dictment in order to prove that "the system of conveyancing presently in operation in this kingdom" is, by reason of its insecurity, costliness, delays, complexities, and cumbrousness, unsuited to the requirements of this commercial age, and does seriously depreciate the natural value of land.
These evil conditions have a common origin in the retrospective or dependent character of titles under the existing system. Such a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Each fresh transaction induces a fresh element of uncertainty. On each such occasion the ancestral parchments must be examined, and an abstract of the dealings during the preceding forty years prepared for that purpose. Hence the delay. This work, from its peculiar intricacy, can only be entrusted to gentlemen especially and at great expense educated for the work. Hence the costliness.
The first essential, therefore, in any remedial measure must be that it cuts off the retrospective character of titles, and substitutes a method of conveyancing under which future dealings will not induce fresh complications.
The succeeding chapters describe a method which complies with this requirement, and has been tested by an experience of over twenty years, during which upwards of 539,000 transactions' of various kinds have been completed at a reduction in cost from pounds to shillings, and in time from months to days. (See Report on Registration of Title in British Colonies, House of Commons Blue Book, May, 1881.)
