Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
Garden Road, 5th-8th Floors, Murray Building, Hong Kong. Tel: 2842 8777
Sunday, January 4, 1998 CONTENTS ======== 1. Update on avian flu 2. Eligible voters urged to register in FCs and EC subsectors 3. BOE delegation for Manchester conference 4. Land Registry 1997 statistics released 1. Update on avian flu ******************* A spokesman for the Department of Health said that there was no new cases of Influenza A (H5N1) today (Sunday). The status of all cases remain the same as yesterday with a total number of 16 confirmed cases and five suspected cases. End 2. Eligible voters urged to register in FCs and EC subsectors ********************************************************** Eligible voters of functional constituencies (FC) who have not yet registered for this year's elections are reminded to do so before the registration period ends on January 16, 1998, a spokesman for the Constitutional Affairs Bureau said today (Sunday). The spokesman also urged corporate electors to appoint their authorized representatives to cast their corporate votes during the Legislative Council election in May and the Election Committee (EC) subsector election in April. "The appointment of authorized representatives also has to be done on or before January 16, 1998," the spokesman added. He said most FC eligible voters should have received either a notification or an invitation letter from the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) by now. So far, more than 120,000 notifications and 100,000 invitation letters have been issued to eligible voters. Individual electors who have received notifications informing them that they had been included in a particular Functional Constituency and EC subsector will be able to cast a vote in their respective FC and EC subsector. However, corporate electors who were notified must appoint an authorized representative by filling up an orange colour form. "Otherwise, no one will be able to cast the vote on behalf of the corporate elector at the election," the spokesman explained. Meanwhile, the REO is making thousands of telephone calls to the recipients of the notifications and invitation letters to urge them to complete the application forms, and remind corporate electors to appoint their authorized representatives. Another round of letters will also be issued by the REO to all eligible voters who have not yet registered, including those from FCs with unsatisfactory response, to urge them to complete the registration form before the close of the registration period on January 16, the spokesman said. "People who have any questions about voter registration can call the REO hotline on 2891 1001," he added. Furthermore, the Constitutional Affairs Bureau has lined up a series of briefing sessions in the next few days for several major organizations to urge their members to get registered. They included the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, and Employers' Federation of Hong Kong. Other organizations who wish to be briefed by representatives of the Bureau are welcomed to contact them on 2810 2106. With the assistance of the Home Affairs Department, visits to about 300 umbrella organizations had been arranged to disseminate the forms and appeal to their members to get registered as voters, the spokesman said. Despite these efforts, the registration rate has not been entirely satisfactory. The situation is particularly worrying in a number of new FCs, such as the Agriculture and Fisheries; Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publications; Import and Export; Textiles and Garment; Wholesale and Retail, and Information Technology, the spokesman said. "We need the support and co-operation of the entire community in order to make the election a success. So once again we would like to urge all eligible voters to get themselves registered before the registration period ends on January 16," the spokesman said. End 3. BOE delegation for Manchester conference **************************************** A four-member delegation of the Board of Education (BOE) is in Manchester to attend the 11th annual meeting of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) starting today (Sunday). The delegation is led by the BOE Chairman, Mr Moses Cheng. Other members are Sr Bernadette Au, Mr H L Tai and Mr Isaac Tse. They are accompanied by education officials including the Director of Education, Mrs Helen C P Lai Yu. Also attending the conference are about 20 other participants from Hong Kong, including academics, school principals and representatives of educational bodies. The four-day conference, with the theme "Reaching out to all learners", will be attended by policy makers, educators and school practitioners from around the world. It will take the form of presentations, symposia, workshops, round-table discussions and visits to schools in and around the Manchester region, focusing on the latest developments in the fields of school effectiveness and school improvement. The conference will provide a forum to examine these issues in an international context, looking at the experiences and policies of both developed and developing countries. The annual meeting will also provide an excellent opportunity for Hong Kong participants to strengthen ties with overseas experts in education, exchange views and stay abreast of developments in school reforms overseas, all of which will be valuable to the pursuit of quality school education in Hong Kong. The Director of Education will host a Hong Kong Symposium on January 6 on the theme "The pursuit of quality education: Initiatives for the new century". Some delegates will remain in Manchester for a couple of days after the conference to visit local schools while Mr Cheng and Mrs Yu will have a separate itinerary in London and will be meeting the media. The ICSEI is made up of educational researchers, policy specialists and school education experts devoted to school effectiveness and improvement. Their first annual meeting was held in London in 1988. Subsequent meetings have been organised in various cities around the world, including Rotterdam, Melbourne, Victoria and Memphis. End 4. Land Registry 1997 statistics released ************************************** The Land Registry (LR) today (Sunday) announced land registration statistics for the year 1997 as well as those for December last year. A total of 205,461 sale and purchase agreements for building units, including both residential and non- residential, were received for registration by LR in 1997. This figure represented an increase of 39.4 per cent and 110.4 per cent compared with 1996 and 1995 respectively. The total amount of the consideration involved in these agreements was $868.02 billion which was up by 82.9 per cent and 226.6 per cent compared with 1996 and 1995 respectively. During 1997, 220,911 assignments of building units were lodged for registration, compared with 159,520 and 112,212 respectively recorded during 1996 and 1995, showing an increase of 38.5 per cent and 96.9 per cent respectively. The total amount of the consideration amounted to $790.41 billion, indicating an increase of 91.7 per cent and 155.4 per cent respectively when compared with the two preceding years. The total amount secured under mortgages (other than building mortgages) was $98.07 billion, showing an increase of 30.3 per cent and 27.7 per cent compared with 1996 and 1995 respectively. A table summarising the above figures and other related statistics for 1997, together with the corresponding statistics recorded in 1996 and 1995, was released today by the Registry. Searches of land records made by members of the public during 1997 totalled 5,408,040, up by 25.4 per cent and 84 per cent compared with 1996 and 1995 respectively. Meanwhile, for the month of December 1997, the LR received for registration 7,305 sale and purchase agreements for residential and non-residential building units. This figure represented a decrease of 52.7 per cent and 56.6 per cent from November 1997 and December 1996 respectively. The total consideration of these agreements in December 1997 was $24.5 billion, down 59.3 per cent and 64.6 per cent respectively when compared with the amounts for November 1997 and December 1996. The figures are contained in the monthly statistics released today by LR on deeds relating to property transactions received for registration in the Urban and New Territories Land Registries in December 1997. Relevant statistics for November 1997 and December 1996 were provided for comparison. Figures on sale and purchase agreements received for the past 12 months and the year-on-year rate of change were also released. These statistics generally relate to land transactions executed up to four weeks prior to their submission for registration, as there is usually a time lag between the execution of deeds and their lodgement for registration. End
