If the duplicate certificate of title is lost or destroyed or becomes so obliterated as to be useless, the persons having knowledge of the circumstances may make a statutory declaration stating the facts and the particulars of all encumbrances affecting the land or the title to the land to the best of the deponents' knowledge, information and belief; and the Registrar, if satisfied as to the truth of the statutory declaration and the bona fides of the transaction, may issue to the proprietor a special certificate of title to the land, which special certificate shall contain an exact copy of the certificate of title in the Register Book and of every memorandum and endorsement on it, and shall state why the special certificate is issued; and the Registrar shall at the same time enter in the Register Book notice of the issuing of the special certificate and the date of its issuance and why it was issued; and the special certificate shall be available for all purposes and uses for which the duplicate certificate of title so lost or destroyed or obliterated would have been available, and shall be equally valid with the duplicate certificate of title to all intents; but the Registrar, before issuing a special certificate, shall give at the applicant's expense at least one month's notice in the Gazette of his or her intention to do so.