§ Mr. T. M. HEALYasked whether it is by the instructions of the Treasury that notices to tenant purchasers of the registration of their holdings state if they desire at any time that a land certificate should be issued, they are to sign and date the annexed requisition; is he aware that Section 31 of the Registration of Title Act, 1891, prescribes that, on registration of a person as owner of land, the registering authority shall deliver to him a certificate in the prescribed form (referred to in the Act as a land certificate) of his title to the land; whether he is aware that instead of complying with the law another notice to purchasers is issued containing a requirement to the effect that if a land certificate is required the form when filled in is to be detached and forwarded to the Registrar of Titles, Henrietta Street, Dublin, and a postal order for 10s., made payable to the Distributor of Stamps, Henrietta Street, Dublin, must be attached to the form before it is forwarded; is this fee exacted irrespective of the size of the holding; at whose instance and under what Statute is the 10s. claimed; how is the money disposed of; and what is the total sum obtained by this means from Irish tenants?
Mr. ROBERTSONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the nega- 1191W tive. The notice to which the hon. and learned Member refers is issued on the instructions of the registering authority to inform the tenant purchaser of the registration of his title and of its folio number in the Land Registry. The fee for a copy of the certificate (which is irrespective of the size of the holding) is payable under Section 8 of the Registration of Title Act and Order 13 of the Land Registry Rules and Orders. All receipts from Land Registry fees stamps are paid as to four-fifths into the Exchequer as a set-off to the expenses of the Land Registry, and as to one-fifth into the Insurance Fund set up under Section 92 of the Act. The fees received for these certificates in 1912 amounted to £1,190 10s.