Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1972-1973 — Page 73

215. The Department has a Photographic Section equipped with a Photostat machine Model 4 Type P, capable of copying plans, docu- ments, registers, etc. up to four feet by three feet in size, and a Rank Xerox 720 Copier for copying documents, etc. up to nine inches by fourteen inches. Requests for copies of documents continued to in- crease, and during the year 144,344 copies of documents etc. were made, as compared with 97,197 in the previous year. Most of the copies were made for the use of the Department and other Government Departments, but fees were collected in respect of copies of public records supplied to the public.

216. A Rank Xerox 813 Copier capable of making copies up to eight inches by thirteen inches is installed in the principal Marriage Registry at the City Hall for copying marriage certificates. During the year 8,838 copies of marriage certificates were made, most of which were supplied to the public on payment of the prescribed fees.

217. The Department also has a Microfilm Unit which undertakes microfilming work for the various registries and sub-registries primarily to establish secondary records for security purposes against loss or damage. During the year the Unit microfilmed 1,900 new trade mark certificates of registration and 3,944 trade mark alterations. The Unit also completed the microfilming of more than 14,692 pages of births and deaths registration records, which were mounted on indexed aperture cards to facilitate searching and viewing. Current pages of registration records are microfilmed by a mobile team which makes regular fortnightly visits to all registries including those in the New Territories. These microfilm records are deposited in the General Register Office, where all records of births and deaths in the Colony are centralized. More than 120,000 marriage certificates were placed on microfilm during the year, and by the end of the year over 56,000 Land Office memorials had been recorded in this manner.

Social and Welfare

218. The Department has a Charitable and Benevolent Fund supported by voluntary contributions from members of the staff of the rank of Clerical Officer I and above, but no levy has been made since 1962-63. During the year expenses incurred in recreational activities were subsidized from this Fund and at the end of the year the amount of the Fund was $1,844. In addition, Government operates a Service- wide scheme under which staff welfare funds are allocated to Depart- ments-

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