cclxxxviii 



One per cent, to the holders in addition to the £ 



fixed interest of 4 per cent. . . . . . . 3,800 



To the reserve fund . . . . , , , 1,638 



To a special reserve for depreciation of property 



in liquidation , . . . . . . . , . 1,200 



Bonus to the bank officers ^ . .. , . 620 



Carried forward . . . . . . . . . . 46 



Total .. 7,304 



Management expenses amounted to £2,500, taxes and sundries to 

 £1,100. 



In round numbers the bank handles about £2,000,000, and on this 

 sum earns about 10.s\ per £100, The shareholders are content with the 

 modest return of 5 per cent. The business can scarcely be called very 

 remunerative, but is ke-pi up for the public convenience by the counte- 

 nance of the State, its credit, and partial guarantee, and by special laws 

 to facilitate operations. The receivers of taxes throughout the canton 

 act as agents for the bank and the Savings Bank. 



Even the modest return of 5 per cent.- could not be earned were 

 it not for the facility and certainty with which loans can be charged 

 upon land. Imagine the Solicitor of an English county making 1,000 

 investigations of title each year and the cost of such investigations and 

 of the mortgage-deeds in case the loans were made. 



The term " mortgage " is not properly applicable to loans secured 

 upon land under the system prevailing in countries subject to the 

 principles of French Civil Code, for the legal estate in the land is not 

 conveyed to the lender as under the English system ; but as the word 

 "mortgage" and hyjiotheque are almost exclusively used in connection 

 with loans upon real property, it is convenient to treat them as equiva- 

 lent, although the legal ideas underlying the two words are different. 

 The description given by Mi*. Jenkins, Assistant Agricultural Commis- 

 sioner, of the system of transfer and mortgage in France, Belgium, the 

 ISIetherlands and Denmark is equally applicable to most of Switzerland. 



" The transfer of landed property is done by means of a system of book- 

 keeping, coupled with an official map on which every plot of land is marked 

 and numbered ; a registration office exists in each district ; and an intending 

 purchaser can ascertain in a short time the official acreage of any particular 

 field ; the name of the registered owner, the amount and nature of any 

 mortgage or other charges upon it. No transaction connected with the land 

 is authentic (in other words legally execiited) unless it is duly registered at 

 the district office. The proceeding is perfectly simple and effective." 



In Yaud the following books are kept for each commune in connec- 

 tion with the official maps : — 



(1) A register of parcels (registre Fonder). 



(2) A register of owners and their properties {registre cadastrale 



or cadaHtre), 



(3) A register of loans of land {controle des hypotheques). 



(4) A register of rights, easements, temporary interests {controle 



des charges immohiUeres). 



