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tages to those of the Continental Land Credit Banks. There is, how- 

 ever, a very great difference, wh'ch is duo to tlie superior system of 

 transfer and mortgage under the Continental codes of law. The 

 " Cash credit " is given on personal security and for a short term. In 

 the case of the Continental hi/potheque the land is the security ; the 

 loans can be made for long terras and at a lower rate of interest. 



Although 5 per cent, may appear to be a very small return for a 

 banking business as compared with the earnings of English and Irish 

 banks, it is in reality a very good return for an investment on the secu- 

 rity of real estate, and must be considered in this light when contrasted 

 with earnings of a speculative business, such as an ordinary bank. 



Mr. Thorold Rogers says it has been estimated that conveyance of 

 real estate in the United Kingdom is mulcted in law charges, exclusive 

 of taxes, to the extent of £12,000, 'JOU annually : — 



" Such charges are not only a present loss, but the sj'stem under which 

 they are permitted bi'ings about and perpetuates an insecurity Irom which 

 properly registered titles would be free." 



Whether the estimate of £12,000,000 be correct or not, there can be 

 no doubt that the legal charges on the conveyancing and charging of 

 lands are enormous, not in proportion to the work done, for the evil con- 

 sists in there being so much work, such cumbrous method of performing 

 what might be done, and what is done in other countries, so much more 

 simply, certainly, expeditiously and cheaply. 



The repr^rted failures of the many attempts at reform in Ireland by 

 means of " purchase clauses '^ may not be considered universally due 

 to the want of a simple system of transfer and charging. 'J'ransfer of 

 land ownership from one class to another may be elfected on a large 

 scale by a liberal system of State loans ; but it is essential to the success 

 of the system sought to be established thnt the laws relating to transfer 

 and loans on lands should be radically changed. Under those at present 

 in force, loans of small amounts on land are unsafe ; they are made on 

 a bad security, no matter how much the value of the land may exceed 

 the amoant of the loan, for the security can neither be sold or charged, 

 nor can loans be recovered without delay, and great and uncertain 

 expense. 



(D). — Decay of Domestic Industries, Absence of Diveesity of 



Occupations, &c. 



(1) Extracts from a Eepli/ published in tlie Madras Mail of Ihe 7th and 

 9t/i febrnary 1893, to cert'un criticisms contained in an article 

 published in the CalcutXiA Revip:w for January 1893, headed 

 " Agricultural History in Madras, and What it teaches us" 



I. Why was a period of 40 years tali-en for gauging the progress 

 made ? — The reviewer sees some deep design on the part of Lord 

 Connemara in having proposed that a memorandum should be pre- 

 pared famishing materials for forming a judgment as to the results 

 of the last 40 years of British administration on the economic condi- 

 tion of the Presidency. The reviewer agrees with me, however, in 



