termination of Crown leases, the granting of Mining Leases, and advising the Government generally on matters relating to land. The District Land Offices in the New Territories are separately administered by the District Commissioner New Territories as Assistant Land Officer. Accordingly, the figures given in the following paragraphs do not include figures in respect of land in the New Territories registered in the District Land Offices.
General Review
19. A general review of conditions in the Property Market and their effect on the work of the Land Office is given in Part I in paragraph 3 to 8.
Deeds Registration
20. Under the Land Registration Ordinance the Land Office is responsible for the registration of deeds and other instruments relating to land in Hong Kong, Kowloon, portions of New Kowloon, and a few lots in the New Territories which have been exempted from the provisions of Part II of the New Territories Ordinance. The Ordinance provides that all such deeds, etc., so registered shall have priority according to the priority of their respective dates of registration, and that with the exception of bona fide leases at rack rents for any term not exceeding three years, all such deeds, etc., which are not registered shall, as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration, be absolutely null and void. No notice, actual or constructive, of any prior unregistered instrument affects the priority of any duly registered instrument. Where, however, deeds etc. are registered within one month of execution, if executed in the Colony, or, if executed elsewhere, within twelve months of execution, they take priority according to the respective dates thereof. Legally the system is one of registration of deeds and not of title; but in view of the above provisions instruments relating to land are always registered promptly after execution, and the Land Registers show the devolution of title to each property and all incumbrances on it.
21. Table IV shows the number of instruments registered in each year since 1959-60; Table V, the numbers of instruments by categories in each year since 1964-65; and Table VI, the total considerations in the principal categories for each year since 1959-60.
22. A new record number of 50,015 instruments was registered in 1968-69, 6,712 (15.5%) more than the 1967-68 total, and 240 more than
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