16. 16,894 marriages were registered under the Marriage Ordinance, 952 less than the record total of 17,846 in the previous year. However, in 2,350 cases out of the 16,894 the couples had previously been married to each other by customary ceremonies of one kind or another, so that the number of 'new' marriages was really 14,544, a drop of 1,785 from last year's figure of 16,329. The year's total comprised 1,547 marriages at 128 licensed places of worship and 15,347 marriages at Marriage Registries. In addition to these registered marriages there will have been many thousands of non-Christian customary marriages celebrated according to the personal law and religion of the parties. No records of such customary marriages are available, but it is estimated that there may have been about three of these for every four registered marriages. So far as registered marriages are concerned the trend for girls to marry younger lost momentum slightly with a drop of 468 to 4,094 in the number of girls marrying under 21. There was a small decrease of 116 to 1,064 in the number of marriages performed in New Territories Registries. This is almost five times as many as in 1960-61 when the Registries were opened.
17. 19,644 deaths were registered, 944 more than in 1966 and the highest number since 1963. This resulted in a .1 rise in the crude death rate to 5.1 per 1,000 of population, which is probably the lowest in the world, and compares with an estimated 10 in Europe, 17 in Asia, and 14 in the World (see paragraph 159). The infant mortality rate rose .7 to 25.6 per 1,000 live births, breaking for only the second time a downward trend since 1950, when the rate was 99.6.
Revenue and Expenditure
18. As compared with 1966-67 the grand total of the Department's contribution to the revenue of the Colony was down by $1,166,588 to $3,985,833, this being due mainly to a drop of $995,000 in Companies registration fees because of the continuing trend towards registering with a smaller nominal capital, and a drop of $197,000 in Land Office fees as a result of the substantial drop in the number of instruments regis- tered. These drops were to some extent offset by increases of $34,000, $26,000 and $11,000 in the Births and Deaths Registries, the Official Receiver's Office and the Trade Marks Registry respectively, but receipts were also lower in the Marriage Registry. As compared with the approved estimates, total revenue fell short by $800,000. The full State- ment of Revenue is set out in Table III.
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