COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 20 July 1893)

LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY

said, there were two points to which he wished to call the attention of the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack—first, as this Bill was of no benefit to landowners nor to rural purchasers, but chiefly benefited those who purchased from Building Societies, if the Government passed it, it ought to secure a Vote of money to pay half the expense of registration; otherwise, it would be acting like the Bengal Government, which, while admitting that the Behar Cadastral Survey would be useful to the Administration, yet made the zemindars and occupiers pay for it. Secondly, although the discretion of the present occupant of the Woolsack and that of his predecessors might be trusted, that would not be the case with some that had been named as his probable successors; and some check or restriction on the size of the districts that might be proclaimed under this Bill ought to be inserted in the Bill. Last Monday he was at the new Office of the Land Registry, and he found them wailing at the prospect of the noble and learned Lord going out of the country before this Bill was passed. If it was passed, and the noble and learned Lord went out of the country, others would wail if it was worked by his successors, so that both these parties would wish the noble and learned Lord to issue a Ne exeat regno against himself. He did not wish to be misunderstood as disinclined to the noble and learned Lord going to India; on the contrary, just now the High Courts and Judicial Body had been exposed to encroachments by the civilians; and it would be a good thing that the Governor General should belong to the legal profession. Besides that, the noble and learned Lord deserved this at the hands of Her Majesty's Government for having sheltered them with the mantle of his respectability.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, the noble Lord is, I am afraid, at some distance from the Land Transfer Bill. As regards the question which the noble Lord puts, I do not think the Laud Registry will involve any additional expense to the Treasury. I do not contemplate that the Bill will cast any burden upon landowners; on the contrary, I believe it will be to their advantage from a pecuniary point of view. With 64 regard to the districts to be brought within the operation of the Bill from time to time, we must proceed tentatively and cautiously. I do not see how it would be possible to lay down any rule as to the extent of these districts; but, so far as I should have to administer any such Act—and I believe my successors would follow the same principle —I should not, in the first instance, extend it to a very large district. The experience gained in watching its operation in that district would be the best possible guide as to the extent of the district that should from time to time he brought within its scope. The Amendments to the Bill are of a technical character, and I propose that they should be dealt with in the Standing Committee rather than in your Lordships' House, circulating them beforehand for a sufficient period to enable them to be considered.