THE LAND TRANSFER ACT.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2495, 14 February 1871, Page 2

THE LAND TRANSFER ACT.

NO. 111. Ah the public arc not sufficiently aware of the advantages that will accrue under the Laud Transfer Act, it may be as well to summarise them. The Act provides that, on the constitution of a land district, all Crown lauds an ! lands set apart as roads or for public purposes uualienated, and all lands over which the Native title has not been extinguished, shall, when a Crown grant thereof in fee shall be issued, be subject to the provisions of the Act. Heretofore all Crown grants have been forwarded by the Commissioner of Crown Lauds to the Registrar of Deeds upon payment of one pound for the grant, and (on an average) fourteen shillings for registration ; together with any lines due under “ The Crown Grants Act, ISli'd ” Hereafter, all Cr nvn lands said on and after the Ut of February (the day on which the “Otago Laud District ” was constituted), will, on the payment of one pound and the fines, be transmitted by the Commissioner of Crown Lands in duplicate (section 41) to the District Laud Registrar, to be registered ; and the sum of two shillings, in addition to the ass : stauco fee {first item in Schedule F), must be pai i to the Registrar before the grant is- issued from the office, or before any deahng with the laud included in the grant is registered There is, therefore, a clear gain La the public of twelve shillings on every Crown grant of lands purchased from the Crown on ami after the Ist of February, 1870. Tile 21st section provides for bringing lands granted prior to the Ist of February under t’ae operation of the Act. Any person (claiming to lie the person) in whom the feeshnplo is vested in possession cither at-law or in equity may apply. If the land is mortgaged, the mortgagee must consent to the application ; and no application can be received from the mortgagee unless in the exercise of a power of sale contained in the mortgage deed. If trustees seized in feesimple have no express power to sell the land which they may seek to bring under the operation of the Act, the person claiming to be benetieially entitled must consent to tho application. Any person claiming a life estate in possession, not being a lease for a life or lives ; Provided that all persons claiming to be beneficially entitled in reversion or remainder shall join i n the application. Any Dorseti having power legally or equitably to dispose of the fee-simple in possession ; and, if subject to the consent of any other person, then with such consent.

No application can be received from any person claiming to be entitled to an undivided share of any laud unless the persons who shall appear to be entitled to the other undivided shares shall join in the application, with a view to bringing the entirety under the provisions of the Act. A married woman requires the consent of her husband ; au infant, the consent of its father, mother, or legal guardian ; a lunatic or person of unsound mind, the consent of

his .or her com mitt ee or guaidian > and any iii'ent having power of attorney authorising the sale of a freehold e-tate in any land of •an absent proprietor, may make application in tlic name of such proprietor, unless expressly prohibited from so doing. Every applicant, alien making Ins application,'is required to surrender all instrm ,Dents in lus jiosscssion or under his control constituting or in any way affecting his title, with a schedule of the same ; and also, it repaired, an abstract of his title, and is to state the nature of his estate or interest, and any estate or interest held therein by any otlier parson in possession or in futurity or expectancy, and whether the laud bo occupied or unoccupied, and if occupied, the name and description of the occupant and the nature of his occupancy, and whether such occupancy he adverse or otherwise, and anpeud apian to his application ; all of Minch repuirement.-: arc acted in the margin ot the application form in red ink, by way of msti actions. ... Upon receipt of the application, the District hand Kepis'rar causes the title tube examined and i eported upon by the Examiner of Titles for his district; and when the Examiner has reported, the Registrar coalers with him upon the application and Ins report ; and if it appears that the applicant is the original grantee from the Ciown, and that the land has been granted on or subsepmnt to the 28th of ceccmber, 1841 (the date of the foundation of the Colony. it beiiy previously a part of the Colony ot ISew South Wales), and that no sale, mortgage, encumbrance, or other transaction affecting the title has at any iime been registered in the Colony, the Kegistrar is directed to bring the land"under the provisions ot the Act forthwith by issuing to the applicant, proprietor, or to such person as he, or the person applying on his behalf, may direct, a certificate of title for the same. In all other cases (including land granted by the Crown prior to the 28tli day of December, 1841) where the Registrar and Examiner arc satisfied that the land, in respect of which application i-; made, is hc.d hy the applicant for the estate or interest described in the ajiplioation form, and, if uioitg-igod or encumbered, tliat the parties iutt tested are also parties to the application, the !>etdstrar is required to advertise once in the Government Ua~.dk and three times in at least one paper published in the land district, and is to limit and appoint a time not less than one month, nor more than twelve months, from the day the advertisement appears in the Uazdlr, upon and after the expiration of which the Registrar is directed to bring the land under the provisions of the Act, unless in the interval he shall have received a caveat forbidding him to do so.