OUR LAND LAW'S.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 129, 2 June 1871, Page 2

OUR LAND LAW'S.

CcMßcunicated. It is a popula^elief that lawyers, as a class, thrive JsA fatten upon the follies, the sorrows, and the wrong-doing of the rest of maukind. But.popular beliefs are sometimes popular delusions, and a volume might be, nay, has been, written, to prove that they are generally founded in error, and let us hope that this is one of them. It is a popular belief that the "Land Transfer Act, 1870" is distaste'ful'fo the lawyers, as tending to take the business connected with the transfer of land generally out of their hands. Never, certaiuly, was a greater error than <his, for the concoction of this Act must have been a labor of love to the numerous lawyers who are representatives of the people. The General Assembly, whatever may be it 3 shortcomings, and they are many aud grievous, cannot be accused of a want of energy or au aversion to hard work, though it is 100 frequently in the wrong direction. There must he something in the "exasperating" climate of Wellington that whets this unwholesome appetite for meddling and muddling, which, in our humble opinion, unfits it to be the seat of government. In the anno tricesimo tertio et tricesimo quarto Victoria Regmce, the small change for which is — iv the thirty-third and thirtyfourth year of Victoria the Queen — the General Assembly passed no less tban ninety-nine public, aud three local aud personal, Acts of Parliament, one of the most famous (or otherwise) of which is Act 51, 1870, being an "Act to simplify Title to and the dealing with estates in Land," or shortly the " Land Transfer Act, 1870." It contains no less than 148 clauses, and schedules all the letters down to Q, which is ominously suggestive of Queer Street, the street iv which the Colony may perhaps find itself after a few years of its operation. To be candid however, it must be said that this Act is based upon, if it be not word for word the same as Torrens' Act of South Australia, in which colony as well as iv others, there is no reason to doubt that its operation has been otherwise than beneficial. So it might be here in connection with further legislation, as we shall hereafter point out, but at present we have only to deal with it as -it stands in all its naked integrity and isolation. In the Act, the word " Land " is defined "to extend to aud include messuages, tenemeDts, and hereditaments in or concerning reality, corporeal or incorporeal, of every kind and description whatever." It is a pity that these old-world phrases could not be avoided in dealing with such a matter-of-fact affair as land should be in a colony now-a-daye, but he must have been a clever lawyer who, suffering at the time from night-mare, evolved out of his brain or stomach the term " incorporeal reality " for land mortgaged for more that it is worth, as most of the land in New Zealaud is. But as this is an Act which mainly concerns the lawyers, we have, perhaps, no reason to cavil at thier use. 'For this legacy of woe — perhaps not the only one bequeathed to the country by the defunct General Assembly — has been framed for the special behoof, delectation, and profit of the lawyers, and it should therefore be styled, uot the " Land Transfer Act, 1870," but the " Lawyers' Own Act, 1870." Instead of having little or nothing to do with the transfer of land,, they will have everything to do with it. The country is delivered over to them bound hand and foot. It is parcelled out into lauddistricts. Over all, reigns supreme a Registrar-General who must be a barrister. Then there are deputy Registrars General, and Assistant Land Registrars, and Deputy Land Registrars, who must also be barristers. Then there are more deputy officers whose appointment rests with the Registrar General, and they must be, at the least, lawyers' clerks. Then, there are the Examiners of Titles, who must also be barristers. Only the licensed Brokers may be something else but lawyers if they choose to pay a fee of £5 and., outer into a bond .'.'for good behaviour to, the tune -of £1000. To make up, however, for this concession to the extra-legal community, solicitors may act as laudbrokers -without either fee or bond. So, we think, we

have shown satisfactorily that the lawyers, far from disliking the Act, have every reason to be pleased with it. Nay more, .they actually dote upon it. They take a copy of it with them wherever they go. They put it under their pillows at night. They study it in sly corners. Those that are musical learn clauses of it by heart, and set them to the tunes of comic songs. The piously iucliued would like to take it to church instead of their prayer-books, if their wives would let them, and one, at least, of them has been seen to snatch a fearful joy from its perusal as he walks along the streets. And thus we have disposed of another popular delusion. The Land Transfer Act, after having hung fire for a short time, has apparently begun to take. The landbrokers are now busy spreading their tempting lures in uewspaper advertisements in the shape of a " complete title" to land. This is too tempting a thing to be long neglected. Those that come first will be first served, but there will be only short commons for those that come after, for it is difficult to see how a complete title can be given personally to properties in this Province where it is notorious that numerous errors exist iv its surveys, and more particularly where land originally granted to one persou has been subsequently subdivided. Presently there will be a cry of Caveat through the length and breadth of the land, and, if the demon of litigation is once let loose, there is no knowing where it will stop. But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and it will be then that the lawyers will find their chief account in the workiug of the Act, and they will be eutitled to a quiet laugh in their sleeves at the short-sightedness of people supposing they would hate nothing' more to do with the manipulation- of land. If a good^deal of it does not remain sticking to their fiogers, it will be^ftiore owing to their moderation thaa^otheir professional instincts. We sh^ld conceive that the North Island i^generally in the same evil case as JMson as to surveys. Canterbury anoOtago, being newer settlements, .atfd having been to sorre extent carefully triangulated, will come out of the ordeal comparatively unharmed. But poor Nelson will suffer most of all, and therefore it is fitting that she should take the initiative iD applying for a remedy.

We presume we are not wrong in inferring that an uneasy feeling on the subject does exist in the minds of the Provincial Councillors of Nelson. Last year a Bill styled a " Quieting Bill" was introduced or proposed in the Council on account of the existing state of surveys in the Province, and on the ground that it was desirable that some measure should be adopted to legalise existing boundaries, and so prevent loss and inconvenience to holders of property. This year, again, it has been moved that " looking to the numerous errors that are known to exist in the surveys of this Province, this Council is of opinion that meaus should be taken by the Colonial Government to legalise existing boundaries, and that his Honor the Superintendent and the other members of the Assembly from this Province be respectfully requested to bring this important question prominently under the notice of the General Government." Both propositions were negatived without much discussion, the Council being perhaps of opinion that it is better to let sleeping dogs lie, or remembering that dirty water, if stirred, is apt to emit an offeusive odour. But there are wheels within wheels, and there may be a reason for the Council thus shirking a disagreeable subject with which we are not acquainted. It will, however, have to tackle it sooner or later — not too late, it is to be hoped.

It is easier to pull down than to build up, but we have no desire to pull down this Land Transfer Act, though we regard it as it stands alone, and without further legislation, as a truly disquieting Act, and expect that its operation will have to be suspended in some parts. On the contrary, we believe that it may readily be made operative for good iustead of for evil, aud eventually of great benefit to the whole colony. The remedial measure we propose will, we trust, recommend itself to all who have the welfare of the country at heart, not forgetting their own, but having already exceeded our allotted space we must reserve the exposition of it for another paper.