area, which was previ- ously served by a mobile team operating part-time in the Yuen Long District Office and various Rural Committee Offices. On the day prior to the opening the Registrar General held a tea party at the Registry for members of the Rural Committee which had up to that date kindly granted the use of their offices for the registration of births by the peripatetic District Registrar. It is pleasing to record that although the establishment of the new Registry means that villagers have to make the journey to Yuen Long to register births instead of being able to do so at their Rural Committee Office, the new Registry has received the full support of the rural community, the members of which no doubt appreciate the spacious, air conditioned comfort of the Registry.
Population
104. According to the 1961 Census the population of the Colony on 7th March 1961 was 3,133,131 including 3,483 persons classified as transients. Since then the estimated population has risen as follows:
Mid-year 1961 End year 1961 Mid-year 1962
End year 1962
...
3,184,300 3,226,400
3,409,700
3,526,500
Since the natural increase in the population in 1962, being the number by which the registered births exceeded the registered deaths in that year, was 90,581 it would seem that the number of immigrants, legal and illegal, in 1962 is estimated at over 200,000. The normal steady flow of such immigrants swelled to a flood in May 1962, and this re- sulted in special measures being taken to prevent illegal immigration. Such, however, is the pull of Hong Kong's prosperity that the flow, though checked to some extent, continued, adding significantly to the Colony's population problems.
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