Land is a very significant and precious resource on which man rely for their living. It is thus of paramount importance to establish clear land titles and to have a reliable land registration system. In order to raise public awareness of security of property rights, the Land Registry and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) have jointly produced a television series entitled “History of Hong Kong Lands”. The series will review the development of the land registration system in Hong Kong over the past 100-odd years and draw the attention of the public to the close relationship between land registration and themselves.

A premiere cum guest talk for the “History of Hong Kong Lands” is held by RTHK today (7 February, Saturday). Mrs. Carrie LAM, the Secretary for Development, Mr. Kim SALKELD, the Land Registrar, Mr. Franklin WONG Wah-kay, the Director of Broadcasting, Mr. LAU Wong-fat, the Chairman of Heung Yee Kuk, and Mr. Lester G. HUANG, the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, officiated at the launching ceremony and previewed the trailer and the first episode of the series. Mr. SALKELD gave a talk together with Dr. Patrick HASE, Immediate Past President of Royal Asiatic Society, on “Land, the Source of all Material Wealth”, sharing their views and ideas on the topic with the guests and university students.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs. Carrie LAM said that the television series has adopted an innovative and lively approach to introduce the land title registration system in Hong Kong. It would help the general people understand more of the current system reform and its bearing on their everyday life.

Mr. SALKELD hoped that the television series will recall for viewers how the framework of the land registration system and relevant laws has developed and help them understand how the existing system works, and prepare them for the new system.

Mr. Franklin WONG said that the series is very meaningful in the sense that, apart from reviewing the past, it introduces the new development of the land registration system so that the public will have a deeper understanding about their own rights and interests in landed properties. He expressed his gratitude to the guests who helped produce the series.

The first episode of the “History of Hong Kong Lands” series will be broadcast on 11 February 2009. The series comprises 10 episodes, hosted by Mr. Louis CHEUNG Kai-chung and Miss Ella KOON Yan-na. Mr Kim SALKELD, the Land Registrar, is also a guest host in the last part of each episode to talk briefly and in a lively manner about land systems that are closely related to the general public in many aspects. The series will be presented in the form of thematic documentary. Through historical land information and archives of over 100 years including films, video footage, photographs, pictures, books and literatures, and interviews with veteran surveyors, practitioners in the fields of geography and history, officials of land registration and land administration as well as members of the general public, forming the “oral history”, together with the remarks and analyses made by academics, the series evidences the changes of Hong Kong lands. The first episode, entitled “Lands and Deeds”, tells the fact that in old China, deeds were used in the conveyancing of land. Hong Kong was no exception in this regard. The development of the systems of land transactions and registration can be dated back to the colonial days over a century ago.

“History of Hong Kong Lands” will be broadcast at 7 p.m. every Wednesday on the Jade channel of TVB commencing 11 February 2009. The programme can be viewed in real time and reviewed on the RTHK website (www.rthk.org.hk).