The Westport Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 708, 8 September 1870, Page 2

The Westport Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1870.

Amoso the various Acts passed during the present session of Parliament none, perhaps, will be received with greater satisfaction, or will beneficially affect so large a proportion of the community as the Seal Property Bill, by which it is proposed to facilitate the conveyance of landed property. The bill, which in its essential features is stated to be a transcript of Mr Torrens's Act, a measure which has been found to work most beneficially in South Australia, will confer a title easily recognisable, and by affording ready means of transferring a largo or small ejtatefrom one to another, will utilise the possession of property, and enable the owner to have at hand, in an available form, a clear proof of ownership The unsatisfactory complications existing as regards real estate in the Mother Country would eventually reproduce themselves with us, and as the transactions became more frequent they would become more entangled with technical difficulties. The Colony would also be under a disadvantage, which would make itself more seriously felt here than at home. Throughout New Zealand landed estate is but of trifling value as compared with similar property in England, hundreds of town and country sections have been purchased from the Crown

for small sums, and the cost of transfer has been often found to exceed the original purchase money,while even in conveying more valuable properties the expense has been such as to prejudice greatly its beneficial possession. The law which will shortly be in force is intended to remedy thisstate of things. It will enable any holder of property to make an actual transfer of the same by a simple registration, and, '• by the operation of the Act, it confers, from the date of registration to the date of the next transaction, a parliamentary title, clear of all previous flaws and encumbrances." In a country where the landed estate is for the main part of inconsiderable value, the advantage of a system, by which it may be conveyed without regard to a long series of transactions, must be sufficiently apparent. The provisions of the Bill are thus described by Mr Fox, to whom is due the merit of having introduced the bill, and who is stated to have advocated its principle before the name of Mr Torrens was heard in connection with the subject, although the latter first gave it practical effect:—

It establishes the title to the land, but it is necessary that the party desirous of registering should be proved to be the real owner of the land. That is the only part which may involve any difiiculty or doubt. If the title is in an involved state—if parties have not taken the trouble to get their title from the Crown or intermediate purchasers in a satisfactory manner, and if there is not evidence to show that it is theirs—the matter will be discovered when they make application at the registrar's office to have the land registered. There will be the registrar-general and the examiner of title, whose duty it will be to sift every title when presented, and if the title is bad, the person presenting the same will be told so, and the mode pointed out by which it may be rectified. If good, the title is placed upon the registry, and after that you have a good parliamentary title which never afterwards can be shaken ; and in the few cases where any defect arises from the fault of the Government, or those connected with the office, or such as may arise from forgeries, then it will be incumbent on the Government to make compensation to the registered owner. The next part of the Bill provides for the registration of judgments, mortgages, deeds, and similar instruments, and also for the transfer of land. If a good title be shown to the land, it can be transferred from one to another over the counter in an office, or anywhere, as I have seen done in South Australia. The rest of the provisions are purely of a technical character.

There is one fact in connection with the passing of the Bill into law presenting a striking and pleasing contrast to its introduction in South Australia, which is that no impediments and difficulties have been raised by the legal profession against the system. The measure has been found a perfectly practicable one in the neighboring colonies, and, if efficiently administered, there can be no reason to doubt that its working will be successful in New Zealand.