The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1613, 30 July 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1872.

The facilities afforded by the Land Transfer Act of 1870 for dealing expeditiously and inexpensively with real property are not yet sufficiently understood by the public. "Without attempting on this occasion to offer anything like an analysis of the Act in question, or to give an elaborate explanation of its various provisions, it may . be at once useful and interesting to many of our readers to point out one or two of the leading principles on which this measure, unquestionably one of the most important ever passed by the Legislature of New Zealand, is based, and the main features of the changes which it has made in the previously existing law relating to landed property. The first and great principle pervading this Act, is the creation of an unassailable and indefeasible title to land, and in the second place, the provision of simple and inexpensive means by which this title, once created, may be dealt with by way of transfer or mortgage. Under the old system of conveyancing, every time a piece of land changes owners, or becomes subject to a mortgage, the title has to be investigated from the beginning, by a skilled person, at a considerable cost of time and labor. Every separate document in the title, and there are often a great many, has to be carefully scrutinised, to ascertain whether or not it constitutes a perfect deed, and the register has to be searched, with the utmost care, for the discovery of possible incuinbrances on the property. After all this trouble has been taken, it by no means follows that it affords an absolute guarantee of a perfect title to the purchaser, for it is always possible that some j flaw may escape the notice of the most careful conveyancer, who, being responsible to his client in the event of error, has to charge not | only for his skill and his time, but also for the risk which he incurs. This process, however long and expensive it may be, has to be repeated every time a fresh transaction is entered upon, though it should be only at an interval of a few days from the first, in all cases where a new party is concerned. Under the new system all this is changed. The buyer holds direct from the State, and his title, though the land should have passed through fifty hands before it reaches him, is as good as a Crown Grant. The examination of the title having been made, once for all, when the land is brought under the Act, does not require to be repeated on auy subsequent transfer or mortgage, and each successive dealing with the land, being registered in the office, creates a fresh title, as indefeasible as the first, and beyond which no examination is required. Hence the expedition and economy with which dealings may be effected. The risk of mistake, in the ; first investigation, when the land is I brought under the operation of the Act, is assumed by the State. To meet this, a special fund, known as the assurance fund, is formed, to which every title, on first going into the Registry, is required to contribute a trifle, equal to a halfi penny in the pound on the total value of the land. As regards the comparative expense of dealing with land under this Act, and j under the old system, we need hardly do more than point out that as far as the simpler forms of conveyancing are concerned — e.g , transfers and common mortgages — any person of ordinary education can, with the help of the printed forms, do his business for himself, without incurring any expense whatever for the services of a lawyer. All he will have to pay, besides stamp duty, if any, are the office-fees, which, in the case of land once on the register, are extremely moderate. The cost of a transfer or mortgage for a single block varies in most cases from ten to twelve shillings, and the operation can be completed in an hour. ITor the purpose of giving effect to this admirable law, the Colony is divided into districts, in each of which a Land Transfer Office is established, at which all business connected with land under the Act must be transacted. The office at Invercargill was opened on Ist March, 1871, and all land sold by the Crown since that date in the Southland District comes under the operation of the Act, besides those properties which may be voluntarily brought under its provisions by the owners. The office is under the charge of a District Land Registrar, assisted by an Examiner of Titles, and a Draughtsman, being the smallest number of officials permitted by the Act. The united salaries of these officers amount to the sum of £800, of which about ouehalf has already been repaid to the colony by fees, although the business yet brought to the office has been very small compared wilh what must be expected when the advantages it offers become more fully understood, to say nothing of the yearly increasing list of holdings acquired from the Crown, which must perforce come under its care. There is every reason to suppose that the department throughout the Colony will soon be self-supporting. The creation of a separate Southland Land District, and the establishment of such an office in Invercargill, it will be

f remembered, was one of the advaita^es I most strenuously fou;:':t i':>r, an<l with difficulty secured, at, the time of reunion with Otago. Any attempt therefore to play into the hands of those who would be only too anxious to deprive us of this privilege, by r.iising an. uut'ounded cry of false economy, can only be supposed to proceed from gross ignorance, or an utter indifference to the real advantage of the district.