The Gazette 1949-1952

suggest that solicitors in their professional contacts with clients, and by every other means open to them in the localities where they practice, should avail of every opportunity o f bringing home to their clients and neighbours the realities underlying this tax and o f organising public opinion against it. I turn from this subject to a matter which has engaged the attention of the Council for some years and in which I think there is some reason now to hope for improvement, namely the necessity of installing modern and up-to-date methods in the Court offices, with a view to speeding up business. The most obvious need is to instal photostatic machines for the reproduction o f copies of wills and probates required by personal repre­ sentatives in connection with the administration of estates. Representations on these lines have been made on several occasions by the Council, and recently the matter has been re-opened. It is understood that the Department of Justice is actively investigating the possibility of doing some­ thing on these lines in such offices as the Public Records Office, the Central Office, Probate Office and the Land Registry. In the Probate Office alone it would be an immense advantage as it would dispense with the tedious work both of engrossing copies of wills and grants and comparing the copies with the originals, thereby effecting a great saving of time. Furthermore, a solicitor for an executor o f an estate which included a dozen or more holdings of stocks and shares, could obtain a dozen photo­ static copies of the grant and register them with all the companies simultaneously, instead o f sending one “ hand-made copy ” peregrinating round a dozen companies. I think, however, the system might have even wider uses. I do not see, although there may be good reasons, why all the copying work in the Probate Office, the Central Office and the Land Registry could not be done with immeasurably greater speed and satisfaction, and with the certainty of eliminating errors by means of photostatic machines. I should think that the work o f these various offices would fully engage the services of at least one machine with its operator, and that the capital and running cost could be recovered by fees which would not be excessive. The continued delays in the Land Registry are a matter of serious concern to the Council. I doubt if the responsible Government Departments really appreciate how serious the position has become. The Society for the past four or five years has been voicing the complaints of the profession concerning these delays, and we have from time to time received assurances that steps were being taken to deal with the position. Any action that has been taken up to the present has been a mere

palliative, and we have always found that after the lapse o f a month or two the situation became as bad as ever. It seems to me that the whole system of Registration of Title, which was designed in 1891 to deal with a volume o f work about oner third o f its present dimensions, has broken down. The object of the Local Registration o f Title Act, 1891 was to introduce “ a cheap and speedy system of Registration of Title.” From cases which reach the Society, it is clear that the registration o f even a simple dealing may take many months, and there is a long and growing arrear o f work in the Registry. The office fees in the Land Registry were increased in 1944 by amounts ranging from 100 per cent, to 700 per cent, on the scale then in existence and instead of the cheap and expeditious system proposed by the Act, we have now a costly, slow and complicated system. Solicitors who have to explain these matters to their clients find it almost impossible to make laymen understand the cause o f these delays. I greatly fear that with the increase of work flowing into the Land Registry through the Small Dwellings’ Acquisition Act, 1899, and the programme o f vesting under the Land Acts, the situation in the Land Registry will deteriorate rather than improve. The Council has already suggested that S. 15 (1) o f the Small Dwellings’ Acquisition Act, 1899, which requires the title to all property purchased through that Act to be registered under the Local Registration Act, should be repealed. I f this were done it would save the Land Registry from being flooded under a further avalanche o f work which would overwhelm it, but much more radical treat­ ment will be required if the present deficiencies in the system of registration o f title are to be remedied. There is one other topic which has been mentioned by Presidents from this platform in years past and to which I should like to recur, namely advice to parents whose sons and daughters are on the threshold of life and are on the point o f making a vital decision as to the choice o f a career. The career of a solicitor may seem agreeable and interesting, and no doubt for those who are properly adapted and circumstanced, it offers work of variety and interest, as well as opportunities of service to our fellow men in trying to solve their manifold difficulties. But I would offer this word o f caution— the profession is overcrowded, without the compensatory factor in the case o f other professions of an outlet for practice in England and abroad. The opportunities for remunerative private practice have been further curtailed by the tremendous increase in office rents, wages, and. general overhead 4