The Express.
London, England, 1847-06-25 00:00:00

ror statA, *it 016.1111)
trammed* tamest to Lord DIINSANDISN estates, is
which the Add seer& required to be trade for the
Istillfactiiket this mortgagee, had It been insisted
upon, weal hive sag 2,5001. ; rid is the matter of
Lord PorrraListcrron's mortgage, the Idirial search
could only have been obtained at an expert; of 5,0001.
This has led to the adoption by tuprof.naiou of
what is called "a common search;" kisat is, " the
solicitor of the vendor makes a comma search, and

all acts of the vendor he finds on record he seta down
in chronological order [that the vendor's title]. He
then transmits that search, with copies of the
deeds he to the solicitor for the pur-
chaser. posses,
Ten frame what is called the
requisition for a negative search, by which they
call on the registrar to give a list of all acts relating
to the lands or the parties they name, except so and
so, giving for exception every one of the acts of
which they were conusant." The registrar then exa-
mines his records, and certifies any other than the
excepted deeds which may be discovered, and that
there are no others. Where the common search has
been properly conducted, of course the non-excepted
acts will be very few, and as the fees are paid upon
the deeds, &c.. certified, the expense is comparatively I
small. For example, in Lord PORTARLINGTON'II
case, where an official or negative search simply I
would have cost 5,0001., when mode after a common
search, and all ascertained acts had been excepted, it
cost 37/. only. Bat then the cost of common search
is no trifle. Thus in Lord DUNSANDLeeI case, by the
parties consenting to a common search being first
made, the cost of the official search was reduced from'
2,500/. to 181. ; the common search, however, having
been made at the coat of 5201. In Lord PORTAR-
LINGTON'B case the common search cost about 1,0001.
It is thus plain that mere registration of deeds
with the existing length of title', and in a way that
does not disclose fully the contents of the deeds, will
not lessen the expense, even if it give, which we
doubt, security of title.
What, then, will at once give security, facility of
transfer, and a minimum of expense?
We gladly call, in support of the views on this
point we have so often expressed, the testimony of so
practical and experienced a witness as Mr. MAIIONY.
He several times strongly recommended the adoption
of a general map; and, as regards Ireland, thought
the ordnance survey and map sufficient for the pur-
pose ; and said truly, that " a description in words
would lead to great uncertainty, after the alterations
which time must produce in the state of advancing
civilisation. Who, by words 60 years ago, could
deacribe, for the purposes of life in 1847, Hyde-park-
guidons, and that great town of which it now forms
only a part?" When asked—" You make a new
street, and build in that new street a great many new
tenements; how would those be referred to in any
Nap ? " Mr. MAHON Y replied in terms which
have far wider application than the particular
question, "We have now of record a public, that is,
the ordnance survey. I do not assert, or believe,
that any possible institution, suggested as applicable
to the condition and description of property belonging
to my generation, can answer for all future genera-
tions." And though Mr. MAHONY would not for a
time make the reference to the map compulsory, yet
ultimately, "that the registrar of deeds should insist,
as the basis of registration, that the public maps
should be referred to by all persons dealing with
land, for it is of the deepest interest to society that the
title to land should become as simple, and that the
transfer of it should become as cheap, as possible.
That cannot be accomplished except by a good
registry system, and the chief agent in that system
should be at all times an easy sad a certaia
means for ascertaining the boundaries of the
single acre or rood, or the thousands of acres, in
relation to which individuals may be dealing."
It is truly said that a public map of the country forms
the foundation of the description of land in most
European countries, in our own colonies, and in the
United States. And after strongly urging that all
deeds ought to be publicly recorded at length, Mr.
MAHONY said, "If a registry is to be established for
a public object, surely the chief of those public objects
ought to be the establishment of common honesty
between man and man. If parties will deal with
land which belongs, in the abstract at least, to the state,
let the community insist on the owners dealing openly
with it." The late Mr. DUVAL was decisively of
opinion that deeds should be registered at length, and
that anything short of so doing would prove •
failure.
The objection sometimes urged against such a
registry is, that the owners of land are averse to let
the world know how they deal with their property.
To this Mr. MAHONY'S answer, and it is the true one,
was full and decisive. He said, " I think it becomes
a great protection to the owners of landed property,
that their real condition should be known instead of
being guessed at. The consequences resulting from a
system of secrecy. have been, according to my expe-
rience, highly injurious to those for whose suppoom
beneyit it was acted upon. Those who desire conceal-
ment too often deceive themselves ; and I have never
known a man dealing fairly and honourably with his
property, who urged the slightest objection to the,
publicity of his dealings. Publicity and honesty
must accompany each other, secree,s and fraud
too often go hand in hand ; and being
asked what he thought of the case of a
man with a rental of 10,0001. a year, bat
whose estate was mortgaged to the extent et
8,0001. or 9,0001. a year, whether such a man would
not suffer by its being known that his real income W2B
so much less than his nominal one ? the reply wee:
" I think it would be only consistent with a system of
perfect honesty that his real condition should be
known. For instance, if I have 100,0001., and I want
to make it a security, I mast transfer it—nothing
short of that will answer the purpose : if I have rail-
way stock, the delivery over of the certificates is no
security, I must transfer the shares in the books of
the company; and until then they are not a enmity.
If you deal with land, I know of impound reason that
because it is land it should be treated differently as
security between man and man from stocks or shares." I
And he referred to a particular case of embarrassment I
in which a landowner in Ireland, whose estates were
worth only 60,0001., had got into debt to the extent of
90,0001., which would not have happened if all
charges must have been registered. Nor need we go
to Ireland for an illustration of such evils from m-
erely, of which Buckinghamshire has just furnished a
most instructive example. We fully agree with Mr.
MAHONT when he says, " I do not believe that con-
fidence can be produced by secrecy, while I can be-
lieve that confidence between man and man will be
vastly extended through a fearless publicity of their
acts."
Oar limits preclude the notice of many other sug-
gestions by which the principles above announced
may be worked out ; but the evidence concludes with
a practical instance of the evils of the existing
system so apt at this time that we must extract it.
In October last the witness felt it his duty to repre-
sent the state of the Irish peasantry to a member of
the present government, and of the necessity of
immediately, procuring food through employment for
the people.' The minister " pointed at the efforts
made by the landlords of Scotland as an example to
those in Ireland. I admitted the force of his obser-
vations, but I stated that the Irish landlords were
deprived of all power to meet the crisis through the
use of their capital, as represented by land, for the
reasons I have stated to this commission, whilst the
Scotch landlords were in a different condition,
through their registry system. I stated a case in
illustration thus : A had an estate of 14,0001. a year
in Ireland, on which he was willing to borrow
10,0001. for the immediate employment and relief of
the people then about to starve upon it. B was
ready to advance the required sum, the abstract of
title was complete and ready for delivery, bat the
searches (notwithstanding that the greatest diligence
might be exercised) would occupy three or four
months, and I fain asked what was to become of the
starving people
it she
mean time ?" This is no
imaginary case ; it is strictly true, and it aptly
illustrates the system.

In our Paris correspondence of yesterday we were
enabled to announce the important decision given by
the Chamber of Peers in the Girardin affair late on
Tuesday afternoon. This result has produced a great
sensation in all political circles in Paris, involving as
it does the question of the inculpation of the cabinet.
Notwithstanding the great influence exercised by the
cabinet in the upper chamber, and the attendance in
person of four or its members, viz., Marshal Sonit,
President of the Council; the Duke of Montebello,
Minister of Marine; M. Jayr, Minister of Public
Works; and General Trezel, Minister of War,
the chlimba dismissed the charge against M. de