The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-25 00:00:00

7HE ARMY.

His Royal Highness the Dake of Cambridge ar-
rivd eat Portland on Monday evening in the Admi-
„EDT steam yacht Vivid, from an official visit of
inspection to the Channel Islands. His Royal
Highness remained in 'Weymouth all night, and
returned on Tuesday morning. The Vivid, after
taking in coals at the breakwater, will leave for
Portsmouth immediately.
The following circular memorandum has been
promulgated at the head-quarters of the Royal En.
gineers' establishment, Chatham :
" 1. The Secretary of State for War has, with the sanc-
tion of the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury
and the concurrence of his Royal Highness the General
Commanding-in-Chief, approved the following regulations
in regard to the future arrangement and designation of the
Department of the Inspector-General of Fortifications.
" 2. The present office of Inspector-General of Fortifica-
tions to be in future designated Inspector-General of En-
gineers and Director of Works.
" 3. This officer to be considered as a General officer on
the staff of the army, holding the position of a Divisional
General as regards his own special corps, at the same time
that he conducts the department connected with barracks,
fortifications, and other works.

4. In his capacity of Inspector-General of Engineers
he will be in direct communication with the General Com-
roanding-in-Chief ; in his capacity of Director of Works he
will be under the immediate authority and control of the
Secretary of State for War.
i 4 5, The duties connected with the "War-office will be
conducted by two assistants, heads of branches, under his
supervision, the one for barrack buildings, the other for
fortifications and civil buildings.
"6. The duties connected with the General Commanding-
in •Chief to be carried on as follows :—All orders issued to
the corps to be in the name of the General Commanding-in.,
Chief, by the Adjutant-General of the army, as at present;
but inasmuch as it is essential that the Inspector-General
of Engineers, in his double capacity as military officer and
"a ituActionary of the War Department, should have the

Yesterday Col. Nedham continued his inspection
of the Royal Artillery in the Chatham district. In
the morning he examined the kits, arms, and
accoutrements of the non-commissioned officers and
men, together with the horses, Armstrong guns,
carriages, &c., of the field battery, 9th brigade, all
of which were found to be in a thoroughly efficient
state. After exercising the battery in a variety of
evolutions, all of which were exceedingly well per-
formed, the inspection terminated with an exami-
nation of the books, accounts, and documents of the
brigade.

7HE LORD CHANCELLOR'S LAND
TRANSFER ACT.

As the lst of October—the period at which it is
announced that the Lord Chancellor's Land Trans-
fer Act is to come into operation—is now close at
hand, it may not be unacceptable to those of our
readers who are interested in that measure to be
presented with a succinct outline of its provisions.
The object of the Act, as stated in the preamble,
is threefold ; first, to give certainty or security to
the title to real estates ; secondly, to facilitate the
proof of such title ; and thirdly, to render the
dealing with land more simple and inexpensive than
it is at present.
First, as to giving certainty or security to the
title to land. This certainty or security is effected
by rendering titles indefeasible or unassailable.
With this view the Act establishes a registry of the
title to landed estates, which registry is not to ex-
tend to copyhold estates, but only to freeholds and
to long leaseholds.

In order to obtain an indefeasible title to free-
hold estates, persons -who, whether beneficially or
as trustees, are individually or collectively owners
of or entitled to the fee simple, or who are owners
of the first estate of freehold and first vested estate
of inheritance, or who have contracted for the pur-
chase of land and are authorised by their contract to
do so, or with the vender's consent, may apply for
the registration of their title as indefeasible; but
the registration of a title as indefeasible can be
effected in those cases only in which there is shown
to the registrar appointed under the Act a market-
able title—that is, such a title as a court of equity
would, in the absence of special contract, enforce
upon an unwilling purchaser.
The title presented for registration will be inves-
tigated by the registrar and examiners of title, who
will be either the conveyancing council of the Court
of Chancery or such other conveyancing counsel
and persons as the Lord Chancellor may appoint,
and questions of doubt upon any title may be re-
ferred, by way of summons in chambers, to such
judge of the Court of Chancery as the Lord Chan-
cellor also shall appoint ; so that in very exceptional
cases only, if, indeed, ever, will proceedings in the
nature of a suit be necessary.

If the title shall be approved the applicant for re-
gistration must furnish to the registrar,-
1. An exact description of the lands to be regis-
tered.

2. A statement of the several persons interested
in such lands, and of the nature of such interest ;
an d

3. A statement of the charges and incumbraneas
(if any) on such lands, and of the persons entitled
thereto.

When the description of the lands has been
settled and the registrar is satisfied with the title,
notices are to be given by public advertisement of
the intention to register the lands. Such notices
are to contain copies of the description of the lands
to be registered, and of the names and descriptions
of the applicants for registration, and they aro to
be served on every adjoining occupier and the per-
son to whom such occupier pays rent, and also on
every person who shall appear to have any estate
or interest in the lands, and on such other persons
as may be deemed necessary. The notices must also
state the period and place at which cause may be
shown against the proposed registration.
Thus, the notices are not to.be given until the
title is approved ; so that the rejection of any appli-
cation to register a title on the ground of its not
being marketable, will not be a matter of publicity
or notoriety any more than is the rejection now of
a title by a conveyancer.
If, at the expiration of the time stated in the
notice no objection shall be made to the registra-
tion, the registration will be completed, first, by
an entry of the description, of the estate in
a book to be called The Itegister of Estates
with an Indefeasible Title ;" secondly, by an entry
in another book to be called " The Record of
Title to Lands on the Registry " of the persons
entitled to the lands mentioned in the first-named
book ; and, thirdly, by an entry in a third book to
be called " The Register of Mortgages and In-
cumbrances" of the mortgages and incumbrances
(if any) affecting the lands named in the Record of
Title. -,

When the title is registered as indefeasible, no
person 'will
registry except
admitted to inspect the books of
the owners, or mortgages, or incum-
brancers, or their solicitors or agents, or except
under an order of the Court of Chancery. Thus
publicity, one objection to a registration, is guarded
against, and the books of registration will be as
private as a landowner's title deeds.
Tire title deeds also which shall have been sub-
mitted to the registrar will not be kept by ihim,
but they will be returned to the owner, and if the
title should be registered they will be stamped, to
indicate that the land to which they relate has been
registered under the act. After the title has been
registered, the registrar will persevere in his office
printed copies of all deeds dated subsequent to the
registration relating to the lands registered.
It should here be observed that whellsPeaking of
indefeasible titles under the act, titles will in reality
only be indefeasible in the hands of mortgagees and
purchasers for value, and persons claiming through
tam. So that a person iu possession a lzAin.L

The length of time which ordinarily elapses be-
tween a contract for the sale of land and its com-
pletion is well known. It is seldom less than three
months, and often, and sometimes more than three
times three months, before the conveyance is exe-
cuted and the transaction completed. This interval
is taken up in examining the abstract, in making
requisitions upon it, and answering them. Occa-•
sionally, also, one of the contracting parties resorts
to the Court of Chancery to settle his differences
with the other contracting party. Under the Land
Transfer Act little time will be lost in investigat-
ing a title once registered, as the date of registra-
tion will form an epoch or fresh starting point an-
terior to which it will not be necessary to make
any investigation whatever into the title, inasmuch
as the title will be unassailable by anything which
may have happened prior to registration and the
registry of estates. The Record of Title and the
Register of Incumbrances (if any) will, as we have
already said, in fact form the abstract of title. Thus
one fruitful source of expense under the present
system of land transfer, the investigation of the
title, will be done away with.
But the Act does not: stop there. The mode of
conveyance will be rendered as short as possible,
and consequently the expense of the conveyance
greatly lessened.
The Act provides that all registered land may be
conveyed or dealt with—

1. By a statutory disposition in any of the forms
described in the schedule to the Act.
2. By endorsement on the land certificate.

3. By deposit of the land certificate.

4. By any deed, will, or other instrument by
which land, not registered, may now be conveyed
or dealt with ; but no equitable mortgage or lien
on registered land shall be created by a deposit of
title-deeds. The only way, then, in which an
equitable mortgage of registered land can be created
is by a deposit of the land certificate.
The schedule comprises forms of conveyance of
land, of mortgage, of transfer of land by endorse-
ment on the land certificate, and of transfer of mort-
gage, all of them being in the shortest possible
form. For example, the form of transfer of land is
as follows :
"Dated this day of . I, AB, of &c., in con-

sideration of (five thousand pounds) paid to me, grant to
C D and his heirs for ever, all (insert description of land).
"Signed and sealed by A. B.
" Witness—E F, of, &c., a Solicitor of the High Court of
Chancery, or a certificated conveyancer."

We know not whether it be intended that in all
those cases in which the forms comprised in the
schedule are used the execution of them shall be
attested by either a solicitor in Chancery or a certi-
ficated conveyancer. If so, it is clear that there
may be cases in which suph a requisition would be
highly inconvenient, if not impossible to be com-
plied with. This, however, is a matter which
would seem to be readily susceptible of remedy, in-
asmuch as the Lord Chancellor has the power of
altering the forms stated in the schedule by pub-
lished advertisement in the London Gazette.
We should add that the lands placed in the re-
gistry may be withdrawn from it at any time, and
that the enactments of the act are purely permissive,
and do not oblige landowners to register under it.
Upon the application, by petition or otherwise, of

any of the persons empowered to apply for a regis-

tration of title as before mentioned, sales of land
with an indefeasible title may be made under the act
by the Court of Chancery, in the same manner as
sales are made by the Landed Estates Court in Ire-
land.

The act also provides for registration without an
indefeasible title in cases where the applicant or
person through whom he claims has been in the
enjoyment or receipt of the rents of land, as owner
of the fee simple, continuously for ten years prior to
the period of the application.
In these eases no investigation of title will take
place beyond the production to the registrar of the
last deed or will (if any) under which the applicant
derives title ; and, apparently, the only expense
will be that attendant on settling the description of
the parcels and ascertaining the boundaries.
The act also does not prescribe the mode in
which the registration of land without an indefea-
sible title is to be effected; but we presume that in
ticis case books similar to those which will be kept
for the registration of indefeasible titles will be used.
The advantage which will attend registration
without an indefeasible title will be that the record
of title will evidence all dealings with the land sub-
sequent to such registration, as in the case of regis-
tration with an indefeasible title. After the estate
has been on the registry for a few years the title
may possibly be accepted by purchasers and mort-
gagees without further investigation; and the re-
gistrar is empowered under the act to fix a time
when the title will become indefeasible. In this

latter case, however, we presume—for the act does
not say so—that, as in the case of lands originally
registered with an indefeasible title, the title would
be indefeasible only in the hands of a purchaser for
valuable consideration.

That the act will prove successful we can scarcely
doubt. In the case of sales under it with an inde-
feasible title by the Court of Chancery we have in-
deed the introduction into England of the principle
of the Landed Estates Court in Ireland, and that
such sales will from their manifest advantages be
resorted to we think tolerably certain. Again, it is
to be borne in mind that landowners who at the time
of the registration of their lands with an indefeasible
title have no immediate sale in view will, by such a
registration, expedite and facilitate a sale at a future
period if they should make one, and moreover that
they will thereby almost certainly insure a better
price for their land, inasmuch as the title will be
indefeasible or unimpeachable in the hands of a
purchaser for value.
Some landowners have been thrown into a ner-
vous steal of excitement by the fear that their lands
11ia5.1 under the Act, be conveyed away from them
iniAefeasibly ; but it may allay their apprehensions
to be told that there is only one case in Ireland in
which the Encumbered Estates Court has sold land
as belonging to one person while in reality it belonged
tto az whoothe tars;atne thdtahta;r.
,Taswregards trt Re:auspeerl,lcocualsde:
ho
under the Lord Chancellor's Act, have procured an
indefeasible title had the Act been in operation at
the time of the sale to him, assume that the title of

The precautions adopted in pursuance of the pro-
clamation have proved effective. There was no
rioting last night, and it is believed they will not
be renewed. There has been a regular "flitting"
from the disturbed districts. All the Protestants
residing in the " Pound district" have packed up
and removed to other parts of the town, not think-
ing their lives safe in the enemy's camp. In like
manner all the Roman Catholics of the "Sandy-
row district" have removed to places where their
presence will not be regarded as a standing offence
to their neighbours. This moving is not a matter
of choice with either of the parties. They had got
notice to quit, and they would remain at their peril.
One of the measures adopted on Monday night
for the preservation of the peace was to have all the
publichouses all closed at 6 o'clock. Another was
to prevent the assembling of crowds in the streets.
The people were required to " move on." The
navvies marched up again from their work in regu-
lar order with their spades and hammers. They were
stopped by the military, while the police disarmed
them and lodged their weapons in the barracks.
These measures kept the districts usually disturbed
in a state of quietness; but there was another part
of the town unaccountably neglected—" entirely
given over to a riotous mob"—consisting of Roman
Catholics. The result was the wrecking of a large
number of houses. They extinguished the lamps
and attacked a party of police, which they drove
back till they were reinforced. Several hundred
Orangemen were assembled in the Orange-hall and
in the street outside, well armed and ready to de-
fend it at all hazards. They were fortunately not
attacked, otherwise there would have been some
bloody work. During all this night there was but
one man arrested, and that was by the Mayor him-
self in person. "Is it to be longer endured," asks
the Northern Whig," that with 2,000 armed men
in Belfast, a lot of ruffians are to set all law and
order at defiance—are to assault innocent people
who are travelling quietly to their homes, knock
them down, kick them, and otherwise abuse them,
for no cause or reason whatever ?"

Several respectable people were frightfully abused
in this way—beaten almost to death and robbed of
their watches and money, Thirteen persons have
been arrested for taking pare in the riots. They
were brought before the magistrates on Monday ;
one was fined 405., the other twelve were remanded.

EXTRAORDINARY DESTRUCTION OF A

FLOCK OF 111 SHEEP.

CO SHAM, H ANTS.

By one of the most extraordinary accidents which
it has ever been our lot to chronicle, Mr. George
Peel, an extensive occupier of land, and sheep-
farmer, residing at Wymering Farm, near Cosham,
within a short distance of Portsmouth, lost more
than a hundred sheep on the afternoon of Saturday
last. It would appear that, in a large field on the
Horndean-road, about half a mile from Waterloo,
there was a flock of about 500 sheep, the property
of Mr. Peel, which were in charge of a shepherd
named Francis Whitcher. This man states that he
left the sheep all right about twelve o'clock a.m.,
and went over to Waterloo to get a paunch for his
dog, which he took with him. About half-past
two word was brought to Mr. Peel's house that
the sheep were in a ditch, and on Janus Carter,
another of Mr. Peel's shepherds, going to the field
he found a vast number of sheep jammed together
in the ditch, and the others striving to force
their way in. With great difficulty the sheep
were driven back, and 70 were got out of the ditch
alive, but 114 were found dead in the ditch, The
ditch is about 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 6 feet
deep, and it would seem that one sheep having gone
in, the others followed, till they were all jammed
together, and literally suffocated. The ditch was
perfectly dry. The carcases were got out and carted
to Mr. Peel's farm-yard, where in a very few hours
the progress of decomposition was apparent. The
skins were removed, and the carcasses were sold to
knackers and tallow-chandlers. Mr. Peel's loss
will amount to upwards of £2OO. Among those
suffocated were five valuable rams, and many of the
ewes were with lamb.

SUPERSTITION IN A RICHLAND GLEN.

Some days ago, in an upland strath no 50 miles
from Ben Avon, a very extraordinary disclosure of
superstitious belief in the rimer of "fortune-tell-
ing " came to our knowledge, The story (says our
correspondent) is as under, and we have it from good
authority :—" A band of tirkers had been peram-
bulating the district, and it vrould appear one of the
grannies' of the tribe had Nen holding forth offers
to some of the female pertiot of the inhabitants to
read their fortunes for so much. Having got a job
from one woman, who, by the way, gave her 2s.
extra to tell her how her lnsband behaved, as she
was jealous of his fidelity towards her, one part of
the performance was that tha ' spae wife' would re-
quire a full suit of the womtn's best clothes to be
buried for two days. Tha fortune-tellers' not
returning with the clothes aad the tidings as to her
fortune at the time specified, the woman set out in
pursuit, but not without great reluctance to tell
any of her neighbours of what she was after. How-
ever, a neighbouring wife, whom she passed in her
pursuit, suspecting what she was after, joined in
the hunt with her, and in coarse the pursuers in-
creased in numbers considerably, and at last came
upon the jolly tinkers' camp. The ' spae wife' was
missed, having been seen to decamp from the ren-
dezvous and conceal herself under the ruins of an
old bridge. She was soon, however, dragged from
her den, and a regular stand-up battle of tongues
ensued. Among other remarks was that of the
second party who had joined in the pursuit, who
said—" Oh, woman, you should have given her the
half-sovereign at once that's what :.he read my

fortune for yesterday.' The squabble ended in the
deluded owner of the clothes taking them back by
force ; but the ' twa shillings' were not forth-
coming. We thought such superstitious notions
were entirely exploded ; but it would seem there
are still some jobs for 'fortune tellers' in the High-
lands,—Banffshire Journal.