Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-06
HAVEN, MONDAY
IOnday Morning, Feb. 6. 1882.
A NEEDED REFORM.

If man wants to buy piece of real estate
he must go through slow and costly pro-
cess and even then he is not sure that his
title is absolutely sound. Many buyer of
land has discovered after he has been in pos
session some time that through the careless
ness of somebody, or because of some for
| gotten claim or lien, his title is not good
| one.
The inconvenience and danger of dealing
in real estate under the present system are
| seriously felt in New York city, and what is
| called the West Side Association has been in
vestigating the matter with a view to apply
| ing to the Legislature for a remedy. Accord
| ing to the New York Hour, they find that in
| New Zealand there are land laws enforced by
| which titles to real estate are conveyed as
promptly, as cheaply and as safely as bonds
| and stocks. These laws have been in force
! since 1870 and are improvement upon
what is known as the 1orrens Act of South
Australia, in which colony titles TO land have
been on a sounder basis than in any other
civilized country. The system is substantial
| ly the same as that employed in this country
| in transferring ownership in securities, the
only difference being that the government
takes the place of a trust company in guar
anteeing the validity of the transfer. In New
Zealand or South Australia the purchaser or
| the broker has only to satisfy himself that
the seller has the real estate registered in
his name at the Government Land Office and
that the signature on the transfer deed is
genuine The whole cumbrous machinery
of searches, dover rights, liens and possible
clerical errors in conveyancing is all swept
away.
The Hour declares that the time is not far
distant when the property holders of New
York city will become thoroughly alarmed at
the condition of affairs in the Registrars
Office. 1t says:
The titles of all real estate in this great
city are at the mercy of four searchers, who
are the owners of the induces from which the
conveyances derive their validity. These
private induces, be it remembered do not
belong to the city or to the Registrar, but
are held as private property by four men,
who divide the fees with the Registrar. For
thirty years they have held this monopoly.
= Registrars Connolly and Doane tried to break
'ls,e this ring, but the four searchers carted
WAY 5Eesssqe all-important induces to their own
,ons5s' and tls he Registrars had to surrender.
.tla' y Sole Fors OF npr REGISTRARS Office is
literally d hIanstrous fraud u~,,1o,, a. to~.
payers. Over seventy persons are erstr-s1oyed
n doing work which is wholly superfuo1S.
The deeds are printed forms, yet under our
absurd system the engrossing clerks tran
scribe them in pen and ink. As a conse-
Iuenoe an enormous library of written trans.
'ers has been accumulated when there is no
need of them at all. In the Registrars Office
here are ,604 hbers of deeds and l, 500 libers
If mortgages. These books are sixteen inches
ong, thirteen inches wide. three inches thick,
md occupy one-ifth of mile of shelves. Of
course these records added to every year,
and as consequence searches become more
difficult, costly and wasteful of time. Errors
IRE constantly happening. A partial search
mas discovered that hundreds of recorded
leeds are not in the induces at all, and more
han a thousand mistakes were found in them.
In short, the system of indexing which pre-
walls does well enough for town of few
thousand Inhabitants, but is utterly unsuited
10 city of even moderate size.
This is not pleasant condition of affairs
for those who own, or think they own, real
estate in New York city The proposed re.
form seems to be needed and sensible And
# it can be instituted in New York, why not
n Connecticut and elsewhere? 1t would, to
be sure subtract from the earnings of those
who transfer real estate, but its benefits
would be numerous and great.