The Bulletin. 121 



system. As you come out to this college on the car line you will pass Cameron 

 Field, consisting of 110 acres of land. It was sold hve years ago for $92,000, 

 and the title was looked up at that time by Mr. A. M. Scales of Greensboro. 

 It was turned into a land development enterprise, and the title to that prop- 

 erty has been looked up sixty times within hve years. I got some of the 

 money myself. I had to go through the same work that Mr. Scales went 

 through, but 1 said to people who wanted to purchase part of that land, "No, 

 you cannot take Mr. Scales' word. I'ou must look it up for yourself." I 

 waded through a long line of court procedure, and my client waded through 

 some very nice fees. There are 300 lots in that field. If that title is looketl up 

 300 times in the next ten years, as it will be in all probability, there will be at 

 least $3,000 spent for an unassured assurance of a title. But, on the other 

 hand, if that company, under the Torreus system, would register that title and 

 pay the total cost — and 1 don't imagine that it would cost over $75, or $100 

 at most — the title would be looked up once and forever, and I will stake my 

 $75 initial expense for the Torrens system against $3,000 and the interminable 

 expense of the present system. 



Some people say that it will take the work from the lawyers. Now. my 

 friends, a man who has to make his living at the expense of the progress of 

 the community has a divine right to starve, and when I say a divine right I 

 say it with a great deal of meaning. I believe the Almighty has ordained 

 that the people in the way of progress must be eliminated just as the plants 

 and animals in the way of progress must be eliminated. I would retire from 

 the bar and go into some other business if I could not make my living except 

 by holding the community back. 



Mr. Scakboko : Don't you think the increased amount of business would 

 make as much work for the lawyers? 



Mb. Bailey : I don't think there is anything in the position that the Tor- 

 rens system will take away the lawyer's work. But I don't care, and I say 

 the same thing to you farmers. If you have to live by holding civilization 

 backward, you had better die. The world must go on, and if you cannot go on 

 with it, you had better go off and die. 



Q. What will it cost the individual farmer to get the State to guarantee 

 his title? 



If you begin a special proceeding, you deposit $10. which is supposed to 

 cover the cost of an ordinary special proceeding. The examiner receives a 

 minimum fee of $5, which makes $15. When land is mortgaged and exami- 

 nations are made outside of the county, the mortgage and the certificate of 

 title are recorded, and 25 cents is paid for that. 



That would indicate an initial cost in the court of $1G or $17. Let us pre- 

 sume, though, that you have a great many parties to serve with summons. 

 All of you understand that. You pay just the same price for issuing these 

 summons as you do for issuing summons in any other special procedure. You 

 may have to advertise in a newspaper to reach parties whose addresses are 

 unknown, or, if some of the claimants are minors, you will have to have 

 them especially served by the appointment of a guardian ad litem. So the 

 cost might be run up to $25 in the court proper. Let us presume that in the 

 abundance of your wisdom you say, "I am bidding farewell to the legal profes- 

 sion once and forever. I will give my lawyer $25 to see the matter through." 

 It would be money well spent, and would relieve you of a lot of trouble. 



Now, I want you to understand thoroughly, gentlemen, that the initial 

 expense is likely to be as great as the expense you would go to in the first 

 instance under our present system. But it is the first expense and the last 

 expense. In case of the division of your land into city lots, or in case of the 

 division of your land into numerous farms, which is inevitably coming, you 

 would be done with that expense once and forever; and you cannot bring in 

 the argument that the expense would be, in the long run, in any degree com- 

 parable with that of the present system. 



Again, you hear it said everywhere — I heard some lawyers in Halifax say — 

 that the' adoption of the Torrens system will make no end of litigation. Two 

 years ago those same lawyers said that it would take away their living ; now 

 they say it will make no end of litigation. In the first place, the assurance 

 of your title is litigation. But, my friends, did it ever occur to you that the 



