TRANSFER OF REAL PROPERTY. (From the Melbourne Herald—Jan. 21, 1861)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1378, 26 February 1861, Page 4

TRANSFER OF REAL PROPERTY. (From the Melbourne Herald — Jan. 21, 1861 )

A meeting was held in the north lobby of the Parlia ment Houses, on Saturday, for the purpose of taking into consideration the various schemes now before the public for facilitating the transfer of real property. Several members of Parliament and other gentlemen weie piesent, among whom were the Chief Secretary, the Attorney-General, the hon. Messrs. A'Beckett and Coppin, M.L.C's., the hon. Mr. O'Shanassy, Messrs. Henderson, Amsinck, Wilson Gray, O'Hea, M.L. As.; Professor Hearn, md Messrs. Aspinall and E. E. Torrens. Mr. Coppin was requested to take the chair; and it was the proposed by the Chief Secretary that Mr. Torrens should favdur the meeting with an outline of his Act as it was proposed to be adapted to Victoria. That gentleman assented, and entered at considerable length into an explanation of the grounds of the decisions adverse to his bill of the Supreme Court of South Australia, and said that he had introduced clauses to meet these objections. He pioceeded to point out the advantage? of his system as compared with the old one, and also the measuie trained by the Nicholson Government upon the model of Sir Hugh Caims's bill. The Attorney-General (Mr. Ireland) stated that the point* of dispute between himself and Mr. Tonens were such that they could very easily agree upon nil detail* connected with the working of the new system of registxa-

tion, after the proprietors had once brought their lands imder the system ; but that the rnaiu differences had reference to the mode by which the titles, were to be' brought under the law. Mr. Torreiu, in reply, stated that, under the first aeries of clauies in this bill, it was intended to establish a land tribunal, consisting of commissioners who would be assisted by two or more solicitors, and an officer to be called the Recorder of Titles. Any person desirous of placing his lands upon the register would be obliged to furnish an abstract to the recorder, and to lodge an application, praying for a certificate of title under the act It would be for the commissioners to place the titlo upon the register at once, or to direct that notices be advertised, in all parts of the world where the title was likely to be questioned, over a period extending from one month to thiee yeais. Dining this interval, it would be tor any person to enter a caveat against tho land being placed upon the register, m which event, or in that of the recorder lefusing to register, the applicant might have recourse to the Supreme Couit. Ultimately, the proprietor might, or might not be placed on the legister. In the event of the former alternative, ho would obtain a certificate which would give him an indefeasible title subject to certain exceptions, as contained in clause 41 ; for instance, as against the owner of a Crown giant pieviously legisteied under the Act , or any liens 01 charges on the legister itself ; or in case of a misdescription of the propel ty, or a mistake in its boundaries. Should the right owner, except in lespect to the things to excepted, turn up, he would, unless fraud was pioved, be prevented from bunging an action of ejectment, but he could recover as damage's the value of the laud at the time of sale from the person by Whom the certificate was originally obtained. The advantage of this would be that the registered proprietor would bo entitled to all improvements made by him on the land. Should the registered proprietor have sold his interest, or have become insolvent, then the right owner could come upon the insurance fund which the act provided should be raised by a charge of a half-penn'y'per cent upon all land biought under ifo operation. The purchaser would, however, have a perfect indefeasible title. Tho Attorney General asked what was the present amount of the insurance fund in South Australia,. Mr Torrens • Upwards of £2,000. The Attorney-General : And what the value of the property affected by the hist decision. Mr. Torrens About half a million ; but the effect of that decision is not that the titles are bad, but that the land in question has never been brought under the act. In the event of the Insurance Fund not being large enough, the right owner could recover against the state. VLr. Torrens, a:ter acknowledging the suggestions he had leceived from Mr. Ireland, which he stated he intended to adopt, concluded a very lucid and elaborate statement of his measure by again explaining some of its principal provisions. The Attorney General, at the request of the Chairman stated his views on the subject under discussion. The most important difference between him and Mr. Tonens was the prelnninary investigation, and the first difficulty he saw was that the general revenue was converted into an insurance fund to indemnify the purchasers of bad titles under the act ; he doubted whether Parliament would assent to this. Assuming that it would, what gain did any person obtain by getting his land placed upon the register. The objections he saw weie first the creation of a new tribunal ; secondly, the expense of advertising, and the courting of litigation which such a procedure involved ; and thirdly, that any number of caveats might be entered by all sorts of persons, and that the proprietor might be driven into no end of actions with no other protection than that he might recover damages from these caveators if a jury were satisfied that they had been entered upon without any reasonable cause. He then discussed the value of the title which Mr. Torrens called indefeasible, but which was in reality subject to many exceptions. Mr Torrens remarked that even in these excepted cases the land cannot be recovered by ejectment The Attorney-General. — Yes, but the value of the land at the date of the certificate may be recovered in an action, and the property sold under the execution. Mr. Torrens.— Yes , if the defendant has no other means of paying. The Attorney-General. — Of course , I assume that all that the certificate assures the registered proprietor is the value of the improvements he may make, The question in my mind is, whether the publio would get any equivalent foi the trouble they would have to take. No doubt where the registered proprietor sold within a short time of his name being placed upon the legister, he would pass an indefeasible title, but many fiauds might be thus per petrated. A person who got his name once on the register would be induced to get rid of the land as soon as he could, and shuffle out of his liability by foisting it on the general levenuej As the differences between him and Mi. Tonens after the pioperty was on the register, they weie not veiy important. He (the At-torney-Geneial) was opposed to the scheme of, Sir Hugh Cairns, winch also entailed a prehminaiy investigation, as he thought no person should be forced into expensive and piotiacted litigation, such as would be entailed by that measure. His own idea was — and Professor Hearn had prepared a bill to carry out the view, — that eveiy piopriety should be entitled, but not compelled, to place his name upon the legister immediately upon the passing of the act, upon his lodging an abstract of title* and the ceitificate of counsel, and the affidavit of a sohtoi, that he had a 2 )rima facie light to be icgistered asanownei. The main objection to this was that there would be no immediate purification of titles, and he admitted the force of this, but at the same time he believed that the balance of advantage, was in favor of his plan. The period of limitations as affecting titles to land was now abridged to a penod of fifteen yeais, so that titles onoe placed upon the register would giadually become indefeasible, unless objections weie taken to them. After some lemarks from Mr. O'rfhauasry, Mr. A'Beckett, Mr Wilson Gray, and some other gentlmen, the meeting bioke up with a vote of thanks to Mr. Toireus for the tiouble he had taken in expounding the pnuciples of his measure.