LORD BIRKENHEAD'S ACT.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As one who has read the Spectator continuously for well over fifty years, may I be allowed to protest against your review, in your issue of the 6th inst., of Mr. Harvey's book on the above Act, which Act you state, " Lord Birkenhead induced Parliament to pass without serious debate or inquiry" ? The Act is the ultimate product of a great deal of inquiry, commencing with Lord St. Aldwyn's Royal Commission of 1912, and -ending with the Committee on Land Transfer of 1919-20. In both inquiries the best conveyancing talent gave evidence, and in the latter Mr. Harvey himself was a voluntary witness. Mr. Harvey's name is not in the Law List either as Counsel or Solicitor ; he is, in fact, a first-class Clerk in the Chancery Master's Chambers. His opinion, although no doubt entitled to respect, cannot, I think, rank on the same plane as that of the practical and experienced Conveyancing Counsel and Solicitors, not to mention my Lord Haldane, who have for years been writing on this Bill or Bills drafted on the same principles. It may be a bad Act, and no doubt it is a bold and sweeping one, but it has certainly not been passed " without debate or inquiry."—I am, Sir, &c.,
ARTHUR UNDERHILL.
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