ENG-1963 — Page 281

LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

223

Auxiliary Fire Service. The Auxiliary Fire Service (see chap- ter 20) is integrated with the professional fire services under district commands for operational purposes. It has an efficient brass band which not only supplies the needs of the service but gives regular outdoor concerts which are well attended and appreciated by members of the public.

THE PREVENTIVE SERVICE

Through its special section the Preventive Service of the Com- merce and Industry Department is responsible for suppressing the illicit import and export of narcotics by land, sea or air.

Preventive Service officers board all vessels arriving at the im- migration anchorage from ports from which drugs are suspected of being smuggled. They remain on board while the vessel is in Colony waters to prevent drugs being smuggled ashore. Officers frequently search these and other ships.

In 1963 a total of 495 ships were guarded throughout their stay in harbour, 734 were searched, and 53 seizures were made of narcotics on ships. At the airport, the Preventive Service searches incoming aircraft, goods and baggage, particularly those arriving from or which have passed in transit through known sources of narcotics. Acting on information, land patrols carry out searches for narcotics on land in consultation with the Narcotics Bureau of the Police with whom close liaison is maintained.

RECORDS

The Registrar General's Department comprises the Land Office, the Registries of Births and Deaths, Marriages, Companies, Trade Marks and Patents, the Offices of the Official Receiver in Bank- ruptcy and Companies Winding-up, the Official Trustee, the Judicial Trustee and the Official Solicitor in Lunacy.

Land Office. The Land Office is a public office for the registra- tion of deeds and other instruments affecting land. The system of registration is broadly similar to that in the Yorkshire Deeds Registries in England. The Land Registration Ordinance provides that all deeds and instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration, and also that deeds and instruments not registered (other than bona fide