formerly under the management or control of such committee and the said Director of Education is hereby authorized to do all things and to bring all such actions-at-law as may be necessary to obtain possession of such movable property.

6. All debts incurred by any such School Committee as aforesaid within the scope of their authority and for which they are liable in law shall be paid out of the Colonial Treasury.

Proc. No. 9 of 1902.

Debts to be paid by Treasury.

Refund of private

7. Any person who has contributed towards the purchase of any land or towards the cost of erecting or repairing school contributions. buildings vested in any such committee as aforesaid shall be entitled, on giving proof to the satisfaction of the Controller of the Treasury of the amount of his contribution, to have the same refunded to him out of the Colonial Treasury.

Proc. No. 10 of 1902.

(Amended by Ord. 65 of 1903.)

Preamble.

Repeal of laws.

Creation of Deeds Office.

Registrar of Deeds.

Duties of.

PROCLAMATION

By His Excellency the Administrator of the Transvaal.

(DATED 7TH MARCH, 1902.)

To regulate the Deeds Office and to Amend the Law relating to the Registration of Deeds.

WH

HEREAS it is desirable to make provisions regulating the Deeds Office and to amend the law relating to the Registration of Deeds:

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority in me vested, I do hereby declare, proclaim, and make known as follows:

1. The laws mentioned in Schedule "A" of this Proclamation and so much of any other law as may be inconsistent with this Proclamation are hereby repealed.

2. There shall be, and there is, hereby created and established at Pretoria an office for the registration of Deeds to be styled "The Deeds Office."

3. It shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint an officer to be styled "The Registrar of Deeds," who shall be in charge of the Deeds Office, and whose duties, subject to the special provisions of this Proclamation and the regulations framed thereunder, or of the Gold Law or any other law, shall be:*(a) To take charge of and preserve the records of the Registrar of Deeds of the late South African Republic and of the present acting Registrar of Deeds, which records shall be and form part of the records of the Deeds Office by this Proclamation created.

(b) To register grants or original titles to immovable property issued by lawful authority.

(c) To certify, sign and register deeds of transfer of immovable property, and of any other property, the transfer of which may be required by any special law in force in this Colony to be made before the Registrar of Deeds.

(d) To certify, sign and register mortgage bonds specially hypothecating immovable or other property as aforesaid.

(e) To register ante-nuptial contracts, kinderbewijzen, notarial bonds and other notarial deeds having reference to persons or property within this Colony.

By Govt. Notice 449 of 1902 (Gazette, 12th Sept. 1902, p. 1348), the office of the late Registrar of Deeds for Swaziland was notified as having been placed in charge of the Registrar of Deeds of this Colony.

(f) To register cessions of registered bonds.

(g) To cancel or partially cancel any registered bond or
deed other than a deed of transfer of any immovable
property, or to release from the operations of any such
bond the whole or any part of the property or things.
thereby specially hypothecated or bound.

(h) To register all concessions, mynpachts and other
Government grants and contracts proper for registra-
tion according to the law, practice and usage of this
Colony.

(i) To register against any property registered in the
Deeds Office any lease, servitude or encumbrance
contained in a deed of transfer or other duly registered
deed, or authorized by order of Court.

(1) In the registration of any deed to make all such
endorsements on any registered title or other deed or
instrument filed of record in his office as may be
necessary to give effect to such registration.

(k) To keep all such land, debt and other registers as may
be requisite for the due performance by him of any of
his duties aforesaid, and the establishment of an
efficient system of registration calculated to furnish an
increased security of title and an easy reference
thereto.

(1) To keep a register of all interdicts and orders of Court
served upon him and affecting the transfer of rights
registered in the Deeds Office, and of all notices
relating to estates furnished to him by the Master of
the Supreme Court.

(m) Generally to exercise all such powers and discharge all
such duties as are by general law and custom in South
Africa exercised by and required of and from the
Registrar of Deeds; and to permit the public upon
payment of the prescribed fees to have such inspection
of records and to obtain from the Deeds Office such
information concerning deeds filed of record as may
be usual and customary.

4. It shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint an Acting Registrar when and so often as occasion shall require in case of the absence, sickness or other disability of the Registrar, and such Acting Registrar shall have power and authority to do any act or thing which may lawfully be done by the Registrar.

5. It shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint an officer to be styled "Assistant Registrar of Deeds" who shall, subject to such directions as the Attorney-General may from time to time issue, have power and authority to do any act or thing which may lawfully be done by the Registrar.

Proc. No. 10 of 1902.

Acting Registrar.

Assistant Registrar.

Proc. No. 10 of 1902.

Rules.

Sworn proof in support of acts to be performed in Deeds Office.

Government taxes

and transfer duty to be paid before regis

tration of deed.

Cancellation of

*6. It shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time to frame rules and regulations for the good order and management of the Deeds Office and for better carrying into effect the object with which that Office is established, and generally for the working of the said Office and preservation of the records therein, and more especially to prescribe :

(a) The fees (if any) to be taken in respect of any act,

matter or thing required to be done in the said office. (b) The manner and form in which deeds and documents required to be registered or preserved of record in the said office shall be prepared and executed.

(c) The manner and form in which any information required by law to be furnished to the Registrar shall be recorded or noted in his office.

† () The conditions under which copies of lost deeds or
bonds may be issued.

(e) The manner and form in which consent to the cancel-
lation of bonds or other deeds shall be signified.
(f) The manner and form in which powers of attorney

executed outside this Colony are to be authenticated. But no rules framed under this section shall be of any force or effect unless and until published in the Gazette.

7. The Registrar may require, and any person may tender, proof under oath of any fact which he may consider necessary to be established in connection with any matter or thing sought to be done in the Deeds Office.

8. No deed of transfer, bond or other document affecting the title to land shall or may be registered unless the same shall be accompanied by a certificate from some competent revenue officer that the Government taxes on the property to be transferred, mortgaged or burdened have been paid, and in cases in which any duty is payable by a receipt for such duty.

9. It shall not be lawful for the Registrar to cancel any transfer deeds only deed of transfer except upon an order of the Supreme Court or by Supreme Court. any Judge thereof.

§ 10. In all cases in which in consequence of an error in any grant, deed of transfer, mortgage bond or other deed, whether in the name or names of a person or persons therein mentioned, or in the description of the property thereby granted, transferred or bonded, it shall be found necessary to amend such grant, deed or bond it shall be lawful for the Registrar upon consent in writing of the persons interested to amend such error, provided that where such error is common to two or more interdependent deeds one deed shall not be amended without

* Such rules and regulations were framed and published by Government Notice No. 80 of 1902, in Gazette of 7th March, 1902, page 259, and additional rules have been framed and published by Government Notices 182 of 1902 (Gazette, 9th May, 1902, p. 688); No. 200 of 1902 (Gazette, 23rd May, 1902, p. 733); No. 623 of 1902 (Gazette, 21st Nov., 1902, p. 1,680); No. 640 of 1902 (Gazette, 28th Nov., 1902, p. 1702); No. 655 of 1902 (Gazette, 12th Dec., 1902, p. 1733).

† See also Ord. 65 of 1903, sect. 4, as to issue of certificate of registered title in lieu of lost titles.

See also Ord. 65 of 1903, sect 6, and Govt. Notice 682 of 1903 (Gazette, 17th July, 1903, p. 117).

§ See also Ord. 65 of 1903, sect. 5, as to change of names in deeds of transfer and in Registers..

the others. Should any interested person refuse to consent to such amendment no alteration shall be made except by order of the Supreme Court or any Judge thereof.

+11. The Registrar shall give notice of all deeds of transfer, mortgage bonds or other deeds having reference to or affecting the ownership of land and registered by him to the Resident Magistrate of the district in which such land is situated, and such Resident Magistrate shall upon receipt of such notice make the necessary entry in the Land Register of his district.

*12. Any person being the registered owner of two or more pieces of land contiguous to each other, not being erven or portions of erven, and not together comprising the whole of any two or more pieces of land registered as separate farms, may apply in writing to the Registrar for a certificate of registered title stating that such person is the registered owner of the land to be therein described according to a diagram to be annexed framed by a surveyor, which diagram shall include and indicate the aggregate extent of the several pieces of land so held by such person.

*13. The applicant shall with such application submit the several deeds of grant or transfer under which he holds, together with the documents belonging thereto, and a diagram in triplicate framed by a qualified Government surveyor showing the extent of the land held by the applicant under separate diagrams which he desires to have consolidated and registered under one title.

Proc. No. 10 of 1902.

Registrar to notify passing of transfers, &c., to Resident Magistrate of district.

Application for certificate of registered title.

Deeds and dia

grams to be submitted cation.

in support of appli

to be

*14. The Registrar receiving such application shall cause Diagrams the diagram accompanying it proposed to be registered to be submitted veyor-General and on examined by the Surveyor-General, and if it shall appear to the his approval certiSurveyor-General that such diagram correctly represents the ficate issued. land held by the applicant under two or more separate titles he shall approve the same and the Registrar may then grant and issue to the applicant the certificate of registered title which shall be as nearly as is material in the form contained in Schedule "B" to the Proclamation.

15. In case the Registrar shall refuse or decline to issue such certificate of registered title as aforesaid, the applicant may apply to the Supreme Court or a Judge in Chambers for an order authorizing or directing the Registrar to issue such certificate, and the said Court or Judge shall upon the hearing of any such application make such order therein as may be deemed fitting.

If Registrar refuses certificate appli

cation may be made to the Supreme Court.

Issue of certificate

16. The Registrar upon receiving any such order of Court as aforesaid shall issue a certificate of registered title to the on order of Court. applicant in obedience thereto.

to

Endorsements be made on existing

17. At the time of granting such certificate as aforesaid the Registrar issuing the same shall cause all necessary en- titles and in register. dorsements or entries to be made upon the existing deeds of transfer and in the registers in the Deeds Office showing the consolidation of the applicant's title, and shall retain the deeds previously in the possession of the applicant.

See also Ord. 65 of 1903, sect. 4, as to issue of certificate of registered title in lieu of lost titles.

See also Ord. 65 of 1903, sect. 7, to regulations for keeping of District Land Registers.