§ MR. HEALYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether he can state approximately the value of property annually dealt with by the Registry of Deeds, Ireland; whether, as it would appear from the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Registration of Deeds, dated 30th October 1880, the landed property of Ireland is dependent on the Department for the security of its title, and that the nature of the duties necessitates the office being filled with a superior class of clerks; whether, by the Act 2 and 3 William 4, c. 87, sec. 28, every official in the Registry is made individually responsible at law for damages arising through negligence or default; if he will state the 1489 grounds on which the salaries of the Registry of Deeds Office are fixed on a lower scale than those of every other Irish Department of similar importance; and, if he will give any assurance that the Registry of Deeds shall, in point of salaries and annual increment, be placed on an equality with such Departments as the Constabulary Office, Education Office, Board of Works, Local Government Board, and Paymaster General's Office?
§ MR. COURTNEYSir, I am afraid the amount of the property annually dealt with by the Deeds Registry cannot be given, as the amount of "consideration" is not necessarily stated when an instrument is registered. The Report of the Royal Commission contains a paragraph to the effect stated in the Question. The officers of the Registry are, by statute, liable for damages in respect of loss caused by their own negligence or misconduct; but it is a question whether this statutory obligation should not be removed. The salaries are fixed with reference to the nature of the work to be done, and the scale of this Office compares favourably with that of other Departments of Registration in Ireland and Scotland.