The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29.

Southland Times, Issue 1786, 29 August 1873, Page 2

The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL : FRIDAY, AUGUST 29.

The report of the Eegistrar General of Land for the year ended 30th June last, shows a large "increase of business under the Land Transfer Act, for the year, as compared with its predecessor, although as yet the office has not become selfsupporting. The expenditure of the past year reaches an amount very considerably in excesi of that of the revenue for the same period, notwithstanding the fact that from various reductions made, a saving of £900 in the working of the office has been effected during the year. A glance at the figures given by the Kegistrar-General shows the actual receipts at £7,125 for fees alone, and the expenditure at £8,429, with a note to the effect that during the past three months the Department has been paying its expenses and yielding a profit. As compared with the previous year the increase of business has been at the rate of 65 per cent, the increase of expenditure being barely 5 per cent. The number of offices now in existence under the Act is ten, and the estimate given of the business during the current year is £9,000, the estimated expenditure being £8,000. The report intimates that experience in the working of the Act has shown that it is possible to effect reductions in various directions without impairingthe efficiency of the Department. As however the estimated expenditure very nearly reaches the sum actually expended during the past year, it may be assumed that all the reductions capable of being made have been already made, and that for the future it is to increase of business alone that we must look to make the Department self-supporting. The inaccuracy of existing surveys in many parts of the Colony is quoted as a serious hindrance to the Land Transfer system, and any one acquainted with the difficulty, which, under the old Conveyancing Act, was continually cropping up from the same cause, will readily assent to this proposition of the Kegistrar-General. In the case of the subdivision into allotments of the area included in early purchases from the Crown, and for which the Crown Grant has not been obtained until many years after purchase, the land meantime having undergone division and subdivision almost interminable, difficulties have' arisen, by no means easy to adjust. In some of the offices open under the Land Transfer Act, it is we believe a customary matter to refuse to bring parcels of land of this class under the Act unless the application be accompanied by a plan and description made specially for the occasion by an authorised surveyor. The probability is that much business has necessarily been retained to the old system which would, but for this difficulty, have found its way into the Land Transfer Department. The principle of non-registration of trusts included in the Land Transfer Act, is referred to as receiving the sanction of the framers of the Land Transfer Bill, introduced into the British Parliament. This principle has been to a very considerable extent regarded as a deficiency in the Land Transfer Act, as making no provision for the holding of property under trusts, and necessitating thereby application to the old system. There is some force in the objection, but the question of provision for holding real property under trusts is not one that can be legitimately raised in reference to a Department of which the function is simply to give a title. The provision is one which may be easily made, and which will no doubt shortly be made, the only ' requirements being a special registration of the trust, apart from the title, but having the title for its basis. The .Registrar-General has the merit of being very plain and outspoken in his remarks on the necessity of the assimilation of the law of real property to that of personal, and there is but little doubt but that he is right in his conclusion, although at present the prejudices of custom, usage, and vested interests are against him. Should the enactment be made that real estate, on the death of its proprietor, should devolve on bis executors or administrators, and be distributed as personal estate, his deduction is perfectly sound that under such circumstances it would not be chimerical to hope that the whole law of landed property might ultimately be arranged in logical order, and expressed in plain and terse language. This consummation, however devoutly it may be wished for, is yet in the far distance, and returning to the figures, we find that in the Deeds Begistry, the estimate of receipts for the past year being £13,500, was very nearly reached by the receipts, shown as £13,434. The year's expenditure, voted at £9,186, was reduced in the outlay to £8,700. A diminution is anticipated in the receipts for the current year, owing to the diversion of Crown grants to the Land Transfer Department. The general prosperity of the Colony has tended during the past year to make up in new business for the amount diverted by the Land Transfer Act, and the estimate of receipts for the current year is given at £12,500, with an estimated expenditure of £8,360. The amount received during the past year for fees under the Land Transfer Act has been, as already shown, £7,125, of which amount £1,096 has been paid by Otago, exclusive of Southland, which has paid £427. Canterbury has paid in £1,750, Auckland £701, and Wellington £606. Forty - two land Brokers' Licenses have been taken out bringing in £210. A further sum of

£1829 bas been paid into the assurance fund, which must be placed to a separate account, and cannot as yet be treated as revenue, being a reserve fund for the purpose of meeting any claim that may arise where a title hvs been given in error. Judging from the extreme caution which appears to have prevailed in the Examiner of Titles' department in thia district, there is little probability of any portion of this sum being claimed on such ground. In the district of Otago, £231,167 has been secured by mortgages under the Act up to 30th June last ; in Southland, £100,913 ; in Canterbury, £212,264 ; in Auckland, £99,423 ; in Wellington, £41,733, with smaller sums in other districts, leaving a balance remaining secured on that date of £668,240. In the Auckland district, 63,086 acres of land have been brought under the Act by application ; in Otago, 32,837 ; in Canterbury, 25,073 ; in Wellington^ 16,852 ; in Southland, j 14,146; and in Marlborough, 19,611, and smaller areas in other districts, the j above amount being exclusive of the land included in Crown grants for purchases necessarily coming under the operation of the Act. Twenty-nine caveats against dealings have been entered during the year, of which Auckland claims 21, Otago 6, Wellington 1, and Hawke'sßay. 1 ; the large number in the Auckland district being probably to be accounted for as arising out of mining claims. The lease department during the year gives a registration of 87, against 65 in the pre vious year.