ENG-1959 — Page 276

228

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

enables the marriage to be solemnized at a licensed place of worship, or to take place as a civil marriage before the Registrar. The Governor has the power in special circumstances to grant a licence authorizing a marriage to take place before the expiry of the fifteen-day period, or dispensing with notice altogether.

Notices of intended marriage are accepted, and civil marriages are performed, both at the main Marriage Registry in the Supreme Court Building in Hong Kong, where there are now two marriage rooms, and at the Kowloon Registry situated in the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building, Mong Kok.

The validity of Chinese customary marriages is not affected by the Marriage Ordinance, and such marriages do not require to be registered. Marriages under the Ordinance have, however, become popular with all classes of the Chinese population, the advantages of having an official certificate of marriage being now more widely appreciated. There has therefore for many years been a steady increase in the yearly total of registered marriages. In order to accelerate and assist this changing trend in public opinion plans have been made for the setting up of additional marriage registries, both in the urban areas and in the New Territories, in 1960 and the next few years.

The number of marriages registered in 1959 was 9,348, 1,712 more than in 1958. 3,960 marriages were performed at the main Registry, 4,484 at the Kowloon Registry, and the remaining 904 at licensed places of worship.

Births and Deaths. The registration of births and deaths is compulsory under the Births! and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Chapter 174). The General Register Office is situated in the centre of Victoria, and district registries are located where most needed throughout the Colony. In the outlying rural and island areas births are registered by district registrars calling regularly at the District Rural Committee Offices, and deaths are reported to the local police stations.

The year's statistics have revealed one remarkable and wholly unexpected feature: for the first time since the War there has been a decline in the number of births registered, the year's total of 104,579 being 2,045 less than that for 1958. The reasons for this decline are discussed in Chapter 2. In addition, there were 3,334 births registered more than one year after their occurrence,