[141] This Act has been a _real_ success. A perfect title to any ship—even to the _Great Eastern_—can now be obtained at the nominal expense of only one shilling sterling! Why cannot we apply some such principle to the sale and transfer of land? It may be vain to ask such a question; but the reason may be explained by an anecdote: “When in Parliament I was frequently required to accompany deputations from my constituents, and other persons connected with shipping to the Board of Trade. One occasion, when Mr. Henley was President to the Board, I well remember. The deputation was from a great seaport on the eastern coast, and its leading spokesman was an attorney of considerable local influence and reputation. Among the various grievances brought under the notice of Mr. Henley was one which I did not expect to hear, and which has, certainly, never been conscientiously raised either before or since. It related to the law of Ship Registry as settled by the Act of 1854. One of the leading features of that law is, that the Register shall contain nothing but the names of those persons who can give an _absolute_ title to the ship, omitting altogether the trusts and ramifying interests which make the transfer of a title to land such a complicated and expensive matter. The attorney in question, however, attempted to make out the omission to be a great grievance, arguing that all sorts of complicated interests could not be placed on the Register. Mr. Henley, whose shrewdness has now become proverbial (for I do not remember any man in the House of Commons who more readily discovered the flaws in Bills introduced for its consideration), in reply, after dealing with other grievances, in his usual pointed and clear manner, quietly remarked, ‘And now we come to another grievance—that you cannot put trusts on the Register. Now, it seems to me,’ he continued, ‘that we have been tolerably successful in doing for ships what all the wise men are trying _in vain_ to do for land—that is, to save them from a long lawyer’s bill—there _may_ be a grievance—I dare say _some one_ (looking hard at the attorney) _has a grievance_, but I don’t think it is the _shipowner_!’”