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extracts from the judgments are so complete that pros
pective
readers who will patiently read
through
the
cases will appreciate which pitfalls to avoid. The third
part of
the work contains a clear statement on
the
duties and responsibilities of auditors,
issued by
the
Public Accountant's and Auditor's Board
of South
Africa
in
1965, a
lengthy opinion of 25 pages by
counsel on an Auditor's Liability for Negligence,
re
quested by the Cape Society ofAccount ants and Auditors
in 1959, and finally an opinion by Mr. Pritt and Mr.
Bonnier on the Duties of Auditors requested by the
London Association of Accountants in 1932.
The Canadian
Institute of Chartered Accountants
in Toronto, who published this comprehensive volume
of nearly 650 pages, are to be congratulated on the
wide field surveyed and Mr. Dickerson in the first 100
pages has admirably and fully covered the principles
of negligence as affecting accountancy, there is a first
class summary of the leading case of
Hedley v. Heller
(1963). The print is clear, but perhaps a large print
could have been used for the cases, even at the ex
pense of increasing the size of the book.
C. GAVAN DUFFY
CORRESPONDENCE
THE LAND COMMISSION
Land Bonds
The following was the text of a letter addressed by
the Secretary of the Commission
to
the Secretary of
the Society on llth May, 1966. The letter should be
read
in conjunction with previous correspondence
in
this matter which appeared in the February issue of the
GAZETTE (Vol. 59, No. 9) under the same title.
Dear Mr. Plunkett,
I have now fully considered our recent correspondence
on the general subject of Land Bonds and have decided
to adopt the alternative course suggested in your letter
o
13th ultimo. Accordingly,
I append herewith
the
following more up-to-date and comprehensive material
in amplification of my letter to you of 8th December
last in reply to yours of the 7th idem, later published
in the GAZETTE.
Payment of purchase moneys in Land Baonds
The terms under which Land Bonds are issued
in
payment of the purchase price of land acquired by the
Land Commission are
laid down
in
the Land Bond
Act. 1934, the Land Act 1953, and the various Land
Bond Orders thereunder. The rate of
interest to be
borne by each series of land bonds is fixed with a view
to securing that the market price of the bonds shall
remain at or near par for a
reasonable
time after
they have been created. Land Bonds are guaranteed by
the State as
to payment of interest and ultimate re
demption at par but, as in the case of other Government
securities, such guarantee does not extend to day-to-day
prices on the Stock Exchange. The Land Commission
have no power to compensate owners for losses through
fluctuation in the Stock Market, or to alter the con
ditions under which Land Bonds are created and issued
so as to make them available for tender in discharge
of death duties and income tax.
The current series of Land Bonds, created by the
Minister for Finance under the Land Bond Order 1966
(S.I. No. 18 of 1966) carries an interest rate of 7 per
cent which, it should be noted, is J per cent higher
than the interest rate applying to the latest National
Loan issue.
Examination of title to purchase moneys
During 1965, some arrears developed
in this work
due largely to a depletion in the number of Examiners
which could not be made good until the end of the
year. The back-log has since been cleared and
the
reading of titles lodged has been brought right up-to-
date.
New procedures have recently been introduced with
the object of simplifying and expediting the examination
of title. The Land Purchase Acts Rules 1964 (S.I. No.
230 of 1964) of 23rd September 1964, which were
formulated after detailed discussion and consultation
with the Incorporated Law Society, prescribe simplified
arrangements for
the allocation of purchase moneys.
Orders have been made pursuant to Section 15, Land
Act 1965, authorising all Examiners of the Land Com
mission
to exercise
the powers and functions of
the
Judicial Commissioner and
the Land Commission
in
relation
to
the distribution of Purchase Money
(in
cluding the certifying under sub-Section (2) of Section
5 of the Land Act 1923, of sums out of
the Costs
Fund established under that Section). Under Section
16, Land Act 1965, the Examiners of the Land Com
mission are now authorised to accept as the period of
commencement of
title which
the owner,
tenant or
other claimant shall be required to deduce a period of
not less than :
(a) Twelve years beginning on the date of a con
veyance, transfer or assignment for valuable con
sideration of
the
land or holding, and ending
on the date on which the land or tenant's interest
therein vested in the Land Commission, or
(b) Thirty years ending on the date on which the
land or tenant's interest therein vested in the
Land Commission, whichever is the shorter.
Control over Bonds by Solicitors in certain cases
You referred to the fact that solicitors, in their efforts
to facilitate clients, occasionally involved themselves in
financial undertakings which, without the co-operation
of the clients, may be difficult
to resolve at a
later
stage. Having regard
to
the provisions of
the Land
Purchase Acts and Rules thereunder and in particular to
the Land
(Finance) Rules
1925,
no
fully effective
method can be suggested which would enable a solicitor
in such cases
to obtain control of the bonds for the
purpose of realising his security. It is, of course, always
open to a solicitor to obtain a formal request from the
person or persons entitled to the residue of the bonds
that the said residue be paid to the person entitled in
care of the solicitor and to embody it in the Vouching
Certificate. It would be a matter for the solititor himself
to take what further measures he would consider ap
propriate in the particular circumstances to realise his
security.
In your letter of 5th ultimo you referred to a property
acquired last year by the Land Commission in which
the purchase money was agreed in 6 per cent Land
Bonds and you enquired if the purchase money could
now be paid in 7 per cent bonds. As you know, this
point is governed by Section 26, Land Act 1965, but
the case in question is unfortunately outside the ambit
of the section as
the
lands concerned became vested
in the Land Commission on 5th August 1965. In fact,
the 6 per cent bonds representing the purchase money
in this particular case were allocated early this month.
Allocation of purchase money
From the Examiners Branch of the Irish Land Com
mission
the Society received a communication
in
the
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