Among the new duties which are to be undertaken by
the Ministry of Lands are : (1) The registration of title and land transfer under some simplified system. (2) The administration of the law affecting settled estates, which is to be taken from the " Court of Chancery "—which by the way does not exist. (3) The machinery of valuation set up under the Budget of 1909. This last, at any rate, will be handed over by the Treasury without a struggle, for even a public office is rather perturbed at spending millions in the collection of thousands. The Ministry of Lands, we are further told, is to have control and supervision of land generally, small holdings, land purchase, disputes between landlord and tenant, powers of reclamation, afforestation, and development of uncultivated land. What is to be the limit, we wonder, as to "disputes between landlord and tenant" ? Sometimes these have very curious origins. They have been known to be founded in the last resort on the hats of the ladies of the respective families. Remember that the relation of landlord and tenant is not always one between dukes and "feudal serfs." There is plenty of land in the country let by men who are very little richer, if at all, than those who take the land.
