174. Mr. J. C. MCPETRIE, C.M.G., O.B.E., Legal Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, visited the Department on 23rd November 1964, and met all legal officers.
175. Mr. S. R. SIMPSON, C.B.E., Land Tenure Adviser to the Ministry of Overseas Development, visited the Land Office on 11th December 1964, and was shown the system of registration of deeds, including the new card registration system for sub-divided buildings.
Staff
176. Table II lists the holders, both substantive and acting, of the principal appointments in the Department during the year. Recruitment of legal officers continued to be very difficult, and although the Depart- ment succeeded in recruiting three Legal Assistants on contract—Messrs. J. GILMARTIN, an Irish Solicitor, and D. E. PLATTS, an English Solicitor, and Miss H. V. M. COGAN, an Australian Barrister and Solicitor, it still had four legal vacancies at the end of the year. Like the Judiciary and the Legal Department the Registrar General's Department has great difficulty in recruiting and retaining local lawyers, who find private practice much more remunerative. In fact, the Department lost its only local officer, Mr. E. G. SouSAE, on 4th November 1964, when he left to become a partner in a local firm of solicitors.
177. Mr. I. A. REID was promoted Senior Legal Assistant and Mr. SHAM Fai Senior Assistant Registrar with effect from 1st January 1965 and 19th November 1964 respectively.
178. The Department was fortunate in having two of its officers' names in the 1965 New Year's Honours List, Mr. W. K. THOMSON, the Registrar General, receiving the O.B.E., and Mr. MAN Chong-sung of the General Clerical Service, Special Class, an Honorary M.B.E. Mr. MAN, who had been with the Department for over 33 years was on 24th December 1964 prior to his proceeding on pre-retirement leave presented with a television set as a token of the esteem and affection in which he was held by his colleagues.
Photographic Section
179. The Department has a Photographic Section equipped with a Photostat machine Model 4 Type P, capable of copying plans, documents, registers, etc. up to four feet by three feet in size, a Verifax copier capable of taking up to six foolscap copies from one matrix, and a Rank Xerox 914 Copier copying documents, etc. up to 9 inches by 14 inches. The
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