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Instructions for guidance in bringing Land under the Act.

1. Applications should be clearly and grammatically expressed, and written in a plain, legible hand. No application on which an erasure is detected will be received, but mistakes may he corrected by scoring the pen through the words written in error, and writing the correct words over them. The words scored out or interlined must be initialed by the applicant and the person before whom the declaration is taken.

2. By the 112th section of "The Land Transfer Act, 1870," the District Land Registrar is prohibited from receiving any application to bring land under the provisions of that Act unless it be indorsed with a certificate that the same is correct for the purposes of that Act, signed by the applicant proprietor, or by his solicitor, or by a licensed broker employed by him.

3. The same section subjects to a penalty not exceeding £50 any person who shall falsely or negligently certify to the correctness of any application; and persons transacting business are cautioned that this penalty will be strictly enforced in case of misdescription of land or boundaries, or in case of the omission to disclose the existence in any other person of an estate or interest in the property.

4. Any person may apply to bring under the provisions of the Land Transfer Act land of which he is the proprietor in fee or for a life estate, cither at law or in equity.

5. If the land be vested in the applicant as a trustee only, and the trust deed does not contain powers of sale and absolute disposal, all persons beneficially entitled must concur in the application; but if the trust deed vests in the trustees power of sale and absolute disposal, such consent is not necessary. The trustees, or the party transferring the property to be held in trust, may, at the time of making the application, or subsequently, require the words "no survivorship" to be entered on the certificate of title; the effect of which will be that, in the event of the death, resignation, or incapacity of any trustee, the remaining trustees cannot, without the express sanction of the Supreme Court, dispose of or deal with the property until the original number of trustees is made page 10 up in mainner prescribed in the 74th section of the Act. Caveat may also be lodged by any trustee or beneficiary, restraining dealings by the trustees except such as are authorized by the trust.

6. When application is made by or on behalf of a person entitled to a life estate, all persons entitled in reversion or remainder must concur in the application; and such concurring parties may, upon their applying, each for himself, he registered as reversioner or remainderman, as the will, settlement, or other deeds and evidence may prove him to be entitled. An extra fee of 10s. has to be paid in the cases last referred to.

7. If the applicant be a married woman, her husband must consent in the application.

8. The father or guardian of a minor, or the committee of a lunatic, may apply to bring land under the Act in the name of such minor or lunatic. An agent holding a power of attorney authorizing the sale of a freehold estate may also apply, in the name of his principal, to bring under the Act any land in respect of which such authorization is given, unless his power expressly prohibits him from so doing.

9. If the land be mortgaged, the mortgagee must consent in the application. The amount of the mortgage, the date when payable, the rate of interest, the dates on which the same is payable, must also be stated, together with the name, residence, and trade or calling of the mortgagee, and the date of the mortgage.

10. If the land be under lease, the term for which it is leased, the amount of rent, the dates when payable, and the name, residence, and description of the lessee, must be stated; and if there be a covenant to purchase, or right of purchase be covenanted, the fact must be stated, with the amount of purchase-money and the period within which the covenant is to be fulfilled or the privilege exercised.

11. Should there be any incumbrance or settlement or outstanding estate or interest affecting the land, the same must be stated, with full particulars, as in the case of mortgaged land.

12. When the land mentioned in the application consists of an entire section or allotment, as delineated in an original Crown grant, and when such grant is not handed in with the application, a diagram must be furnished from the Land Office at the cost of the applicant; and in cases where diagrams are refused by the page 11 Land Office, a map of the section must be furnished on the scale prescribed in the 108th section of the Act, and declared to by a licensed surveyor before the Registrar or a Justice of the Peace.

13. When the application is in respect to part only of an original Government section, a plan must be furnished by a licensed surveyor, and declared to in like manner. This rule may be relaxed when it is shown that the deeds surrended, or a deposited map, contains an accurate description of the land.

14. Every map or plan of part of an original Government section must show precisely the position of the particular part with reference to the boundaries of the original section, except where a Crown grant has been issued for such part of an original section.

15. The application must state—First, the name and address of the proprietor. Second, the nature of the estate held by him in the land. Third, where the land is situated. Fourth, the area in acres, roods, and perches. Fifth, the rights of way, easements, or privileges attaching to the land, or enjoyed over it by parties other than the applicant. Sixth, the boundaries. Seventh, the value, including buildings and permanent improvements. Eighth, the date of the original grant, and the name of the Governor who signed it. Ninth, the number of the original section upon the public maps. Tenth, the particulars of all leases, mortgages, incumbrances, liens, or other interests affecting the estate of the applicant. Eleventh, the name and postal address of the person in occupation, if any; and whether such occupation is adverse to the applicant or otherwise. Twelfth, the names and postal addresses of owners or occupiers of the contiguous land, so far as known to the applicant. Thirteenth, that the deeds or instruments in the list at foot of the application are all that are in the custody or under the control of the applicant affecting the land. Forms of application can be obtained at every District Land Registry Office, price one shilling each.

16. When the land is mortgaged, and it is desired to discharge the mortgage at the time of bringing the land under the Act, a deed of reconveyance will not be required, as a discharge indorsed on the mortgage in the following words will suffice : "Received from the within-named A.B., the sum of £, in full dis- page 12 charge of all principal moneys and interest secured by the within mortgage.

"Witness—G. H." "Mortgagee."

Or the following words may be written at the foot of the application, and signed by the mortgagee and attested: "I consent to the above____, having received £____in full discharge of a mortgage of the above property, dated the____ day of,18,and made between ____ of the one part and ____ of the other part, to secure £ ____ and interest.

"Dated at ____, the ____ day of ____, 18____ ."

17. Whenever money has been advanced, in contemplation of a mortgage to be executed so soon as the land is under the operation of the Act, the circumstances should be stated at the foot of the application; in which case the deeds deposited by the applicant will he held as security for the intending mortgagee, to whom they will be delivered in the event of the title being rejected by the Lands Registry Office; and, if the title be approved, the certificate of title will be retained in the office until the mortgage is registered and entered thereon.

18. The consent of parties, when required, may be signified by the words "I consent hereto," signed and attested.

19. The applicant may, at the time of making application, or at any time prior to the date appointed by the District Land Registrar for the land to be brought under the Act, by writing under his hand, attested by a witness, direct the District Land Registrar to issue the certificate of title in the name of a purchaser or other person to whom he may desire to transfer the land. In such case, however, the certificate is liable to a stamp duty of the same amount as a deed conveying the property from the applicant to his nominee would have been liable to if the transaction had been effected by deed. The stamp duty is assessed and collected by the District land Registrar, and to enable him to do this, the exact nature of the transaction, with the price or consideration, should be set out in the application, or embodied in a statutory declaration by the applicant or the person in whose name the certificate is to issue. The District Land Registrar is further empowered to examine both parties on oath for the purpose of assessment, and is forbidden to issue the certificate until page 13 the same has been duly stamped. Stamp duty is likewise payable where the application is made by a person entitled in equity only, as, for instance, where a person has purchased a property but has not got a conveyance, and applies to vest it in himself under the Act.

20. All grants, conveyances, or other instruments affecting the property, in the possession of the applicant or under his control, must be deposited with the District Land Registrar, together with the application.

21. The fees on bringing land under the Act are set out at length in the Schedule. The following special cases are worthy of notice : —

Where the applicant is the original grantee, and has not previously dealt with the land, and applies to bring the land under the Act in his own name, the total cost is 8s., and ½d. in the £ on the value. In the same case where he applies to bring the land under the Act in the name of another person, the cost is £1 8s., and ½d. in the £. In each of these eases the cost of registering the Crown grant under the old system (about 14s.) is saved, if application is made at the time the Crown grant is taken up.

Where the applicant is entitled at law to the land applied for, and wishes it to be brought under the Act in his own name, credit is given, if desired, for all fees except the application fee of 5s., until such time as the applicant wishes to deal with the land.

Where several properties derived from separate Crown grants, or having separate and distinct titles, are included in one form of application, an application and registration fee is charged in respect of each property, and a fee to cover the probable cost of advertising.

22. The assurance fee charged on the first bringing of land under the Act guarantees all subsequent dealings with the same land by sale, lease, mortgage, or incumbrance, and is not again charged until the land becomes transmitted by will, settlement, or intestacy.

23. Any number of properties in land wherever situated within the district, if belonging to the same proprietor, may be included in one application; but separate certificates of title must as a general rule be taken out for section or allotments situated so page 14 far apart that they cannot conveniently be included in the same diagram.

24. Land included in one original grant, or treated as one property, in any deeds of title surrendered, may, at the desire of the applicant proprietor, be divided into two or more properties, each under a separate certificate of title.

25. Lands represented under several surrendered grants or deeds of title as separate properties may, at the desire of the proprietor, he included together in one certificate of title whenever the lands are so situated as to admit of being included in the same diagram.

26. Where joint tenants or tenants-in-common apply to bring land under the Act, and desire to make partition, a memorandum as follows, signed, dated, and attested, can be indorsed on or annexed to the application: —

"We, the undersigned, apply that the certificate of title of ____ acres ____ roods ____ perches, part of the within land, as coloured green on plan, be issued to A.B., and that certifi cate of title ____ of ____acres ____ roods ____ perches, the remainder thereof, as coloured red on plan, be issued to C.D."

27. The above instructions apply only to land purchased from the Crown in any district before the Land Transfer Act was brought into operation in such district—that is, before the 1st February, 1871, in the Districts of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago; before the 15th February, 1871, in the District of Nelson; and before the 28th February, 1871, in the Districts of Marlborough, Westland, Southland, Hawke's Bay, and Taranaki.

All land bought from the Crown in these districts since the above dates is already under the Land Transfer Act, and can only be dealt with in the manner prescribed by the Act.