If the objection raise any question of title, or of proprietary right, which shall not appear to have been already determined by a Court of competent Jurisdiction, the Collector may either decline to grant the application until the question in dispute shall have been determined by a competent Court, or he may proceed to inquire into the merits of the objection.
In the latter case the Collector, after making the necessary inquiry and taking such evidence as may be adduced, shall record a proceeding declaring the nature and extent of the interests in the actual possession of the party or parties applying for the partition, and any other party or parties who may be affected thereby.
Reference to arbitrators.--The procedure to be observed by the Collector in trying such cases shall be that laid down in Act XIV of 1882 (to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the procedure of the Courts of Civil Judicature) for the trial of original suits, and the Collector shall have power to refer any question that may arise in such case to arbitration, and the provisions of Chapter XXXVII (reference to arbitration) of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply to so cases referred by a Collector.