Original Poetry.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 262, 24 April 1860, Page 4

Original Poetry.

~~ TO MY EMPTY PURSE. Time was, my old and empty purse, When thou wert both well filled and uew, When 'twas thy pride all day to nurse " Bright stores that gleamed thy meshes through. With silken tassel, and with waist Enclasped by shining belt so gay: The tassel to decay doth haste, The golden ring hath dropped away. Ay, many a weary change have we, My poor old friend, together seen; Years steal our pleasures as they flee, But briDg not back those which have been. When thou a paunch obese could show, When sleek smooth sides, old purse, were thins, Then faces came with kindly glow, And ready hands were thrust in mine. Yet not for earth's vain splendors lost, Nor yet for fickle hearts 1 sigh; Oh, still the soul hath joys to boast That wealth nor honour may not buy. And heavier far than riches flown That curse throughout life to endure— A mind of goodness empty grown, A heart that hath waxed old and v poor. Beth.

"MYSTERIOUS TECHNICALITIES."

(From the Melbourne Argus.) Mr. Torrens' exposition of the principles and operation of the South Australian Real Property Act exhibits in a favorable point of view the simplicity and practical utility of the measure, its adaptation to the wants of the community, and the patient zeal and steady enthusiasm of its author. He does not claim for his work the merit of originality. He has merely applied to the transfer and curabrance of land the processes which have been employed in respect to the transfer and encumbrance of shipping and funded property. He prefers the guidance of experience to the hazards of theory, and can plead the sanction of usage for changes which wear the aspect of innovation. Mr. Torrens is not a man of one idea, but he is capable of pursuing a fixed idea with a resolute pertinacity, which is very much to be commended; and it is by men of his stamp that most political and social reforms have been iniated and carried out. Public interest in any remedial measure, no matter how flagrant the evil or how salutary the mode of redress, soon flags, and public enthusiasm is too fitful to be relied upon for any practical purpose. Both require to be animated and sustained by the influence of some one mind, imbued with a strong and settled conviction, either of the magnitude ot the evil to be abated, or of the value and efficacy of the principles to be affirmed or of the system to be established. Such a man, whether he concentrates all his energies upon the abolition of the slave trade, like William Wilberforce, or applies humbler powers of mind to ftie origination of ragged schools, like John Pounds, the shoemaker, is capable of effecting infinitely more for the service of mankind than men who employ desultory efforts, with variable degrees of zeal, at intermittent periods, for the accomplishment of multifarious objects. In the Imperial Parliament, members with a speciality, provided their ability and sincerity are such as to entitle them to respect, and provided also they do not degenerate into bores, are secure of being listened to with attention, and are rewarded, in the long run by the triumph of the measure for which they have contended. The hint might not be lost upon some of the members of onr own Legislature, —upon such of them, at least, as are capable of foregoing the gratification of hearing themselves talk tedious nothings upon every question which arises for discussion, and of sedulously devoting themselves to acquiring the mastery of some one branch of political or social science with a view to practical legislation thereon.

This is what Mr. Torrens has done, and hence, when he addresses a popular audience on the subject of a refo|m of the laws affecting the sale and mortage of real property, he speaks like a man clothed with authority, and is secure of a patient and attentive hearing. Indeed, the earnest attention given to his lecture at the Olympic Theatre, considering the dryness of the topic and the difficulty of enlivening it by any sallies ot humour picturesqueness of narrative, or graces of rhetoric, was something remarkable, and betokened the interest fek in this question by all present Probably only a small proportion of his auditory were land owners or house-owners but the ambition and the expectation of being so would be active in the minds of all and the assertion made by the lecturer, for many years' in South Australia, that the possession of small freeholds, under a costly and complicated system of transfer and encumbrance, was a misfortune, and not an advantage, to the holders,, received tha emphatic approbation of that large assemblage, who were not slow to perceive that the simplification of the law affecting the conveyance of land is quite as important as the settlement of the larger question now before the Legislature. It is well that a measure like that which has just passed through the Legislative Council, and which Mr. Torrens described as being identical with the v South Australian Act, but amended by the light of the experience gained. in the working of the measure in the neighboring colony, should become law at this comparatively early period of our history, as it will have the effect of preventing much litigation for the time to come. A good deal otproperty in this city and elsewhere is held under titles which [are far from indefeasible. IjTot that the property has been unjustly acquired, but that it has been carelessly and informerly conveyed, During that period of feverish excitement which succeeded the discovery of our gold-fields, business of all kinds was recklessly transacted. Property passed from hand to hand by a mere bill of sale; buyers and sellers left the colony before the legal conveyance could be drawn; and much real estate is possessed by persons whose title to hold may not be liable to dispute, but who would experience very great difficulty in establishing a sufficiently valid title to satisfy a cautious

purchaser. Circumstances of this kind must necessarily be productive of considerable embarrassment to persons so situated who may wish to realise or to bequeath; and the difficulties which surround such cases will go on increasing with the lapse of time. By the South Australian Act, however, provision is made for the cancellation ot all titles which are morally sound but technically defective, and for the issue under certain specified safe guards and conditions, of an indefeasible certificate of title from the Crown. All real property thus conveyed, at each subsequent transfer passes through the registry office, and re-issues, so to speak, from the Crown, while the certificate bears, ujjon its face the record of any mortage which may be effected upon the lands or tenements to which it refers. Consequently, there is no accumulation of voluminous parchments, disfigured by an infinite amount of barbarous and tautological jargon ; and for the/ec of a few shillings, a man may transfer or encumber a special survey or a quarter of an acre allotment, and may effect the transaction in a few hours.

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that many members of the legal profession should regard the measure now before the Legislative Assembly with undissembled animosity, and that the public should look upon it as a booh of the highest value.