The several land registration districts constituted under or by virtue of “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” as the same are defined and existing at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall be land registration districts for the purposes of this Act.

The Governor in Council may, from time to time, alter the boundaries of any such district, or may abolish any such district by including the same within the limits of some other district or districts.

There shall be, for the purposes of this Act, an officer to be called the Registrar-General of Land; also, in and for each land registration district, an officer to be called the District Land Registrar; who shall respectively be appointed by the Governor.

In addition to the above the Governor may, if he shall think fit, appoint in and for each or any district an Examiner of Titles, also an Assistant Land Registrar, which last-named officer shall in all respects act under and conform to the directions of the District Land Registrar, and, subject thereto, shall have all the powers and may exercise all the functions of the District Land Registrar, except such as are expressly required to be exercised in conjunction with the Examiner of Titles.

All persons holding any of the above offices at the time of the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been duly appointed under this Act.

The Governor may, from time to time, appoint a deputy to act in the place of any officer holding office under this Act, during the absence of such officer from any cause, or during the vacancy of any office by death or otherwise; and such deputy, during the time he shall continue to act, shall have all the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the officer to whom be is deputy. All existing appointments of deputies are hereby confirmed.

The Governor may appoint any person to hold any of the aforesaid offices in conjunction, and to exercise the functions thereof concurrently.

Subject as aforesaid, no person shall be appointed to the office of Registrar-General of Land, District Land Registrar, or Examiner of Titles unless such person shall have been admitted as a barrister or solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, or shall have passed such special examination as shall be prescribed by regulations under this Act, and no person so appointed shall, during tenure of office, practise either directly or indirectly as a barrister, solicitor, or land broker, or be in partnership with any person so practising.

All persons heretofore appointed or hereafter to be appointed to any office as aforesaid shall hold such office subject to the provisions of any Act for the time being regulating the Civil Service of the colony; and, subject thereto, the Governor may cancel any such appointment, and thereupon, or upon the death or resignation of any officer, may make any new appointment as may be necessary.

Every Registrar shall have and use a seal of office bearing the impression of the Royal Arms, and having inscribed in the margin the words, “[Name of district] District Land Registrar, New Zealand;” and every instrument bearing the imprint of such seal, and purporting to be signed or issued by a Registrar, or by his assistant or deputy, shall be received in evidence, and shall be deemed to be signed or issued by or under the direction of such Registrar, without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.

The following land shall be subject to the provisions of this Act:—

Land over which the Native title has been extinguished since the constitution of the district within which the same is situate, but prior to the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, shall come under the provisions of this Act upon the registration of a Crown grant, or certificate of title in lieu of grant.

From and after the coming into operation of this Act, no Crown grant shall be issued for any land subject to the provisions hereof, but in lieu of such grant the Governor shall, by warrant under his hand, direct the Registrar to issue a certificate of title for such land in the Form in the First Schedule; and every such certificate, when signed and registered, shall have the force and effect of a Crown grant.

Every such warrant—

If it shall appear on the Provisional Register that the estate of any person named in any warrant as entitled to a Crown grant has become vested in any other person claiming through the person named in the warrant, the Registrar may issue a certificate of title direct to the person appearing to be so entitled.

Every certificate of title to be issued as aforesaid shall be made subject to all encumbrances, estates, and interests appearing on the Provisional Register as affecting the land at the date of the issue of such certificate.

No warrant shall be necessary for the issue of a certificate of title to any person in whom any land shall have become and be or shall hereafter become vested for an estate in fee-simple in possession by any Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand or by any Proclamation or Order in Council under the express provisions of any such Act since the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.

Land which has not become subject to this Act in any manner under the foregoing provisions may, if the same has been alienated or contracted to be alienated from the Crown in fee, be brought under the operation hereof, in manner hereinafter provided; but no application shall be received to bring under this Act land for which no Crown grant has been issued until such application has been approved by the Surveyor-General, or by some person appointed by him for the purpose, and has been assented to by the Governor.

The Registrar of each district shall receive applications for the purpose aforesaid in the Form A in the Second Schedule, if made by any of the following persons, that is to say,—

But no application shall be received—

Every applicant shall, when making his application, surrender to the Registrar all instruments in his possession or under his control constituting or in any way affecting his title, and shall furnish a schedule of such instruments, and also, if required, an abstract of his title, and shall make and subscribe a declaration of the truth of the statements in such application, and shall append to such application a plan of the land applied for, showing the boundaries and relative position thereof.

Upon the receipt of such application the Registrar shall cause the title of the applicant to be examined and reported upon by the Examiner of Titles, and shall thereafter take into consideration such application, with the report of the Examiner, and shall confer with such Examiner thereon.

If it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Registrar and Examiner that the land in respect of which such application is made is held by the applicant for the estate or interest specified in such application, and that all persons interested other than as lessees under a lease for years are parties to the application, the Registrar shall cause notice of such application to be advertised in the Gazette and in one or more newspapers published in the district, and shall in such advertisement limit and appoint a time, not less than one month from the publication thereof in the Gazette, within which caveat may be lodged forbidding the bringing of such land under this Act.

If it shall appear that the applicant is the original grantee from the Crown, and that no instrument, matter, or thing affecting the title to the land other than the Crown grant has been registered, the Registrar and Examiner may dispense with such advertisement, and in such case the Registrar may proceed forthwith to bring the land under this Act by issuing to the applicant, or to such person as he shall by writing under his hand direct, a certificate of title in the Form B in the Second Schedule.

If it shall appear to the Registrar and Examiner that any person interested (other than as a lessee under a lease for years) is not a party to such application, or that the evidence adduced by the applicant in support of his claim or of any matters which he is required to prove is deficient in any essential particular, the Registrar and Examiner may either reject such application, or at discretion may limit a time, by advertisement as aforesaid, within which caveat may be lodged forbidding the bringing of such land under this Act, and in such latter case may direct that such notices shall be served by the applicant upon such persons and in such form and manner as the Registrar and Examiner shall deem necessary, and that, in addition to the advertisements prescribed in section twenty-one, notice of such application be advertised at the cost of the applicant in any gazette or newspaper published in the colony or elsewhere.

The Registrar shall, in addition to the notices aforesaid, cause notice of every such application as last mentioned to be posted in a conspicuous place in the Land Registry Office of the district, and in such other places as he may deem expedient, and shall forward by registered letter through the post-office a copy of such notice addressed to each of the persons (if any) stated by the applicant to be in occupation of such land, or to be occupiers or proprietors of land adjoining.

If, at the expiration of the time limited in respect of any application as aforesaid, it shall appear to the Registrar and Examiner that all necessary notices have been given, and that no caveat has been lodged, and if no sufficient cause to the contrary shall otherwise appear, the Registrar shall proceed to bring the land described in such application under this Act, by issuing to the applicant, or to such person as he shall by writing under his hand direct, a certificate of title in the Form B aforesaid.

If, however, it shall appear to the Registrar and Examiner, at the expiration of the time limited as aforesaid, that there has been a failure in the service of any notice, and that such service is essential, the Registrar and Examiner may either reject the application, or may limit and appoint a further time within which caveat may be lodged as aforesaid, and upon the expiration of such term, and upon proof of service of such notice, may, if no caveat has been lodged, bring the land under this Act by issuing a certificate in manner aforesaid.

The applicant may, with consent of the person (if any) in whose name the certificate of title has been directed to be issued, withdraw his application at any time prior to the issuing of the certificate, and the Registrar shall in such case return to him, or to the person (if any) notified in such application as having a lien thereon, all instruments of title deposited by such applicant in support of his application.

Upon issuing a certificate of title bringing land under this Act, the Registrar shall cancel by stamp or otherwise the conveyance or other instrument through which the applicant derives his title; but, if such instrument relates to or includes any property other than the land included in such certificate of title, the Registrar shall, by indorsement thereon, cancel the same in so far only as relates to the land included in such certificate, and such instrument shall for all other purposes remain in full force and effect.

All instruments of title relating exclusively to the land shall be retained by the Registrar, and no person shall be entitled to the production thereof except upon the written order of the applicant, or of some person claiming through or under him, or upon the order of the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof.

The reversion expectant upon any lease shall not be deemed to have been extinguished in consequence of the land whereof such lease has been granted having been brought under this Act, and the person appearing upon the Register as seised of the land described in such lease shall be held in every Court of law and equity to be seised of the reversion expectant upon any such lease, and to have all powers, rights, and remedies to which a reversioner is by law entitled, and shall be subject to all covenants and conditions therein expressed to be performed on the part of the lessor.

It shall not be necessary for any Registrar of Deeds to register any Crown grant that may be transmitted to him for registration under “The Deeds Registration Act, 1868,” pending an application to bring the land comprised therein under this Act.

Each Registrar shall keep a book to be called the “Register,” and shall bind up therein duplicates of all grants of land and of all certificates of title to land within his district, and each grant and certificate of title shall constitute a separate folium of such Register, and the Registrar shall record thereon the particulars of all instruments, dealings, and other matters by this Act required to be registered or entered on the Register affecting the land included under each such grant or certificate of title distinct and apart.

Every grant and certificate of title shall be deemed and taken to be registered under the provisions and for the purposes of this Act so soon as the same shall have been marked by the Registrar with the folium and volume as embodied in the Register, and every memorandum of transfer or other instrument purporting to transfer or in any way to affect land under the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be so registered so soon as a memorial thereof as hereinafter described shall have been entered in the Register upon the folium constituted by the existing grant or certificate of title of such land; and the person named in any grant, certificate of title, or other instrument so registered as seised of or taking any estate or interest, shall be deemed to be the registered proprietor thereof.

Except as hereinafter otherwise provided, every grant or other instrument presented for registration shall be in duplicate and shall be attested by a witness and shall be registered in the order of time in which the same is produced for that purpose, and instruments registered in respect to or affecting the same estate or interest shall, notwithstanding any express implied or constructive notice, be entitled in priority the one over the other according to the date of registration and not according to the date of each instrument itself, and the Registrar upon registration thereof shall file one original in his office and shall deliver the other to the person entitled thereto, and so soon as registered every instrument drawn in any of the forms provided in the Schedule hereto or in any form which for the same purpose may be authorized in conformity with the provisions of this Act shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed and taken to be embodied in the Register as part and parcel thereof, and such instrument, when so constructively embodied and stamped with the seal of the Registrar, shall have the effect of a deed duly executed by the parties signing the same.

Every memorial entered in the Register shall state the nature of the instrument to which it relates, the day and hour of the production of such instrument for registration, and the names of the parties thereto, and shall refer by number or symbol to such instrument, and shall be signed by the Registrar.

Whenever a memorial of any instrument has been entered in the Register the Registrar shall (except in the case of transfer or other dealing indorsed upon a memorandum of lease, or mortgage, as hereinafter provided) record the like memorial on the duplicate grant, certificate of title, lease, or other instrument evidencing title to the estate or interest intended to be dealt with, or in any way affected, unless the Registrar shall, as hereinafter provided, dispense with the production of the same, and the Registrar shall indorse on every instrument so registered a certificate of the date and hour on which the said memorial was entered in the Register, and shall authenticate each such certificate by signing his name and affixing his seal thereto.

Such certificate shall be received in all Courts as conclusive evidence that such instrument has been duly registered.

No instrument shall be effectual to pass any estate or interest in any land under the provisions of this Act, or to render such land liable as security for the payment of money, but, upon the registration of any instrument in manner hereinbefore prescribed, the estate or interest specified in such instrument shall pass, or, as the case may be, the land shall become liable as security in manner and subject to the covenants, conditions, and contingencies set forth and specified in such instrument, or by this Act declared to be implied in instruments of a like nature; and should two or more instruments executed by the same proprietor, and purporting to transfer or encumber the same estate or interest in any land, be at the same time presented to the Registrar for registration and indorsement, he shall register and indorse that instrument under which the person claims property, who shall present to him the grant or certificate of title of such land for that purpose.

No Registrar shall register any instrument purporting to transfer, or otherwise to deal with or affect any estate or interest in land under the provisions of this Act, except in the manner herein provided, nor unless such instrument be in accordance with the provisions hereof.

The Registrar and Examiner, in case they shall see reasonable cause for so doing, may dispense with the production of any grant, certificate of title, lease, or other instrument for the purpose of entering the memorial by this Act required to be entered upon the transfer or other dealing with land within his district and under the provisions of this Act; and upon the registration of such transfer or other dealing, such Registrar shall notify in the memorial in the register-book of his district that no entry of such memorial has been made on the duplicate grant or other instrument, and such transfer or other dealing shall thereupon be as valid and effectual as if such memorial had been so entered: Provided always that before registering such transfer or other dealing the Registrar shall give at least fourteen days’ notice of his intention to register such dealing in the Gazette, and in at least one newspaper published in the district.

The Registrar, upon payment of the prescribed fee, shall furnish to any person applying for the same a certified copy of any registered instrument affecting land within his district, and every such certified copy signed by him, and sealed with his seal, shall be received in evidence for all purposes for which the original instrument might be put in evidence.

Any person may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, have access to the Register for the purpose of inspection during the hours and upon the days appointed by regulation under this Act.

No Registrar shall register any instrument liable to stamp duty unless the same shall purport to have been duly stamped, but no registration shall be invalidated by reason of any error in this respect.

Until a folium of the Register has been duly constituted for any land under this Act, all dealings, memorials, and entries affecting such land shall be provisionally registered as hereinafter provided, that is to say,—

So soon as the Register of any land is finally constituted the Registrar shall close the Provisional Register as to such land, and shall transfer to the Register the record of all memorials and entries affecting such land so far as may be necessary to preserve existing interests; and shall also record the same on the duplicate grant, and such memorials and entries and the dealings to which they relate shall thereafter take effect as if the same had been originally entered in the Register, and every dealing the memorial or entry whereof has been either originally entered on or has been transferred to the Register in manner aforesaid shall be deemed to be finally registered.

So long as land remains on the Provisional Register no certificate of title other than a certificate in lieu of grant shall be issued in respect thereof, but every entry on the Provisional Register, if purporting to be duly made and signed, shall be received in all Courts of law and equity as evidence of the particulars therein set forth, and shall, as against the person named in the original receipt or order of Court and all persons claiming through, under, or in trust for him, be conclusive evidence that the person named in such entry is seised or possessed of the estate or interest of which he is expressed to be the registered proprietor.

Subject to any special provisions herein contained, all provisions of this Act shall, so far as the circumstances of the case will admit, apply to land on the Provisional Register, and to the registration of instruments and other matters affecting the same, save that the estate or interest of a proprietor of any estate or interest on the Provisional Register shall be indefeasible only against the person named in the original receipt or order, and all persons claiming through, under, or in trust for him.

After the land has been transferred from the Provisional Register as aforesaid, no dealing having the effect of creating any new estate or interest shall be registered until all fees for the issue and registration of the Crown grant or certificate of title and for contribution to the Assurance Fund shall have been paid:

Provided that where a part only of the land in any grant or certificate shall be dealt with the fees payable in respect thereof, so far as such fees are capable of apportionment, shall be apportioned upon such evidence as the Registrar shall deem sufficient for that purpose, and the payment of the amount assessed shall discharge the land in respect whereof such assessment is made.

In case of the loss or destruction before registration thereof of any instrument executed by a registered proprietor for the purpose of creating, transferring, or otherwise dealing with any estate or interest in land, or any mortgage or incumbrance affecting land under this Act, the person claiming to be entitled to be registered as proprietor of any estate or interest by virtue of such lost instrument may make application to the Supreme Court to have such claim investigated and declared.

Upon proof to the satisfaction of the Court of the fact of such loss or destruction as aforesaid, and that such instrument has not been wilfully destroyed by or with the connivance of the applicant, and that the applicant is entitled to be registered as aforesaid, and that due notice of such application has been given to the registered proprietor of the land, estate, or interest intended to be affected, and to all other necessary parties, the Court may make an order defining and declaring the estate or interest of the applicant under such instrument, and requiring the Registrar to register him as proprietor thereof, and the Registrar shall obey such order.

Such registration shall have the same effect as from the date thereof as if the original instrument had been duly registered; and such instrument shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed and taken to have been in the terms or to the effect set forth in such order.

The Court shall, in hearing and deciding upon any case under the last two preceding sections, be guided by the real justice of such case, and shall direct itself by such evidence as may seem to it most suitable to the circumstances of such case.

Leases, mortgages, incumbrances, or other estates or interests affecting the estate of the proprietor at the time of bringing land under this Act (hereinafter called “outstanding interests”), shall, so far as the same are disclosed in the application, or can otherwise be ascertained, be notified on the Register in such manner as to preserve their priority, and shall thereafter, notwithstanding variation in form, be dealt with as if the same or corresponding interests had been originally created under this Act, and every dealing therewith shall imply all powers, conditions, and covenants incident to dealings in the like form with land under this Act.

Estates and interests existing by virtue of instruments registered under “The Deeds Registration Act, 1868,” affecting land over which the Native title has been extinguished since the constitution of the district within which such land is situate, shall be deemed “outstanding interests” within the meaning of this Act, and shall be noted accordingly. But no such estates or interests shall be so recognized if created prior to the antevesting date in the grant, or subsequent to the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.

Leases confirmed by the Governor in Council under the provisions of “The West Coast Settlement Reserves Act 1881,” or any Act amending the same, may be registered under this Act notwithstanding that such leases are dated prior to the date of the Crown grant, and such leases when registered shall be deemed to have been duly made and executed under the provisions of this Act.

No person claiming any estate or interest by virtue of any deed or instrument which might have been registered against the land under any Act for the time being in force for the registration of deeds within the Colony of New Zealand shall have any claim or action against the Registrar-General or upon the Assurance Fund by reason of deprivation of such interest consequent on bringing the land under this Act, unless such deed or instrument shall have been so registered, or unless the Registrar shall have been served personally with notice in writing of such claim, or shall have had actual personal knowledge thereof, and shall have omitted to recognize the same.

Subject to any Act of the General Assembly for the time being in force relating to the tenure of land by persons of the Native race, any two or more persons named in any Crown grant, or in any instrument executed under this Act as transferees, mortgagees, or proprietors of any estate or interest, shall, unless the contrary be expressed, be deemed to be entitled as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and such instrument, when registered, shall take effect accordingly.

Notwithstanding the existence in any other person of any estate or interest, whether derived by grant from the Crown or otherwise, which but for this Act might be held to be paramount or to have priority, the registered proprietor of land or of any estate or interest in land under the provisions of this Act shall, except in case of fraud, hold the same subject to such incumbrances, liens, estates, or interests as may be notified on the folium of the Register, constituted by the grant or certificate of title of such land, but absolutely free from all other incumbrances, liens, estates, or interests whatsoever except the estate or interest of a proprietor claiming the same land under a prior certificate of title or under a prior grant registered under the provisions of this Act, and except so far as regards the omission or misdescription of any right-of-way or other easement created in or existing upon any land, and except so far as regards any portion of land that may be erroneously included in the grant, certificate of title, lease, or other instrument evidencing the title of such registered proprietor by wrong description of parcels or of boundaries.

No action for possession, or other action for the recovery of any land, shall lie or be sustained against the registered proprietor under the provisions of this Act for the estate or interest in respect to which he is so registered, except in any of the following cases, that is to say,—

The case of a mortgagee as against a mortgagor in default: (2.) The case of a lessor as against a lessee in default:

The case of a person deprived of any land by fraud, as against the person registered as proprietor of such land through fraud, or as against a person deriving otherwise than as a transferee bonâ fide for value from or through a person so registered through fraud:

The case of a person deprived of or claiming any land included in any grant or certificate of title of other land by misdescription of such other land, or of its boundaries, as against the registered proprietor of such other land, not being a transferee, or deriving from or through a transferee thereof bonâ fide for value:

The case of a registered proprietor claiming under the instrument of title prior in date of registration, under the provisions of this Act, in any case in which two or more grants or two or more certificates of title, or a grant and a certificate of title, may be registered under the provisions of this Act in respect to the same land.

And in any case other than as aforesaid, the production of the register or of a certified copy thereof shall be held in every Court of law or equity to be an absolute bar and estoppel to any such action against the registered proprietor or lessee of the land the subject of such action, any rule of law or equity to the contrary notwithstanding.

After land has become subject to this Act no title thereto, or to any right, privilege, or easement in, upon, or over the same shall be acquired by possession or user adversely to or in derogation of the title of the registered proprietor.

Every registered proprietor of an estate of freehold in possession in land under this Act, shall be entitled to a certificate of title for the same in the Form B in the Second Schedule, or as near thereto as the nature of the interest will permit. But no certificate of title shall issue for any undefined interest.

The Registrar shall note upon such certificate, in such manner as to preserve their priority, the memorials of all unsatisfied mortgages, leases, and other estates and interests, outstanding or otherwise, to which the land is subject at the time of issuing such certificate; and, in case of a certificate issued to a minor, or person under other legal disability, the Registrar shall, in such certificate, state the particulars of such disability so far as he has notice or knowledge thereof.

Every certificate issued pursuant to any dealing under this Act shall bear even date with the registration of such dealing, unless such dealing shall have been originally entered on the Provisional Register, in which case the certificate shall bear even date with the registration of the Crown grant, or with the date of reception by the Registrar of the Governor’s warrant for issue of a certificate in lieu of grant, as the case may be.

A certificate of title issued in the name of a registered proprietor in lieu of a cancelled certificate may be expressed to take effect as from the date of the certificate originally issued to such proprietor in respect of the same estate or interest.

Whenever any easement or incorporeal right, other than an annuity or rent-charge in or over any land under this Act, is created for the purpose of being annexed to, or used and enjoyed together with, other land under this Act, the Registrar shall enter a memorial of the instrument creating such easement or incorporeal right upon the grant or certificate of title of such other land, and such memorial shall, as from the date of entry thereof, have the effect of including such easement in such grant or certificate of title, as appurtenant to the land therein described.

When two or more persons are entitled as tenants in common to undivided shares in any land, each such person shall be entitled to receive a separate certificate for his undivided share; Provided that tenants in common shall not be bound to take separate certificates unless and until they shall require to make separate dealings with their respective interests.

The Registrar shall not be bound to issue a certificate of title upon any application in respect of which notice is hereby required to be given by advertisement until after the expiration of fourteen days from the time limited in such advertisement.

If any certificate, whether on the first bringing of land under this Act or otherwise, shall be issued in the name of a person who shall have previously died, such certificate shall not be void, but the land comprised therein shall devolve in like manner as if such certificate had been issued immediately prior to such death.

Every certificate of title duly authenticated under the hand and seal of the Registrar shall be received in all Courts of law and equity as evidence of the particulars therein set forth or indorsed thereon, and of their being entered in the Register, and shall, unless the contrary be proved by production of the Register or a certified copy thereof, be conclusive evidence that the person named in such certificate of title, or in any entry thereon, as seised of or as taking estate or interest in the land therein described, is seised or possessed of such land for the estate or interest therein specified as from the date of such certificate or as from the date from which the same is expressed to take effect, and that the property comprised in such certificate has been duly brought under this Act.

No certificate of title shall be impeached or defeasible on the ground of want of notice or of insufficient notice of the application to bring the land therein described under this Act, or on account of any error, omission, or informality in such application or in the proceedings pursuant thereto.

Any certificate of title issued upon the first bringing of land under this Act, and every certificate of title issued in respect of the same land, or any part thereof, to any person claiming or deriving title under or through the applicant proprietor, shall be void as against the title of any person adversely in actual occupation of and rightfully entitled to such land, or any part thereof, at the time when such land was so brought under this Act, and continuing in such occupation at the time of any subsequent certificate of title being issued in respect of the said land; but every such certificate shall be as valid and effectual against the title of any other person as if such adverse occupation did not exist.

The Registrar may, upon such evidence as shall appear to him sufficient, subject to any regulations under this Act, correct errors and supply omissions in certificates of title or in the Register, or in any entry therein, and may call in the outstanding instrument of title for that purpose.

In case it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Registrar that any certificate of title or other instrument has been issued in error, or contains any misdescription of land or of boundaries, or that any entry or indorsement has been made in error, or that any grant, certificate, instrument, entry, or indorsement has been fraudulently or wrongfully obtained, or is fraudulently or wrongfully retained, he may require the person to whom such grant, certificate, or instrument has been so issued, or by whom it is retained, to deliver up the same for the purpose of being cancelled or corrected, as the case may require.

In case such person shall refuse or neglect to comply with such request, or cannot be found, the Registrar may apply to a Judge of the Supreme Court to issue a summons for such person to appear before such Court or Judge and show cause why such grant, certificate, or other instrument should not be delivered up as aforesaid; and, if such person when served with such summons shall neglect or refuse to attend before such Judge or Court at the time therein appointed, such Judge may issue a warrant authorizing and directing the person so summoned to be apprehended and brought before a Judge of the Supreme Court for examination.

Upon the appearance before the Court or Judge of any person summoned or brought up by virtue of a warrant as aforesaid, the Court or Judge may examine such person upon oath, and, in case the same shall seem proper, may order such person to deliver up such grant, certificate of title, or other instrument as aforesaid, and, upon refusal or neglect by such person to comply with such order, may commit such person to any convenient prison.

In such case, or in case such person shall have absconded, so that summons cannot be served upon him, the Registrar shall, if the circumstances of the case require it, issue to the proprietor of the said land such certificate of title or other instrument as is herein provided to be issued in the case of any grant or certificate of title being lost, mislaid, or destroyed, and shall enter in the Register notice of the issuing of such certificate of title or other instrument, and the circumstances under which the same was issued, and such other particulars as he may deem necessary.

Upon the recovery of any land, estate, or interest by any proceeding in any Court from the person registered as proprietor thereof, the Court or Judge, in any case in which such proceeding is not expressly barred, may direct the Registrar to cancel any certificate of title or other instrument, or any entry or memorial in the Register relating to such land, and to substitute such certificate of title or entry as the circumstances of the case may require, and the Registrar shall give effect to such order accordingly.

Upon the application of any registered proprietor of land held under separate grants or certificates of title, or under one grant or certificate, the Registrar may issue to such proprietor a single certificate of title for the whole of such land, or several certificates, each containing portion of such land, so far as the same may be done consistently with any regulations for the time being in force; and upon issuing any such certificate the Registrar shall cancel the grant or previous certificate, and shall note thereupon a reference to the certificate of title issued in lieu thereof.

In the event of any grant or certificate of title being lost, mislaid, or destroyed, the registered proprietor, together with other persons, if any, having knowledge of the circumstances, may make a statutory declaration stating the facts of the case, the names and descriptions of the registered owners, and the particulars of all mortgages, incumbrances, or other matters affecting such land and the title thereto, to the best of declarant’s knowledge and belief.

The Registrar, if satisfied as to the truth of such declaration, may issue a provisional certificate of title, which provisional certificate shall contain an exact copy of the original grant or certificate and of every memorandum and indorsement thereon, and shall also contain a statement of the circumstances under which such provisional certificate is issued; and the Registrar shall at the same time enter in the Register notice of the issuing of such provisional certificate and the date thereof, and the circumstances under which it was issued.

The Registrar before issuing such provisional certificate shall give at least fourteen days’ notice of his intention so to do in the Gazette and in at least one newspaper published in the colony.

Such provisional certificate shall be available for all purposes and uses for which the grant or certificate of title so lost or mislaid would have been available, and as valid to all intents as such lost grant or certificate.

When land under this Act, or any estate or interest therein, is intended to be transferred, or any right-of-way or other easement is intended to be created, the registered proprietor may execute for the purpose of registration a memorandum of transfer in the Form C in the Second Schedule, which memorandum shall, for description of the land intended to be dealt with, refer to the proper folium of the Register, with such further description as may be necessary, and shall contain a precise statement of the estate or interest intended to be transferred or created.

If any memorandum of transfer purports to transfer the whole of the land described in a grant or certificate of title for all the estate and interest therein of any registered proprietor, it shall not be necessary for the Registrar to cancel such grant or certificate, but the memorial of such transfer indorsed on such grant or certificate shall be as good evidence that the transferee named in such memorial is seised of all the estate and interest in the said land of the person whose interest is expressed to be transferred, subject as in such grant or certificate mentioned or thereon indorsed as if a certificate of title had been issued for the same in the name of the transferee.

If the transfer purports to transfer an estate of freehold in possession, not being a lease for a life or lives in part of the land described in any grant or certificate, the transferor shall surrender such grant or certificate to the Registrar, and the indorsement thereon by the Registrar of a memorial of such transfer shall have the effect of cancelling such grant or certificate so far as relates to the land transferred.

The Registrar, upon cancelling any grant or certificate by indorsement as aforesaid, shall issue to the transferee a certificate of title to the land transferred, and shall retain the partially-cancelled grant or certificate, and when required by any person entitled thereto shall issue to such person a certificate of title for the untransferred balance of the land, or for any portion thereof.

The registered proprietor of land under this Act—

In case of the limitation of successive interests as aforesaid the Registrar shall cancel the grant or certificate evidencing the title of the transferor, and shall issue a certificate in the name of the person entitled to the freehold estate in possession for such estate as he is entitled to, and the persons successively entitled in reversion or remainder shall be entitled to be registered by virtue of the limitations in their favour in such instrument expressed, and each such person upon his estate becoming vested in possession shall be entitled to a certificate of title for the same.

In every transfer of land subject to a mortgage there shall be implied a covenant on the part of the transferee to and with the transferor to pay the interest or other payments thereafter to become due by virtue of such mortgage at the time and in manner therein specified for payment thereof, and to pay the principal sum when and as the same shall become due, and to keep harmless and indemnified the transferor in respect of such payments, and in respect of all liability on account of the future observance of the covenants and conditions on the part of the transferor in such mortgage expressed or implied.

A registered mortgage or lease may be transferred by memorandum of transfer as aforesaid, or by an instrument in the Form G of the Second Schedule, which instrument may be indorsed upon the memorandum of mortgage or lease, and upon such memorandum of transfer or other instrument being registered the estate or interest of the transferor as set forth in such instrument, with all rights, powers, and privileges thereto belonging or appertaining, shall pass to the transferee.

Such transferee shall thereupon become subject to and liable for all and every the same requirements and liabilities to which he would have been subject and liable if named in such instrument originally as mortgagee or lessee of such land, estate, or interest; and by virtue of every such transfer as is hereinbefore mentioned the right to sue upon any memorandum of mortgage or other instrument, and to recover any debt, sum of money, annuity, or damages thereunder (notwithstanding the same may be deemed or held to constitute a chose in action), and all interest in any such debt, sum of money, annuity, or damages, shall be transferred so as to vest the same at law as well as in equity in the transferee thereof.

Provided always that nothing herein contained shall prevent a Court of competent jurisdiction from giving effect to any trusts affecting the said debt, sum of money, annuity, or damages in case the transferee shall hold the same as a trustee for any other person.

In every transfer of a lease as aforesaid there shall be implied a covenant by and on the part of the transferee with the transferor that the transferee will thenceforth pay the rent by the said lease reserved, and perform and observe all the covenants in the said lease expressed or implied on the part of the lessee to be observed and performed; and will indemnify and keep harmless the transferor and his representatives from and against all actions, suits, claims, and expenses in respect of the non-payment of such rent, or the breach or non-observance of such covenants or any of them.

Whenever any order shall be made by any Court of competent jurisdiction vesting any estate or interest under this Act in any person, the Registrar, upon being served with an office copy of such order, shall enter a memorandum thereof in the Register, and on the outstanding instrument of title, and until such entry shall be made the said order shall have no effect in vesting or transferring the said estate or interest.

When any land under this Act is intended to be leased or demised for a life or lives, or for any term not less than three years, the proprietor shall execute a memorandum of lease in the Form D in the Second Schedule, and such instrument shall, for description of the land intended to be dealt with, refer to the grant or certificate of title, or shall give such other description as may be necessary.

A right for or covenant by the lessee to purchase the land may be stipulated in a memorandum of lease; and in case the lessee shall pay the purchase-money, and otherwise observe his covenants expressed and implied in such instrument, the lessor shall be bound to execute a memorandum of transfer, and to perform all other necessary acts for the purpose of transferring to the lessee the said lands and the fee-simple thereof.

No lease of mortgaged or incumbered land shall be binding upon the mortgagee except so far as such mortgagee shall have consented thereto.

The surrender of a lease by agreement between the parties may be effected by indorsing thereon the word “surrendered,” and such indorsement, if signed by all necessary parties and attested, shall be noted on the register and on the outstanding certificate of title, and shall thereupon operate to vest all the estate and interest of the lessee in the person entitled to the reversion. But no lease subject to mortgage or underlease shall be surrendered without the consent of the mortgagee or sub-lessee.

In every memorandum of lease there shall be implied the following covenants against the lessee, that is to say,—

That he will pay the rent thereby reserved at the times therein mentioned, and all rates and taxes which may be payable in respect of the demised property during the continuance of the lease:

That he will keep and yield up the demised property in good and tenantable repair.

In every memorandum of lease there shall also be implied the following powers in the lessor, that is to say,—

That he may, by himself or his agents, at all reasonable times, enter upon the demised property and view the state of repair thereof, and may serve upon the lessee, or leave at his last or usual place of abode in the colony or upon the demised property, a notice in writing of any defect, requiring him, within a reasonable time to be therein prescribed, to repair the same:

That in case the rent or any part thereof shall be in arrear for the space of six months, although no formal demand for payment shall have been made, or in case default shall be made in the fulfilment or observance of any covenant or condition, whether expressed or implied, in such lease on the part of the lessee, and shall be continued for the space of six months, or in case the repairs required by such notice as aforesaid shall not have been completed within the time therein specified, such lessor may re-enter upon and take possession of such demised premises.

In case of re-entry and recovery of possession of any leasehold premises, either by process of law or by exercise of any power of re-entry in the lease contained or implied, the Registrar shall, upon proof to his satisfaction of such re-entry, and of actual recovery of possession, notify such re-entry upon the Register and upon the outstanding instrument of title, if produced to him for that purpose. And the estate of the lessee, and of every person claiming through or under him, shall thereupon cease and determine, but without releasing him or them from liability in respect of the breach or non-observance of any covenant or condition in such lease contained or implied: Provided that unless such re-entry and recovery of possession has been by formal process of law, the Registrar shall require notice of application to register the same to be served on all persons interested under the lease, or failing such notice, shall give at least one calendar month’s notice of such application by publication in the Gazette, and in some newspaper published in the district, before making any entry upon the Register.

Whenever any estate or interest under this Act is intended to be charged with or made security for payment of any money the registered proprietor shall execute a memorandum in the Form E or F in the Second Schedule as may be applicable to the case, and every such instrument shall contain a precise statement of the estate or interest intended to be charged, and shall, for description of the land, refer to the proper folium of the Register, and shall give such other description as may be necessary.

A mortgage under this Act shall have effect as security, but shall not operate as a transfer of the estate or interest so charged. In case of a mortgage by a mortgagee of his estate or interest in a mortgage, the person in whose favour such charge is created shall be deemed the transferee of such estate or interest, and shall have all rights and powers as such, subject to the provisoes and conditions expressed in such sub-mortgage, or implied therein by virtue hereof.

In every mortgage of land there shall be implied against the mortgagor a covenant that he will repair and keep in repair all buildings or other improvements erected and made upon such land, and that the mortgagee may at all convenient times, until such mortgage be redeemed, be at liberty, with or without surveyors or others, to enter into and upon such land, to view and inspect the state of repair of such buildings or improvements.

The mortgagee, upon default in payment of the principal sum, interest, annuity, or rent-charge secured by any mortgage, or of any part thereof, may enter into possession of the mortgaged land by receiving the rents and profits thereof, or, in case the mortgagor himself shall be in occupation of the mortgaged premises, may distrain and sell the goods and chattels of such mortgagor in and upon the said premises, and may retain out of the proceeds thereof the moneys which shall be so in arrear, with all costs and expenses of such distress and sale, or may bring an action for possession of the said land either before or after entering into the receipt of the rents and profits thereof or making any distress as aforesaid, and either before or after any sale of such land shall be effected under the power of sale given or implied in his mortgage.

Besides his remedy against the mortgagor, every mortgagee shall be entitled, after the principal sum, interest, annuity, or rent-charge, or any part thereof shall have become in arrear for twenty-one days, and after seven days have elapsed from the date of application for the payment thereof to the occupier or tenant, to enter upon the mortgaged land and distrain and sell the goods and chattels of such occupier or tenant, and to retain thereout the moneys which shall be so in arrear, and all costs and expenses occasioned by such distress and sale: Provided that no occupier or tenant occupying such land shall be liable to pay to any mortgagee a greater sum than the amount of rent which, at the time of making such distress, may be then due from such occupier or tenant to the mortgagor, or to the person claiming the said land under the mortgagor, and any amount so paid shall be held to be pro tanto in satisfaction of such rent.

In case default be made in the payment of the principal sum, interest, annuity, or rent-charge, or any part thereof secured by any mortgage under this Act, or in the observance of any covenant expressed or implied in any such mortgage, and such default be continued for the space of one month, or for such other period of time as may therein for that purpose be expressly limited, the mortgagee may give to the mortgagor notice in writing to pay the money then due or owing on such mortgage, or to observe the covenants therein expressed or implied, as the case may be, and that the power of sale will be exercised if such default be continued, or may leave such notice on the land intended to be sold, or at the usual or last known place of abode in the colony of the mortgagor.

After such default in payment or in observance of covenants continuing for the further space of one month from the date of service of such notice, or for such other period as may in such instrument be for that purpose limited, such mortgagee is hereby authorized and empowered to sell the estate or interest so mortgaged, or any part thereof, either altogether or in lots by public auction, or by private contract, or partly by either of such modes of sale, and subject to such conditions as he may think fit, and to buy in and resell the same without being liable for any loss occasioned thereby, and to make and execute all such instruments as shall be necessary for effecting the sale thereof; all which sales, contracts, matters, and things hereby authorized shall be as valid and effectual as if the mortgagor had made, done, or executed the same.

The receipt or receipts in writing of the mortgagee shall be a sufficient discharge to the purchaser of such land, estate, or interest, or of any portion thereof, for so much of his purchase-money as may be thereby expressed to be received; and no such purchaser shall be answerable for the loss, misapplication, or non-application, or be obliged to see to the application of the purchase-money by him paid, nor shall be be concerned to inquire as to the fact of any default or notice having been made or given as aforesaid.

The purchase-money to arise from the sale of any such land, estate, or interest shall be applied—

Upon the registration of any transfer executed by a mortgagee for the purpose of such sale, the estate or interest of the mortgagor therein expressed to be transferred shall pass to and vest in the purchaser, freed and discharged from all liability on account of such mortgage, or of any estate, or interest registered subsequent thereto.

Any mortgagee who shall have become entitled under this Act to exercise a power of sale may apply to the Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, who shall be empowered to act within the land registration district in which the land intended to be sold is situated, to conduct such sale.

Every Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, by whom any land has been sold under the provisions of “The Land Transfer Act Amendment Act, 1880,” hereby repealed, shall be deemed to have been the proper Registrar to effect such sale.

Such Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court shall thereupon fix a convenient time (being within three months and not less than fourteen days of such application) and a convenient place for such sale, and shall approve proper conditions of sale and employ an auctioneer, and shall do all other necessary acts for effectuating such sale.

But no sale shall be made under this Act until such Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court shall have been satisfied that all demands and notices (if any) required by this Act, or by the terms of such mortgage, have been given and made.

At any such sale the mortgagee may be a bidder, and may become the purchaser of the land or any part thereof, and, in the event of the mortgagee being declared the purchaser, the Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court who shall have conducted such sale, or his successor in office, shall, on being required so to do, execute a transfer of the land sold to such mortgagee or to such person as he shall direct, and such transfer shall be expressed to be made in exercise of such power of sale, and shall be signed by such Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, or his successor in office, in his own proper name, with the addition of his official description.

On any sale conducted by a Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court there shall be paid by the vendor a fee, on completion of the purchase, of a percentage on and to be paid out of the purchase-money after the rate, where the purchase-money does not exceed two hundred pounds, of one per centum, and, where the purchase-money exceeds that sum, one quarter per centum on the remainder of the purchase-money, but in no case to exceed twenty pounds. Such fees shall be paid to the said Registrar or Deputy Registrar, and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

Every transfer made and executed in favour of the mortgagee or by his direction as aforesaid may be registered under this Act; and upon such registration the land, or the estate or interest of the mortgagor therein expressed to be transferred, shall vest in the transferee freed and discharged from all liability on account of the mortgage under which such power of sale has been exercised, or of any estate or interest registered subsequent thereto.

Upon the production of any memorandum by indorsement on the mortgage or otherwise, signed by the mortgagee and duly attested, discharging the land, estate, or interest from the whole or part of the principal sum or annuity secured, or discharging any part of the land comprised in such mortgage from the whole or any part of such principal sum or annuity, the Registrar shall make an entry in the Register and on the outstanding instrument of title, noting that such mortgage is discharged wholly or partially.

Upon such entry being made, the land, estate or interest, mentioned or referred to in such memorandum, shall cease to be subject to or liable for such principal sum or annuity, or for the part thereof noted in such entry as discharged.

The outstanding duplicate of every mortgage wholly or partially discharged as aforesaid shall be surrendered to the Registrar to be cancelled, or part-cancelled, as the case may be, unless the Registrar shall see reasonable cause to dispense with such surrender.

In case any mortgagee shall be absent from the colony, and there be no person authorized to give a receipt for the mortgage-money at or after the date appointed for the redemption of any mortgage, the Colonial Treasurer may receive such mortgage-money, with all arrears of interest then due thereon, in trust for the mortgagee or other person entitled thereto; and thereupon the interest upon such mortgage shall cease to run or accrue.

Upon presentation of the receipt of the Colonial Treasurer for the amount of the said mortgage-money and interest, the Registrar shall make an entry in the Register discharging such mortgage, stating the day and hour on which such entry is made, and such entry shall be a valid discharge for such mortgage, and shall have the same force and effect as is hereinbefore given to a like entry when made upon production of the mortgage with the receipt of the mortgagee; and shall indorse on the grant, certificate of title, or other instrument as aforesaid, and also on the memorandum of mortgage, whenever those instruments shall be brought to him for that purpose, the several particulars hereinbefore directed to be indorsed upon each of such instruments respectively.

Upon proof of the death of the annuitant, or of the occurrence of the event or circumstance upon which, in accordance with the provisions of any instrument executed for the purpose of securing an annuity or continuing payment, such annuity or payment shall cease to be payable; and upon proof that all arrears thereof have been paid, satisfied, or discharged, the Registrar shall make an entry in the Register of such satisfaction or discharge, and shall indorse the same on the outstanding duplicate of title, if produced to him for that purpose, and shall, if the same shall be surrendered to him, cancel the instrument creating the incumbrance.

Every mortgagee of land under this Act shall, as against the mortgagor and those claiming through or under him, if default shall have been made in payment of the interest or annual or principal sum secured by any mortgage or any part thereof for the time specified by this Act or otherwise provided in such instrument, have all the like remedies for obtaining possession of the mortgaged land as are by law given to a landlord against a lessee or tenant whose term is expired or rent in arrear.

No right of recovery of possession by any lessor or mortgagee of land under this Act shall extend to bar the right of any mortgagee of any lease or any part thereof who shall not be in possession, so as such mortgagee pay all rent in arrear, and all costs and damages sustained by the lessor or person entitled to exercise such right of recovery, and perform all the covenants and agreements which, on the part and behalf of the first lessee, are and ought to be performed.

Every mortgagee of leasehold land under the provisions of this Act, or any person claiming the said land as a purchaser or otherwise from or under such mortgagee, after entering into possession of the said land, or the rents and profits thereof, shall, during such possession and to the extent of any rents and profits which may be received by him, become and be subject and be liable to the lessor of the said land, or the person for the time being entitled to the said lessor’s estate or interest in the said land, to the same extent as the lessee or tenant was subject to and liable for prior to such mortgagee or other person entering into possession of the said land or the rents and profits thereof.

The mortgagee, or first mortgagee for the time being, of any estate or interest under this Act shall be entitled to the possession of the outstanding grant, certificate, or other instrument of title, or the same may by agreement be deposited with the Registrar for safe custody during the continuance of the security.

Any person claiming to be entitled to any estate or interest under this Act by virtue of any transmission may make application in writing to the Registrar to have such transmission registered.

Such application shall accurately define the estate or interest claimed by the applicant, and shall state, so far as is within the knowledge of the applicant, the nature of every estate or interest held by any other person at law or in equity affecting the same, and that he verily believes himself to be entitled to the estate or interest in respect of which he applies to be registered as proprietor, and the statements in such application shall be verified by the oath or statutory declaration of the applicant.

If upon such application and upon the evidence adduced in support thereof it shall appear to the Registrar and Examiner of Titles that the applicant is entitled as alleged, the Registrar shall, with the concurrence of such Examiner, proceed to register such transmission.

Provided that in case of an application by a person claiming by virtue of any intestacy or under the will of a deceased proprietor, the Registrar shall, before registering such transmission, cause notice of the application to be published in the Gazette and in one or more newspapers published in the district, and shall give such further publicity to such application as the Registrar and Examiner shall direct, and shall in such notice limit and appoint a time, not less than one month from the date of the publication thereof in the Gazette, upon or after which the Registrar may register such transmission.

Such notice may be dispensed with in case of a person claiming under any will or intestacy in respect whereof probate or administration has been granted by any Court of competent jurisdiction within the colony or under any succession order issued by the Native Land Court.

Upon the registration of a transmission under any will or settlement the Registrar and Examiner of Titles may direct a caveat to be entered by the Registrar for the protection of the interests of persons appearing by such will or settlement to be beneficially interested in the estate or interest the subject of such transmission.

Upon the bankruptcy of the registered proprietor of any lease subject to mortgage under this Act, the Registrar, upon the application in writing of the mortgagee, accompanied by a statement in writing signed by the official assignee of the bankrupt’s estate, certifying his refusal to accept such lease, shall enter in the Register the particulars of such refusal, and such entry shall operate as a transfer on sale, and the interest of the bankrupt in such lease shall thereupon vest in such mortgagee.

If such mortgagee shall neglect or decline to make such application as aforesaid, the Registrar, upon application by the lessor and proof of such neglect or refusal and of the matters aforesaid, shall enter in the Register notice of the refusal of the official assignee to accept such lease, and such entry shall operate as a surrender of such lease.

The Registrar, upon the production of proof of the marriage of a female registered proprietor of any land, estate, or interest under this Act, accompanied by a statement in writing signed by such female proprietor to that effect, shall enter on the Register and also upon the outstanding duplicate of title the name and description of her husband, the date of the marriage and where solemnized, the date and hour of the production to him of the evidence of such marriage.

Except as provided in Appendix A to this Act in relation to public reserves and other public lands, no entry shall be made in the Register of any notice of trusts, and no such entry, if made, shall have any effect; but trusts affecting land under this Act may be declared by any deed or instrument, and such deed or instrument, or a duplicate or attested copy thereof, may be deposited with the Registrar for safe custody and reference, but shall not be registered.

Upon the transfer of any land, estate, or interest under this Act to two or more persons as joint proprietors, the transferor may insert in the memorandum of transfer or other instrument the words “No survivorship,” and the Registrar shall note the same in the Register, and shall also enter the said words upon any certificate of title issued pursuant to such transfer.

Any persons registered as joint proprietors of any land, estate, or interest under this Act, may, by writing under their hand, authorize the Registrar to enter the words “No survivorship” upon the grant, certificate of title, or other instrument evidencing their title to such estate or interest, and also upon the duplicate of such instrument.

After such entry has been made and signed by the Registrar in either case as aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for any less number of joint proprietors than the number then registered to transfer or otherwise deal with the said land, estate, or interest without obtaining the sanction of the Supreme Court, or a Judge thereof, by an order on motion or petition.

Before making any such order the Court or Judge shall, if it seem requisite, cause notice of intention so to do to be advertised in the Gazette, and in at least one newspaper published in the district in which the land is, and shall appoint a time within which any person interested may show cause why such order should not be issued; and thereupon the said Court or Judge in such order may give directions for the transfer of such land, estate, or interest to any new proprietor or proprietors, solely or jointly, with or in the place of any existing proprietor or proprietors, or may make such order in the premises as the Court thinks just for the protection of the persons beneficially interested in such land, estate, or interest, or in the proceeds thereof.

Upon such order being deposited with the Registrar he shall make such entries and perform such acts as may be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to such order.

If the registered proprietor of any land, or of any estate or interest under this Act, is desirous of transferring the same to two or more persons in trust, such proprietor, in the instrument or deed declaring such trust, may nominate and appoint the Registrar of the district within which the land is, by the style of his office, to be one of such trustees; and it shall thereupon be the duty of such Registrar for the time being to act as such trustee, so far as relates to the transfer of such land, estate, or interest.

Whenever a person entitled to or interested in land as a trustee would be entitled to bring or defend any action in his own name for recovering the possession of land under this Act, such person shall be bound to allow his name to be used as a plaintiff or defendant in such action by any beneficiary or person claiming an estate or interest in the said land.

In every such case the person entitled or interested as such trustee shall be entitled to be indemnified in like manner as a trustee would before the commencement of this Act have been entitled to be indemnified in a similar case of his name being used in any such action or proceeding by his cestui que trust.

Every Registrar, upon the application of any registered proprietor of land within his district, shall grant to such proprietor a registration abstract in the Form H in the Second Schedule, enabling him to transfer or otherwise deal with his estate or interest in such land at any place without the limits of the colony, for any period not exceeding twelve months from the date of such abstract, and shall at the same time enter in the Register a memorandum recording the issue of such abstract, and shall indorse on the outstanding duplicate of title a like memorandum.

From and after the issuing of any such registration abstract, no transfer of, or other dealing with, the estate or interest in respect of which such registration abstract is issued, shall be entered in the Register until such abstract shall have been surrendered to the Registrar to be cancelled, or the loss or destruction of such abstract proven to his satisfaction.

Whenever any transfer or other dealing is intended to be effected under any registration abstract, a memorandum of transfer or such other instrument as the case may require shall be prepared in form hereinbefore appointed, and shall be produced to some one of the persons appointed as persons before whom the execution of instruments without the limits of the colony may be proven.

Upon memorial of such instrument being entered upon the registration abstract, and authenticated by the signature of such authorized person, such instrument shall be held to be registered, and such transfer or other dealing shall be as valid and binding to all intents as if the same had been entered in the Register by the Registrar of the district within which the land is; and such authorized person as aforesaid shall record the like memorial on the outstanding duplicate of title.

A certificate of registration, indorsed on the instrument of which the memorial has been so entered, and signed by such authorized person and sealed with his seal, shall be received in all Courts as conclusive evidence that such instrument has been duly registered.

Upon the return of any registration abstract to the Registrar he shall record in the Register, in such manner as to preserve their priority, the particulars of every transfer or other dealing recorded thereon, and shall file in his office the duplicates of every memorandum of transfer or other instrument executed thereunder which may for that purpose be delivered to him, and shall cancel such abstract, and note the fact of such cancellation in the Register.

If a freehold estate in such land, or in any part thereof, be transferred, the grant or certificate of title shall be delivered up to the Registrar, who shall thereupon proceed as is hereinbefore directed for the case of the transfer of an estate of freehold.

Upon proof at any time to the satisfaction of the Registrar that any registration abstract is lost or so obliterated as to be useless, and that the powers thereby given have never been exercised, or, if they have been exercised, then, upon proof of the several matters and things that have been done thereunder, the Registrar may, as circumstances may require, either issue a new registration abstract, as the case may be, or may direct such entries to be made in the Register, or such other matter or thing to be done, as might have been made or done if no such loss or obliteration had taken place.

Any person having or claiming an interest in any land the subject of an application to bring the same under this Act may, at any time within the time limited for that purpose, by advertisement as hereinbefore provided, lodge with the Registrar a caveat in the Form K in the Second Schedule.

Any person claiming to be entitled to, or to be beneficially interested in, any land, estate, or interest under this Act by virtue of any unregistered agreement or other instrument or transmission, or of any trust expressed or implied, or otherwise howsoever; also

Any person transferring any estate or interest under this Act to any other person, to be held in trust, may at any time lodge with the Registrar a caveat in the Form L in the Second Schedule, which caveat shall be entered on the Register as of the day and hour of the reception thereof.

Every caveat shall be signed by the caveator or by his attorney or agent, and shall state with sufficient certainty the nature of the estate or interest claimed by the caveator, with such other information and evidence as may be required by regulations under this Act, and shall appoint a place or give an address within the district, at or to which notices and proceedings relating to such caveat may be served or addressed.

Every notice, relating to a caveat and any proceedings in respect thereof, if served at the place appointed in the caveat, or forwarded through the post-office by registered letter addressed as aforesaid, shall be deemed duly served.

So long as a caveat in the Form K shall remain in force, the Registrar shall not proceed with the bringing under this Act of the land affected thereby, nor shall it be lawful for the person making such application to withdraw the same, except with the consent of the caveator, or by leave of a Judge of the Supreme Court.

So long as a caveat in the Form L shall remain in force, the Registrar shall not make any entry on the Register having the effect of charging or transferring or otherwise affecting the estate or interest protected by such caveat, or issue any registration abstract in respect thereof.

Upon the receipt of any caveat the Registrar shall notify the same to the person against whose application to bring land under this Act or to be registered as proprietor consequent on any transmission, or to the registered proprietor against whose title to deal with land under this Act such caveat has been lodged.

Such applicant or registered proprietor may, if he think fit, summon the caveator, or the person on whose behalf such caveat has been lodged, to attend before the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof, to show cause why such caveat should not be removed; and such Court or Judge, upon proof that such person has been summoned, may make such order in the premises, either ex parte or otherwise, as to such Court or Judge may seem meet.

After the expiration of three months from the receipt thereof every caveat in the Form K shall be deemed to have lapsed, unless the person by whom or on whose behalf the same was lodged shall within that time have taken proceedings in any Court of competent jurisdiction to establish his title to the estate, interest, lien, or charge therein specified, and thereof shall have given written notice to the Registrar, or shall have obtained from the Supreme Court an order or injunction restraining the Registrar from bringing the land therein referred to under this Act.

Except in the case of a caveat lodged by or on behalf of a beneficiary claiming under any will or settlement, or for the protection of any trust, or by the Registrar in exercise of the powers by this Act given to him in that behalf, every caveat in the Form L shall, upon the expiration of fourteen days after notice given to the caveator that application has been made for the registration of any instrument affecting the land, estate, or interest protected thereby, be deemed to have lapsed as to such land, estate, or interest, or so much thereof as is referred to in such notice, unless an order to the contrary be made by the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof.

Any person lodging any caveat without reasonable cause shall be liable to make to any person who may have sustained damage thereby such compensation as may be just; and such compensation shall be recoverable in an action at law by the person who has sustained damage from the person who lodged the caveat.

Any caveat may be withdrawn by the caveator or by his attorney or agent under a written authority, and either as to the whole or any part of the land affected, or the consent of the caveator may be given for the registration of any particular dealing expressed to be made subject to the rights of the caveator.

When any caveat in either of the forms hereinbefore provided shall have lapsed, it shall not be lawful for the Registrar to receive any second caveat affecting the same land, estate, or interest, by the same person, or in the same right and for the same cause, except by order of the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof.

No dealing under the provisions of “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” or any Act amending the same, by virtue of any power of attorney shall be impeached by reason only that such power was executed prior to the bringing of the land under the said Act.

The bringing of land under this Act shall not invalidate any power of attorney previously executed, but such land may thereafter be dealt with under such power, subject to the provisions hereof.

The registered proprietor of land under this Act, or any person claiming any estate or interest under this Act, may, by power of attorney in the form in the Third Schedule or in any usual form, and either in general terms or specially, authorize and appoint any person on his behalf to execute transfers or other dealings therewith, or to make any application to the Registrar or to any Court or Judge in relation thereto.

Every power of attorney intended to be used under this Act, or a duplicate or attested copy thereof, verified to the satisfaction of the Registrar, shall be deposited with the Registrar in manner provided by regulations under this Act, but it shall not be necessary to register any power of attorney.

The grantor of any revocable power of attorney may, by notice to the Registrar in the form in the Third Schedule, revoke the same either wholly or as to the land specified in such notice; but no power of attorney shall be deemed to have been revoked by reason only of a subsequent power of attorney being deposited without express notice as aforesaid, nor shall any such revocation take effect as to instruments executed prior to the reception of such notice by the Registrar.

No power of attorney made or used under this Act, or heretofore used for the purpose of any dealing under the Acts hereby repealed, shall be invalidated by reason of such power not having been created under seal.

In every instrument charging, creating, or transferring any estate or interest under this Act, there shall be implied the following covenants by the party charging, creating, or transferring such estate or interest to and with each and every person taking any estate or interest under such instrument—

That the (implied) covenantor will do all such acts as may be necessary on his part to give effect to all covenants, conditions, and purposes expressly set forth in such instrument, or by this Act declared to be implied in instruments of a like nature:

That the (implied) covenantor will, at the request and cost of the person taking any estate or interest as aforesaid, execute all such further instruments as may be necessary for further and better assuring and perfecting the title of such person as last aforesaid to the estate or interest expressed or intended to be granted, created, or transferred.

Such of the covenants, set forth at length in the Fourth Schedule, as shall be intended to be implied in any instrument executed for the purpose of registration under this Act shall, if expressed in the short form of words prescribed in the said Schedule for the case of each covenant respectively, be implied in such instrument as fully and effectually as if such covenants were set forth therein at length in the words of the said Schedule.

Every covenant and power implied in or existing by virtue of any instrument by virtue of this Act may be negatived, modified, enlarged, or extended by express declaration in such instrument or indorsed thereon.

Every such implied covenant shall, subject to any modification thereof, have the same force and effect, and be enforced in the same manner, as if it had been set out at length in such instrument.

Where any such instrument is executed by more parties than one, such covenants as are by virtue of this Act therein implied shall be construed to be several, and also to bind the parties or any two or more of them jointly.

In any declaration in an action for a breach of any such covenant, the covenant alleged to be broken may be set forth, and it may be alleged that the party against whom such action is brought did so covenant precisely in the same manner as if such covenant had been expressed in words in such memorandum of transfer or other instrument, any law or practice to the contrary notwithstanding.

Every instrument executed for the purpose of creating, transferring, or charging any estate or interest under this Act shall be signed by the registered proprietor and attested by at least one witness, whose occupation or other description and address or place of residence must be specified with reasonable certainty; and every instrument so executed shall, when registered, have the force and effect of a deed executed by the parties signing the same.

Instruments executed as aforesaid shall be held to be duly attested, and the execution thereof may be proved before a District Land Registrar, Assistant Land Registrar, or any deputy of either of such officers, or before a notary public, Justice of the Peace, or a solicitor of the Supreme Court, if the parties executing the same be resident within the colony, by the oath or statutory declaration of the parties executing the same, or of a witness attesting the signing thereof.

If the attesting witness shall answer in the affirmative each of the questions following, that is to say,—

—then the Registrar, Justice, or other person before whom such witness shall prove such signature as aforesaid shall indorse upon such instrument a certificate in Form (1) of the Fifth Schedule.

The questions aforesaid may be varied as circumstances may require in case any person shall sign any such instrument by his mark.

If the person executing such instrument be personally known to the Registrar, Justice, or other person as aforesaid he may attend and appear before such Registrar, Justice, or other person and acknowledge that he did freely and voluntarily sign such instrument, and upon such acknowledgment the Registrar, Assistant Registrar, or any deputy of such officer, Justice, or other person, shall indorse on such instrument a certificate in the Form (2) of the Fifth Schedule.

Every instrument executed for any of the purposes aforesaid by any aboriginal native of the colony shall be executed according to any law for the time being in force regulating the dealing by such persons with land in the colony.

A married woman shall, for the purpose of any dealing by her under this Act, be deemed a feme sole.

A corporation, in lieu of signing any instrument, may execute the same by affixing thereto the common seal of the corporation, or the official seal for use in the colony, or by attorney appointed under such common or official seal, and such seal affixed to any instrument shall be sufficient proof to the Registrar that the same was affixed under proper authority, and that such instrument is binding on the corporation whose seal it bears.

Every instrument registered under this Act shall, if purporting to have been executed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, be presumed to have been duly executed, and shall be received in evidence as such in any Court of law or equity, unless the contrary be proved.

No Registrar shall receive any application for bringing land under this Act, or any instrument purporting to deal with or affect any estate or interest under the provisions hereof, unless there shall be indorsed thereon a certificate that the same is correct for the purposes of this Act, signed by the applicant or party claiming under or in respect of such instrument, or by a licensed land-broker or solicitor of the Supreme Court employed by him; or a corporation may authorize any person to certify on its behalf.

Any person who shall falsely or negligently certify to the correctness of any such application or other instrument shall be liable therefor to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds; and such penalty shall not prevent the person who may have sustained any damage or loss in consequence of error or mistake in any such certified instrument, or any duplicate thereof, from recovering compensation from the person by whom or on whose behalf the same shall have been certified.

Every instrument of any kind whatsoever, which has been or hereafter may be duly signed, executed, or acknowledged out of the Colony of New Zealand, shall, so far as the signing, execution, or acknowledgment thereof is concerned, be receivable in evidence in every Court of justice in the colony, and before any authority or person having by law or consent of parties authority to hear and receive evidence in the colony, if such signing, execution, or acknowledgment is verified by the witness thereto if only one, or by one of the witnesses thereto if more than one, in either of the following ways, that is to say,—

If such instrument is signed, executed, or acknowledged in any part of the British dominions beyond the limits of the colony, then in accordance with the provisions in that behalf contained in the Act of the Imperial Parliament now known by the short title of “The Statutory Declarations Act, 1835,” or in accordance with the provisions of any enactment in force, in any part of the British dominions where any such verification shall take place, respecting the verification of the signing, execution, or acknowledgment of instruments to be used abroad;

And the mention in the declaration or affidavit referring to such signing, execution, or acknowledgment, or in any certificate written at the foot or in continuation thereof or attached thereto, signed by a notary public, and under his seal of office, or signed by the Mayor, Provost, or other Chief Magistrate of any corporate town, with the seal of the Corporation attached, of the law under which any such declaration or affidavit is made, shall be sufficient proof of such law:

If any such instrument shall be signed, executed, or acknowledged out of the British dominions, then by an affidavit or solemn declaration as may be lawful in such cases to be made according to the law of such foreign country, and certified by the British-Consul or Vice-Consul there under his seal of office.

The Surveyor-General of the Colony is hereby empowered, with the approval of the Governor in Council, to make such regulations as he may think necessary for insuring the accuracy of plans and surveys required under this Act, and to cancel and alter such regulations when and as necessary.

No person shall be permitted to practice as a surveyor under this Act unless specially licensed for that purpose by the Surveyor-General.

The Registrar may require any person subdividing land under this Act, or applying to bring land under this Act, to deposit in the Land Registry of the district a map or plan of such land or subdivision, or of any portion thereof, which map or plan shall be in accordance with the regulations for the time being in force in that behalf, and shall be verified by the statutory declaration of a licensed surveyor in such form as the said regulations shall prescribe.

If and so long as any proprietor shall neglect or refuse to furnish any plan required as aforesaid, the Registrar shall not be bound to proceed with the bringing of the land under this Act, or with the registration of the dealing in respect of which the same is required.

The deposit of a plan of subdivision of any land shall not operate as a dedication for public purposes of roads shown on such plan, but a right-of-way over all such roads shall be appurtenant to every portion of the land in such subdivision, unless expressly excepted; and every instrument in which land is described by reference to a deposited plan shall take effect, according to the intent and meaning thereof, as if such plan were fully set out thereon.

Whenever a public road shall be taken or laid out over any land under this Act, the Surveyor-General shall cause to be forwarded to the Registrar the particulars of such taking and of the date thereof, together with a sufficient plan of such road, so far as the same affects land under this Act; and the Registrar shall thereupon proceed as may be necessary to have such road defined on the Register, and on any deposited plan in his custody or under his control, and on the outstanding duplicate of title.

This section shall not apply to the case of land taken for the purpose of roads under the provisions of any Act of the General Assembly, if the. mode of registration is by such Act otherwise provided for.

Every Registrar, in addition to the powers hereinbefore vested in him, may exercise all or any of the powers following, that is to say,—

He may require the proprietor or other person making or concurring in any application under this Act to produce any deed or instrument in his possession or control relating to the land the subject of such application, and, if necessary, to attend and give any information or explanation concerning the same:

He may require any person having in his possession or control any grant, certificate, or other instrument upon which any memorial or entry is required to be indorsed for the purposes of this Act to produce such instrument within a reasonable time to be fixed by such notice, and to deposit the same in the Land Registry Office of his district for such time as may be necessary for the making of such indorsement or entry:

He may, if, in his opinion, the number or nature of the entries on any folium of the Register render it expedient to close the same, or if any document of title shall have become worn, defaced, or mutilated so as to justify his so doing, require the holder of the outstanding duplicate of title to surrender the same for cancellation; and, upon such cancellation, a new certificate shall be issued to the person entitled thereto upon payment of the prescribed fee: Provided that the Registrar may at his discretion remit such fee except in case of wilful defacement or mutilation of any instrument:

He may enter caveats for the protection of any person who shall be under the disability of infancy, coverture, lunacy, unsoundness of mind, or absence from the colony, or, on behalf of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, to prohibit the transfer or dealing with any land within his district belonging or supposed to belong to any such persons as hereinbefore mentioned, and also to prohibit the dealing with any land within his district in any case in which it shall appear to him that an error has been made by misdescription of such land or otherwise in any certificate of title or other instrument, or for the prevention of any fraud or improper dealing:

He may administer oaths, or may take a statutory declaration in lieu of administering an oath.

If, upon requisition in writing made by a Registrar for any purpose in the last-preceding section mentioned, any proprietor or other person without reasonable cause refuses or neglects to produce, surrender, or deposit any instrument, or to allow the same to be inspected, or refuses or neglects to give any explanation which he is hereinbefore required to give, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for each day during which the same shall be retained or withheld contrary to such requisition, which penalty may be recovered at the suit of the Registrar in any Court of competent jurisdiction, and shall, in addition thereto, be liable to make compensation to any person who shall have sustained loss or damage by reason of such non-production.

Upon the first bringing of land under this Act, upon application of the proprietor, and also upon the registration of the title to an estate of freehold in possession in land derived through the will or intestacy of a previous proprietor or under any settlement, there shall be paid to the Registrar the sum of one halfpenny in the pound sterling upon the value of the land brought under the Act or of the estate or interest transmitted.

Such value shall be ascertained by the oath or solemn affirmation of the applicant, proprietor, or person deriving such land by transmission.

If the Registrar shall not be satisfied as to the correctness of the value so declared or sworn to, he may require a certificate of such value under the hand of a sworn valuator, which certificate shall be received as conclusive evidence for the purpose aforesaid.

All sums collected under the foregoing provisions shall be paid to the public account, to the credit of an account to be called “The Land Assurance Fund Account,” and shall be deemed to be and be treated as part of the Public Trust Fund within the meaning of “The Public Revenues Act, 1878.”

Any person sustaining loss or damage through any omission, mistake, or misfeasance of any Registrar, or of any of his officers or clerks, in the execution of their respective duties, and any person deprived of any land, or of any estate or interest in land, through the bringing of the same under this Act, or by the registration of any other person as proprietor of such land, or by any error, omission, or misdescription in any certificate of title, or in any entry or memorial in the Register, or who has sustained any loss or damage by the wrongful inclusion of land in any certificate as aforesaid, and who by this Act is barred from bringing an action for possession or other action for the recovery of such land, estate, or interest, may bring an action against the Registrar-General, as nominal defendant, for recovery of damages.

In case the plaintiff recovers final judgment against such nominal defendant, then the Court or Judge, before whom such action may be tried, shall certify to the Colonial Treasurer the fact of such judgment, and the amount of damages and costs recovered; and the said Treasurer thereupon, and upon the receipt of a warrant under the hand of the Governor, shall pay the amount of such damages and costs to the person recovering the same, and shall charge the same to the account of the Assurance Fund.

Notice in writing of every action against the Registrar-General, and of the cause thereof, and of the amount claimed, shall be served upon the Attorney-General, and also upon the Registrar-General, one month at least before the commencement of such action.

If the aforesaid officers concur that such claim ought to be admitted, as to the whole or any part thereof, without suit or action, and shall jointly certify to that effect, the Governor may issue his warrant to the Colonial Treasurer for payment accordingly.

If after notice of such admission has been served on the claimant his solicitor or agent, the claimant shall proceed with such action, and shall recover no more than the amount admitted, he shall not be entitled to recover any costs as against the nominal defendant, and shall be liable to such defendant for the costs of defending the action in like manner as if judgment had been given for the defendant in such action.

If, in any such action, judgment be given in favour of the nominal defendant, or the plaintiff discontinue or become nonsuit, the plaintiff shall be liable to pay the full costs of defending such action; and the same, when taxed, shall be levied in the name of the nominal defendant by the like process of execution as in other actions on the case.

Whenever any sum of money has been lawfully paid out of the Assurance Fund as compensation for any loss occasioned by fraud, or by fraudulent omission, misdescription, or misrepresentation of any kind on the part of any proprietor in bringing land under this Act, or under the Acts hereby repealed, or by fraud on the part of any person causing or procuring himself to be registered as a proprietor under the said Acts, or either of them, by virtue of any dealing with or transmission from a registered proprietor, the amount of such compensation, together with all costs incurred in testing or defending any claim or action in relation thereto, shall be deemed a debt due to the Crown from the person legally responsible for such fraud, fraudulent omission, misdescription, or misrepresentation, as the case may be, and may be recovered from him, or from his personal representatives, by action at law, in the name of the Registrar-General, or, in case of bankruptcy, may be proved as a debt due from his estate.

A certificate signed by the Colonial Treasurer, verifying the fact of such payment out of the Assurance Fund, shall be primâ facie proof that such payment was made as aforesaid.

All moneys recovered in any action as aforesaid shall be paid to the credit of the Assurance Fund.

All costs incurred by the Registrar-General with the sanction of the Attorney-General in prosecuting, testing, or defending any claim or action under this Act, shall be paid out of the Assurance Fund.

Whenever any amount has been paid out of the Assurance Fund on account of any person who may have absconded, or who cannot be found within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and may have left any real or personal estate within New Zealand, the said Court, or a Judge thereof, upon the application of the Registrar-General, and upon the production of a certificate signed by the Colonial Treasurer certifying that the amount has been paid in satisfaction of a judgment against the Registrar-General as nominal defendant, may allow the Registrar-General to sign judgment against such person forth-with for the amount so paid out of the Assurance Fund, together with the costs of the application; and such judgment shall be final, and signed in like manner as a final judgment by confession or default in an adverse suit, and execution may issue immediately.

If such person shall not have left real or personal estate within the colony sufficient to satisfy the amount for which execution may have been issued as aforesaid, the Registrar-General may recover such amount, or the unrecovered balance thereof, by action against such person at any time thereafter he may be found within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The Assurance Fund shall not, under any circumstances, be liable for compensation—

No person shall, as against the Registrar-General or the Assurance Fund, be entitled to recover any greater amount for compensation in respect of the loss or deprivation of any land, or of any estate or interest therein, than the value of such land, estate, or interest at the time of such deprivation, together with the value of the messuages and tenements erected thereon and improvements made thereto (if any) prior to the time of such deprivation, with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum to the date of judgment recovered; and in case the Assurance Fund for the time being shall be insufficient to satisfy any claim, the deficiency shall be paid out of the consolidated revenue of the colony, and shall be a first charge upon the Assurance Fund.

No action for recovery of damages as aforesaid shall lie or be sustained against the Registrar-General, unless such action shall be commenced within the period of six years from the date when the right to bring such action accrued; but any person being under the disability of coverture, infancy, unsoundness of mind, or absence from the colony, may bring such action within three years from the date on which such disability shall have ceased.

The plaintiff in any such action, or the plaintiff in an action for the recovery of land, shall be nonsuited in any case in which the loss or deprivation complained of may have been occasioned through the bringing of land under this Act, if it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Court before which such action shall be tried that such plaintiff, or the person through or under whom be claims title, had notice, by personal service or otherwise, or was aware that application had been made to bring such land under this Act, and had wilfully, negligently, or collusively either omitted to lodge a caveat or allowed such caveat to lapse.

Except in the case of fraud, no person contracting or dealing with or taking or proposing to take a transfer from the registered proprietor of any registered estate or interest, shall be required or in any manner concerned to inquire into or ascertain the circumstances in or the consideration for which such registered owner or any previous registered owner of the estate or interest in question is or was registered, or to see to the application of the purchase-money or of any part thereof, or shall be affected by notice, direct or constructive, of any trust or unregistered interest, any rule of law or equity to the contrary notwithstanding, and the knowledge that any such trust or unregistered interest is in existence shall not of itself be imputed as fraud.

Nothing in this Act contained shall be so interpreted as to leave, subject to action for recovery of damages, or to action for possession, or to deprivation of the estate or interest in respect to which he is registered as proprietor, any purchaser or mortgagee bonâ fide for valuable consideration of land under the provisions of this Act on the ground that his vendor or mortgagor may have been registered as proprietor through fraud or error, or under any void or voidable instrument, or may have derived from or through a person registered as proprietor through fraud or error, or under any void or voidable instrument, and this whether such fraud or error shall consist in wrong description of the boundaries, or of the parcels of any land, or otherwise howsoever.

If the Registrar shall refuse to perform any act or duty which he is hereby required or empowered to perform, or if the proprietor or other claimant of any land, estate, or interest shall be dissatisfied with the direction of the Registrar and Examiner of Titles, or of the Registrar acting alone, in respect of any application, claim, matter, or thing under this Act, the person deeming himself aggrieved may require the Registrar to set forth in writing the grounds of his refusal, or the grounds upon which such direction was given.

Such person may, if he think fit, summon the Registrar to appear before the Supreme Court to substantiate and uphold the grounds of his refusal or of such direction or decision as aforesaid, such summons to be issued under the hand of a Judge of the said Court, and served upon the Registrar six clear days at least before the day appointed for hearing.

Such objections shall be heard by the said Court upon motion; and upon the hearing the Registrar, or his counsel, shall have the right of reply, and the Court shall, if any question of fact be involved, direct an issue to be tried to decide such fact; and the Court shall thereupon make such order in the premises as the circumstances of the case may require, which order shall be binding upon the Registrar.

All expenses attendant upon any such proceedings shall be borne and paid by the person preferring such plaint, unless the Judge or Court shall order that the same be paid out of the Assurance Fund, which such Court or Judge is hereby empowered to do.

Whenever any question shall arise between the Registrar and Examiner with regard to the performance of any of the duties or the exercise of any of the functions by this Act conferred or imposed upon any Registrar, which he is authorized or empowered to exercise or perform in conjunction or together with, or with the consent of, the Examiner, the Registrar shall state a case for the opinion of the Registrar-General; and thereupon the Registrar-General shall decide upon the matter, and such decision shall be binding upon such Registrar and Examiner.

In every case in which an appeal may be had to the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof under this Act from the decision of any Registrar acting also as Examiner of Titles, or of any Registrar in respect of any matter with which he is empowered to deal without the concurrence of an Examiner, the person dissatisfied with such decision may refer the same in the first instance to the Registrar-General, whose decision shall be binding on the Registrar; and there shall be the like appeal to the Supreme Court from the decision of the Registrar-General as from the decision of a Registrar.

The Registrar-General may, by special case, submit for the decision of the Court of Appeal any question arising under this Act which shall appear to him to require such decision; and the said Court shall give its judgment thereon as if such question had been raised in due form upon an appeal from the decision of a Judge of the Supreme Court.

In the conduct of actions and proceedings in any Court under this Act the same rules shall apply, and there shall be the same rights of appeal, as are in force or exist for the time being in respect of ordinary proceedings in the same Court.

The Judges of the Supreme Court, or so many of them as are for the time being authorized to make general rules for regulating proceedings in ordinary actions in the Supreme Court, shall have power from time to time to make rules and orders for regulating proceedings in the Supreme Court under this Act, and from time to time to rescind, alter, or add to such rules and orders.

If any person—

such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred pounds, or may, at the discretion of the Court before whom the case may be tried, be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding three years.

Any certificate of title, entry, erasure, or alteration, so procured or made by fraud, shall be void as between all parties or privies to such fraud.

If any person,—

Forges, or procures to be forged, or assists in forging the seal of any Registrar, or the name, signature, or handwriting of any officer of the Land Registry Office, in cases where such officer is by this Act expressly or impliedly authorized to affix his signature;

Stamps, or procures to be stamped, or assists in stamping any document with any forged seal of any Registrar;

Forges, or procures to be forged, or assists in forging the name, signature, or handwriting of any person whomsoever to any instrument which is by this Act, or in pursuance of any power contained in this Act, expressly or impliedly authorized to be signed by such person;

Uses, with an intention to defraud any person whomsoever, any document upon which any impression or part of the impression of any seal of any Registrar has been forged, knowing the same to have been forged, or any document the signature to which has been forged, knowing the same to have been forged;

Fraudulently, or with intent to defraud, uses or deposits, or seeks to use or deposit under this Act any power of attorney, knowing the same to have been revoked, whether expressly or by death of the grantor;

such person shall be deemed guilty of felony.

If any person knowingly or wilfully makes a false oath or declaration concerning any matter or procedure made and done in pursuance of this Act, such person shall be deemed guilty of perjury.

Any person convicted of felony or perjury under this Act shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding four years, and to be kept to hard labour for the period aforesaid.

No proceeding or conviction for any act hereby declared to be a misdemeanour or a felony shall affect any remedy which any person aggrieved or injured by such act may be entitled to at law or in equity against the person who has committed such act, or against his estate.

The Registrar-General, with the sanction of the Governor, may license fit and proper persons to be land-brokers for transacting business under this Act, and, with like sanction, may prescribe the charges recoverable by such brokers for such business by any scale not exceeding the charges specified in the Sixth Schedule; and for every such license may charge and receive the fee of five pounds annually.

Before granting any such license the Registrar-General shall take a bond from the person to whom the same is to be issued in the sum of one thousand pounds, with two sureties each in the sum of five hundred pounds, conditioned that such person shall duly and faithfully act in the capacity of such licensed land-broker in accordance with this Act.

Any license granted as aforesaid may be revoked by the Registrar-General, with the sanction of the Governor, upon the ground of malfeasance or incapacity of the licensee, or in case the sureties or either of them shall become bankrupt or leave the colony, or shall desire to be discharged from their liability.

Any person who, not being the holder of a license as a land-broker under this Act, or of a certificate for the time being in force to the effect that he is on the roll of the Supreme Court as a barrister or solicitor thereof, shall transact business for fee or reward under this Act, or shall wilfully and falsely pretend to be entitled to transact such business, shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

If any person licensed as a land-broker shall knowingly and wilfully charge more than the sums mentioned in the Sixth Schedule, his license shall be cancelled, and he shall be incapable of being again licensed as a land-broker for two years.

The Governor may appoint qualified persons to be valuators under this Act, and may at pleasure revoke any such appointment.

Every person appointed as a valuator, or who has been already so appointed, may be required to take the following oath before a Judge of the Supreme Court or District Court, or before any officer appointed for that purpose by the Governor:—

Subject to the express provisions of this Act, the Governor in Council from time to time, by regulations gazetted,—

May prescribe and alter the fees which may be taken by Registrars under this Act; except only that the fees to be taken in respect of the several matters specified in the Seventh Schedule shall not exceed the amounts specified in such Schedule; also

May make such regulations as may from time to time be necessary or expedient for regulating the practice and conduct of business; also

May make regulations prescribing the qualifications necessary for persons to be appointed to offices under this Act.

No application or instrument for which forms are provided by the Schedules to this Act shall be received or registered except the same shall be written upon a printed form supplied by the Land Registry Office, or by some person licensed to print and sell the same, unless such application or instruments shall be executed under circumstances which, in the opinion of the Registrar, shall reasonably excuse the omission to use such printed form.

The Registrar-General may from time to time make such variations in the forms prescribed in the Schedules as he shall deem necessary or expedient, and every form authenticated by his seal, or by the seal of the Registrar of the district within which the same is used, shall be taken to be a duly-authorized form unless the contrary be proved.

In any form under this Act the description of any person as proprietor, transferor, transferee, mortgagor, mortgagee, lessor or lessee, or as trustee, or as seised of, having, or taking any estate or interest in any land, shall be deemed to include the heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns of such person.

And generally, whenever a form in the Schedules hereto is directed to be used, such direction shall apply equally to any form to the like effect, signed by a Registrar or stamped with his seal, or which for the same purpose may be authorized in conformity with this Act; and any variation from such forms, not being in matter of substance, shall not affect their validity or regularity, but they may be used with such alterations as the character of the parties or circumstances of the case may render necessary.

Unless otherwise expressly provided, all offences against this Act may be prosecuted, and all penalties or sums of money imposed or declared to be due or owing by or under the same may be sued for and recovered, in the name of the Attorney-General before any Court having jurisdiction for punishment of offences of the like nature, or for the recovery of penalties or sums of money of the like amount.

Before proceeding to enforce any penalty under this Act for non-production of any deed or instrument, the Registrar may require the person at whose instance such proceeding is taken to deposit with the Clerk of the Court in which such proceeding is to be taken, a reasonable sum as security for any costs or expenses which may be incurred by the Registrar in relation to such proceeding or consequent on any failure therein, and to sign an undertaking to pay such costs or expenses.

All discretionary powers vested in Registrars, save only such as are expressly required to be exercised in conjunction with an Examiner of Titles, shall be exercised subject to such regulations as may be made under this Act.

No Registrar or Deputy or Assistant Registrar shall be bound to produce any register or document in his possession.

No officer appointed under this Act, or whose appointment is hereby confirmed, shall be personally liable to any action, suit, or proceeding for or in respect of any act or matter bonâ fide done or omitted to be done by him in the exercise or supposed exercise of powers vested in him under this Act.

The special provisions contained in the several Appendices A, B, and C, annexed to this Act, are hereby enacted, and shall be deemed to form part of this Act.

Whenever, by any unrepealed Act, any act, matter, or thing is authorized to be done, or any memorial is authorized or directed to be registered, under “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” or any Act amending the same, such act, matter, or thing may be done, or such memorial registered, under this Act, unless the same is inconsistent with the express provisions hereof.

Where in any unrepealed Act or enactment, or in any deed, instrument, or other document, made before the commencement of this Act, reference is made to “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” or any Act amending the same, or to any enactment thereof respectively, such reference shall be construed and shall operate as if it had been made to this Act, or to such of the provisions of this Act as correspond to the Act or enactment so referred to.

The several Acts and portions of Acts specified in the Eighth Schedule are hereby repealed.

But this repeal shall not affect the validity of any act, deed, instrument, matter, or thing lawfully done or executed, or of any power of sale or re-entry existing by virtue of any lease or mortgage executed under the provisions of “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” and of the Acts amending the same, or of any other right, estate, or interest lawfully acquired, created, or existing under the said Acts or any of them;

Nor shall such repeal be pleaded in bar of any action, suit, indictment, or other proceeding at law or in equity heretofore or hereafter commenced or prosecuted in respect of any act, deed, matter, or thing actually done or suffered, or in respect of any penalty or liability incurred, under the repealed Acts or any of them, or of any offence against the provisions thereof.

All Proclamations, Orders in Council, scales of fees, rules, regulations, and instructions lawfully made or issued under “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” and the Acts amending the same, so far as the same are in force at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall, until revoked by proper authority, apply to this Act, and shall remain in full force and virtue except so far as is inconsistent with the express provisions hereof.

All applications and other proceedings pending under the repealed Acts, or any of them, may be continued and completed as if the said Acts had not been repealed.

The grantee or other person or body corporate in whom any land under this Act now is or shall hereafter become vested as a public reserve, shall hold such land subject to the trusts expressed or declared of and concerning the same in the Crown grant or in any certificate of title following the terms of such grant.

If, after the registration of the Crown grant, any trust shall be legally declared under the authority of any Act of the General Assembly of and concerning any such public reserve, either as an original trust or by way of substitution, or if any trust previously declared shall be by the like authority legally revoked or altered, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Crown Lands of the land district wherein such reserve is situate to notify to the Registrar the particulars of such trust or of such alteration, revocation, or substitution, as the case may be.

The Registrar shall thereupon enter a notification thereof in the Register, and such new or altered trust or revocation, as the case may be, shall take effect, as to the land against which such entry is made, as from the date of such entry.

Whenever, by any Act of the General Assembly, it is declared that land other than public reserves may be vested in any person or body corporate for any special purpose, or by virtue of any office, it shall be lawful to grant or transfer land under this Act to such person or body corporate to be held accordingly; and a reference to such first-mentioned Act in the memorial of such transfer or any certificate of title issued thereupon shall be notice of the capacity in which such land is held, and of all trusts expressly affecting the land by virtue thereof.

The disclosure of any trust under the provisions aforesaid shall have the effect of a perpetual caveat to restrain any dealing with the lands affected, so far as such dealing is manifestly inconsistent with such trust.

Every receipt which shall be issued by the Land Board of the Land District of Canterbury for the purchase-money of land contracted to be sold under the provisions of “The Canterbury Educational Reserves Sale and Leasing Act, 1876,” shall be in duplicate, and it shall be the duty of the Board to transmit one copy thereof to the Registrar.

The Registrar shall include such receipt in the Provisional Register-book of his district, as if the same were a receipt by an ordinary Receiver of Land Revenue for the purchase-money of Crown lands; and, until the issue of a certificate of title for the same as hereinafter mentioned, all dealings with such land by the purchaser, and by those claiming through or under him, shall be entered on the Provisional Register only.

Nothing in this Act shall be taken to preclude the registration in due form of any instrument requisite for giving effect to the provisions of “The Canterbury Educational Reserves Sale and Leasing Act, 1876,” and for vesting the land contracted to be sold as aforesaid in the purchaser named in such receipt; but, until the issue of a certificate of title for the same, no other dealings whatever with the said land shall be registered save and except such as are hereinbefore authorized to be entered on the Provisional Register.

Upon the registration of a Crown grant for the said land, and of a duly executed transfer to the purchaser, the Registrar shall cancel such grant as to the land transferred, and shall issue a certificate of title for the same to the purchaser or to such other person or persons, and subject to such memorials and entries thereon, as shall be necessary for giving effect to the dealings on the Provisional Register.

Every unincorporated building society shall forward from time to time to each Registrar the names of the treasurer, trustee, or other officers in whom any property of the society within his district may by law be or become vested, and also notice of the death, resignation or removal of existing and the appointment of new officers, also a copy of the rules of the society.

Land under this Act shall be mortgaged to such societies only by memorandum of mortgage made to such officers, denoted by their official denomination, and not by their own proper names, and the persons in whom the property of the society shall for the time being be vested shall be deemed to be the registered proprietors of such mortgages.

When any instrument shall be presented for registration affecting the land included in any such mortgage, and shall purport to be executed by the persons in whom the property of the society appears to the Registrar to have been vested at the time of the execution of such instrument, he shall register the same, and no person claiming under any such instrument shall be affected by notice, direct or constructive, that the property of the society was not vested in the persons executing the same, nor that such instrument was executed in contravention of the rules of the society or the terms of the mortgage.