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Sale and Transfer of Land. ties upon the future produce of the Royal and Ecclesiastical Estates, and forced into circulation under heavy penalties, to the utter subversion of public credit. It is manifest that the Donegal Debentures and French Assignats have no resemblance whatever to the proposed Land Debentures, which would be first-class securities, bearing, perhaps, some resemblance to Railway Shares (a). The leading difference is, that Land Debentures, being primary charges for a limited amount, would be far safer investments than Railway shares, and would not be liable to depreciation, save in a very extreme and exceptional case, such as might never occur in practice (b). The more close analogy would be Railway Debentures, which are limited in amount; and, being primary securities, are not subject to depreciation, except such as arises from ordinary fluctuations in the market value of money (c). Land Debentures resemble, also, the Debentures issued by the Board of Public Works under the Irish Land Drainage Acts, and which have been found to work successfully in practice (d ) The proposed limit to the amount of the Debentures would not interfere with additional loans to a registered owner, who could at any time deposit his certificate of ownership as a perfect equitable security for further advances. One advantage of Land Debentures would be, that the landowner could pay off the debt at his convenience and in driblets. Whenever he might have £100, he could make provision for paying off one of the £100 debentures, and thus gradually lessen the charge upon his property. Under the present system, the payment of a mortgage of £10,000 is almost an unknown occurrence, which scarcely ever happens to any landowner out of the savings of his property, or otherwise than by some unexpected windfall, or by making new arrangements for obtaining a larger advance of money in order to prevent a foreclosure of his estate. Upon this subject Mr. Christie, in his evidence before the Registration Commission, thus gave the results of his great experience: — "It never falls in one's way to see a charge paid off in Ireland. The estate comes to be sold, or sometimes there is a new mortgage —a large mortgage, which consolidates all existing charges ; but as to any owner of an estate, but his personal thrift, or even by money which he has otherwise got, except by a fresh loan, ever applying it to so unprofitable a purpose as paying off charges, that never occurs I may notice a fact, which is very observable on titles in both countries—the extreme rarity of a man who mortgages his estates ever redeeming. A party who once enters on that downhill course hardly ever recovers himself." Indeed it is well known that under the present system the history of any large incumbrance very much resembles that of a snowball. The incumbrance accumulates as it rolls along, from generation to generation, and from age to age, through new arrangements with successive mortgages, until the whole estate is finally rolled into the Court of Chancery, where it usually melts away. One of the chief objections usually felt to the investment of money in the purchase of land is, that capital so invested becomes permanently locked up, and its available usefulness thereby much diminished. This objection would be obviated, and the value of all land be greatly increased to its owner, if he could use it at any time as a soit of circulating medium, by possessing a limited power to charge it with transferable Land Debentures. He might thereby from time to time, without expense or delay, raise sums of money to pay his debts, to give portions to his children, to improve or stock his farms, and to meet his current engagements. The principal of Land Debentures could be advantageously applied, for the purpose of effecting a voluntary conversion of all charges that now affect landed property. By converting property in the land into Land Debentures of equivalent value, it would become as transferable as personol property. The debentures, or the money value which they represent, might be put into settlement; and there would nolonger exist the necessity for having intricate settlements of land. The land would be represented, by these transferable debentures, and in lieu of a complicated system of acts, deeds, and incumbrances of vaiious would thenceforth be substituted the most simple forms of charge and transfer. Property in land would also thus become conveniently distributed, without leading to any minute sub-division or morcellement of the land. The proposed Land Debenture would possess more advantages than now belong either to the best mercantile bill of exchange, or to the most secure mortgage. It would combine the negotiability of the one with the stabi'ity of the other. It would arouse the capital which lies dormant in the land, and infuse an active vitality into inert matter. These debentures would be eagerly sought after by bankers and capitalists, as secure investments for their unemployed funds. The only expense would be some trifling office clu-rges, and some small stamp duties; which, from their frequency, would produce a large income to the State. This species of revenue would resemble the Post Office charges. It would be another description of public taxation, cheerfully paid for value received. The

(a) Professor Hancock, to Question 3. (b) Same to Question 34. Even in the extreme ease there referred to, the Land Debentures, if issued, would not in fact, have become depreciated. (c) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 89. s. 100. and 8 & 9 Vict. c. 69. s. 9. (d) Mr. Griffith, LL.D., to Question 35 ; Colonel Larcom, R.E., to Question 36 ; and Sir M. Barrington, Bart, to Question 35.