The Transfer of Land 



347 



the same position as land recently granted out 

 by the Crown in the Australian colonies. The 

 amendments really necessary in order to render 

 the Act of 1862 a true embodiment of the system 

 of conveyancing by registration of title, so as to 

 put that system fairly on its trial, may be com- 

 passed in a very few words, although one of them 

 involves a radical change. I will enumerate 

 them in the order of their importance. First, 

 abandoning the attempted compromise between 

 registration of title and registration of assurances, 

 to repeal Clause 63, which makes property in 

 land to pass upon execution of a deed or instru- 

 ment, and substitute for it the corresponding 

 provision of the Australian Act, which declares 

 that estates and interests in land shall pass or 

 be affected by entry in the register ; and instru- 

 ments when executed shall have effect only as 

 authority to the officer to make such entry and 

 as contract between the parties. Secondly, in 

 order to facilitate the first placing of land upon 

 the register, a relaxation of the stringency of the 

 requirement of Section 5, so as to allow the 

 recording officer to accept for registration " good 

 holding titles," in the event of non-claim after 

 service of notices and due advertisement. 

 Thirdly, repeal of Section 14, in order to substi- 

 tute the simple and effectual method of recording 



by one register book, with instruments evidencing 

 title to each separate estate or interest, upon the 

 model of the Shipping Act, and as in operation 

 in Australia, for the method by three register 

 books, with land certificates and special land 

 certificates, as condemned by Colonel Leach 

 and other witnesses, and admitted by Mr Spen- 

 cer Follet to be unsuitable for the conduct of 

 business on such scale as would render it of 

 sufficient public advantage. Fourthly, the 

 abandonment of Section 32, so far as to ex- 

 clude uses and trusts from being disclosed on 

 the register. The most reliable evidence of the 

 beneficial working of any system is afforded 

 by the extent to which the public avail them- 

 selves of it. Up to the date of report given 

 in the Blue Book, from which I have last 

 quoted, no reply had been received from 

 Queensland, but my system had been in opera- 

 tion in South Australia twelve years, in New 

 South Wales seven years, in Tasmania eight 

 years, and in Victoria eight years. The statis- 

 tics from these colonies shew the progress at 

 first to have been exceedingly slow, but gradually 

 to have increased year by year as the public 

 gained confidence from its very great suc- 

 cess, and became aware of its many advan- 

 tasres. 



