§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £10, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1947, for the salaries and expenses of the office of Land Registry.
§ Mr. ButcherCan the Solicitor-General give us an assurance that the staff of the Land Registry is now being increased, so that work on the Land Register, which is now in arrears, and thus causes certain inconvenience to solicitors and their clients, may now be brought up to date?
§ 9.45 P.m.
The Solicitor-GeneralI can give the hon. Gentleman an assurance that the staff has been increased. The estimate for 1946 was 555 and the staff is now 606. I am sorry that I cannot give him the full assurance for which he asks with regard to arrears. Unfortunately, the further press of work upon the Registry has outstripped the extra staff that is being taken on. Hon. Members, of course, know that from time to time questions have been asked with regard to delays in the Land Registry, and every effort has been made by recruiting staff, to cut down those delays.
There was a considerable amount of success for a time, but when outside firms of solicitors began to get back their staffs the result was a great increase of work, and the extra staff taken on by the Land Registry could not, unfortunately keep pace with it. The estimated amount of increase upon the work done in November, 1945, was 25 per cent.; that is to say, when the original estimate was prepared it was thought that the extra amount of work that would have to be done above the November, 1945, level would be 25 per cent. That, however, has been falsified, and the actual increase is something like 54 per cent. Of course, every conceivable effort will be made to catch up with that additional burden.