Wellington Independent FRIDAY, JUNE 2,1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3215, 2 June 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1871.

In a recent issue we showed the falsity of the charge made against the Premier, accusing him of depriving the North Island of the benefits of the Land Transfer Act, by refusing to license brokers. These remarks have been verified by the actual appointment of land brokers in Wellington, and we may expect that, as in all other places .where such appointments have been made, the " owners of property, vendors," and purchasers (the word " sellers" being an obvious misprint), that we referred to, ■will largely avail themselves of its benefits. These remarks have called forth a reply from our evening contemporary, in which the public are warned " against too rash a reliance on the value of brokers," and that " they are more likely to suffer than to benefit by attempts to extend the power of dealing with legal matters to persons who know nothing about the law." It is scarcely necessary, after our former remarks on this bill, to point out the fallacy that lurks under these specious objections to the appointment of land brokers. The land broker is assumed to have a power, a dangerous jpower, which in point of fact he does not possess. No one can in any way " suffer" from him. lv fact, any man of ordinary intelligence might dispense with his assistance altogether. He can collate all his deeds, furnish a schedule of them, and make the application required by the act, if he would only take the trouble. The land broker relieves him of this trouble, and that is all he has to do. Upon receipt of this application an educated lawyer, namely, the District Land Registrar, shall cause the title of the applicant to be examined and reported upon by another "educated lawyer," to wit, the Examiner of Titles for the district. The land broker leaves the matter entirely in their hands. Nay, the act goes further. Supposing these " educated lawyers," acting under the supervision of another " educated lawyer," viz., the Eegistrar-General of Land, should by any possible chance commit a mistake, by which any person sustains loss or damage, an assurance fund is provided, out of which " the Governor shall pay the amount of such damages." Any person bringing his estate under the act is expressly, by the act itself, saved from all chance of loss. His broker may be stupid, his lawyer dishonest, the Examiner of Titles, the District Land Registrar, and Registrar-

General of Land, may be guilty of omission, mistake, or misfeasance of any kind whatsoever, and yet the applicant can " suffer" no loss. As Mr Fox stated, in moving the second reading, " If, by any accident on tho part of the Registrar, or the partios dealing with the land, a mistake should be made affecting the title, there is an excellent provision, by which, on the payment of a small assurance fee, a peouniary guarantee is given by the Government for the parliamentary goodness of the title which is so issued. That is another immense advantage which distinguishes the system, and which separates it by a length which cannot be measured, from the enormous evils, which have been ruining the Jarndyces and other unfortunate sufferers under the old system, with whom fact and fiction have made us acquainted for generations past." The Hon. John Hall advocated the appointment of land brokers, " because he did not see why business so simple should be confined to members of the legal profession ;" and the Hon. Mr Waterhouse remarked that " he was satisfied that there would have been no such measure as that in operation in Australia, had the preparation of the design and the working of the measure been entirely the work of the lawyers." It is a fact that, since the appointment of land brokers, property has been brought under the act more and more every day, and the people of the Middle Island are, as was predicted in the House, "exceedingly grateful to the Government for passing this measure."