"The interests of landholders are partially safeguarded by the Act that requires all documents effecting the transfer of immovable property to be registered, but it could be explained, though not in the short space of this letter, how the provisions of the Act can be, and frequently are, fulfilled in the absence of the principal person, the executor.
"Enough has been said to show that if some simple but efficient means could be contrived to identify the person who has executed a bond, cases of fraud such as these would practically disappear from the judicial registers. Were the legislature to amend the Registration Act and require that the original document as well as the copy in the Registration Book should bear the imprint of one or more fingers of the parties to the deed, I have little hesitation in saying that not only would fraud be detected, but that in a short time the facility of that detection would act as a deterrent for the future. [This was precisely the experience of Sir W. Herschel.--F.G.] In the majority of cases, the mere question would be, Is the man A the same person as B, or is he not? and of that question the finger marks would give unerring proof. For example, to take the simplest case, A is sued for possession of some land, the title of which he is stated to have parted with to another for a consideration. The document and the Registration Book both bear the imprint of the index finger of the right hand of A. A repudiates, and a comparison shows that whereas the finger pattern of A is a whorl, the imprint on the document is a loop; consequently A did not execute it.
"In the identification of Government pensioners the finger print method would be very valuable. At one period, I had the payment of many hundreds of military pensioners. Personation was most difficult to detect in persons coming from a distance, who had no local acquaintances, and more especially where the claimants were women. The marks of identification noted in the pension roll were usually variations of:--"Hair black--Eyes brown--Complexion wheat colour--Marks of tattooing on fore-arm"--terms which are equally appropriate to a large number of the pensioners. The description was supplemented in some instances, where the pensioner had some distinguishing mark or scar, but such cases are considerably rarer than might be supposed, and in women the marks are not infrequently in such a position as to practically preclude comparison. Here also the imprint of one or more finger prints on the pension certificate, would be sufficient to settle any doubt as to identity.