The Express.
London, England, 1856-06-27 00:00:00

(Stamped ld. Additional.) [TWOPENCE.

PAY OF STAFF OFFICERS.
Colonel LINDSAY brined to ink the Coder &radar,
for War if it waa the iatootion of ea government to order
the staff pay end &nowise« to be deducted from 0160•11 on
the staff who are not spa fall pay clarion the tints they may
be temporarily absent from their staff dotter ?

Mr. F PEEL said tho general rale wee that staff °Mem
ware net entitled to stiff pay mans they were actually on
duty ; bat no otiectioa would be made to grant staff officers
their pay, if they were oa the half-pay of their regiments,
daring temporary leave of abuses, provided their duties
were performed during their absenoe at no additiesel es-
pease to the country.
FUNERALS BY DISSENTING MINISTERS IN
IRELAND.
Mr. POLLARD URQUHART torged to sok the Chief
Seeretary for Inland, whether the goverment were aware
that certain of the clergy of the established chime in the
dome, of Dublin have prohibited presbyteries and die-
smitten clergymen from holding say funeral ureic* at the
internment of their people in the oosiseerated burial ground,
thereby compelling them, in some instances, to hold the
funeral envie* on the highway, or wheraver they best

could.
Mr. 8011111111 AN said ho was Rot aware of oae ewe of the
Ida& There was ae faurteses of a alarmism Meese to
allow • diesesiieg miale•er le wad the fee!rekeentes le •

ow
m•••••• ••••
before the Lord Liestreast, by vivito.* *be I owe? of en likt of
Palismat, 6th Geo. IV., e 26, be willed ea the archbishop
to ask the clergyman for se a:planation, aad report to his.
Aa egplaostioa wee asked by the sralbtabeco, sad a report
Best to the Lord-Lieuteasst, bat there was ao power to so

say farther.

present, if • testator devised an estate to an is-
dividual tot life, then to asother person, with
remainder to the see of the woad person, there might be
• question as to the unity of the testator, but the decision
on that question did not prevent the person who war to
suscieed after the death of the tenant for life, mid who might
not be bore for 20 or 30 years after the death of the testator,
Histituting proceedings to recover the estate, though there
had been a decision in favour of intestacy. He woe stating
no Iniaginuy sue for in hie own experience imperil such
eases had arisen. 'This sees • great evil, rendering the title
to 'suns sectorial's, and he proposed, therefore, that the
court should have power to grant certificates of intestacy,
which would prevent such questions being raised.
Now, that be proposed should be done by the new coon.
Tbill war* about the most important functions that would
fall to the lot of the court. The prcaedure would be of the
simplest possible character ; one of the provisions in the bill
if his hon. and learned friend the member for Suffo;k spe-
cified the mode and forms, and when they gct into elimi-
nates he pr posed to incorporate that provision in his owe
bill. Paring from the ,onstitution, the powers, and the
functions of the new curt, he must next bog the attection
of the hoses for • few momenta while he explained the
present and future munition of proving a will. At ;resent
the greater proportion of wills were proved is the Print-

tilitoegn the Prerogative suit of Canterbury, and the
right to practise in that court was confined to a eels ct body
of men, via., the proctors. The house was aware that
formerly a similar system prevailed in some of the
warts of law sad equity. Not, however, that this restriction
interfered wit► the due and efficient discharge of the duties

Frasoseii upon theseleactionarims ; no, thire was no coat-
plaiat as to the meaner in which their deities were per-
formed ; oa the contrary, he was !sappy to my there was no
body of praotitiosers more emiaent for their care, their
anxiety, and the skilful and emesientioas discharge of the
duties *strutted to them. He had, therefore,:no ettreplaiat
whatever to nuke of the meaner is welch their fo.caons
were fulfilled ; but it was a manifest iujuitice to the people
that they should be at liberty to approach &great mart only
on the employ meat of a particular person. It woos manliest
Mimetic. that whet parties were proceeding to prove a will or
admiaister to en seta e, which in nineteen cues oat of every
twenty involved the necessity of employing a solicitor, they
should be required to add to the responsibility and mune*
of the ptheedare, in calling into requsition the succis of
a second legal prastitioner. It was therefore desirable that
the @listing system should be abolished, and be proposed by
this bill the mods of proving a will for the future should
be simple, expeditions, and economical. For that
prom considerable care and caution would have to be used
la the prowler; of a will, so that all the legal requirements
were strictly complied with, and that could only be done
under the immediate superintsodenee of skilful and expe-
rienced persons. Hon. members familiar with this subject
were aware that previous to the passing of the Statute of
Wills there was a great difference in the low with respect
to the solemnity observed in wills relating to real estate., and
wills only affecting personal property, but the existicg
nides bad been mud upon so long that it was idle to allude
to any complaints on the subject. The solemnities required
that the will should be thoroagbly examined and proved,
before it was finally admitted to probate, sad by this bill
these solemnities would be continued in the establishment

of • testamentary alas or court, oonsistiog of a considerable
author of the most exeerienced men, and useleting also of
such grades la the officers employed as 'boatel secure ta
every will the superviaim of one or more experienced persons
▪ i were the roughly alive to the requirements of the law.
Hence no will could possibly be passed which was deficient
in the evidences of its authenticity. The bill proposed that
it should be esarootent for the executor to proceed to the
Testamentary-4Am and leave the will then for the purpose
of being proved. He dazed that when the executor went
to the office he should fled there an officer who was ready
and able to at once give him the required auistaxce, to a-
unties the demeans, and In • simple manner t s grant
probate of the will, providing the necessary solemnitiee and
✓equiresests were gone through. Tie proceeding wee pro-
posed to be still further facilitated by the Introduction of •
plan to which he attacked the utmost import mos, and
which he was seeping *sough to believe would lead tr the
greatest possible improvement in the law. The boos* so
doubt wee aware of the formidable dimensions of the
probate to • will an issued under the existing
system; the will west in for proof usuelly in •
very unpretending shape, but it as out again in the f.rm
of • probate, mate, coasiderable pretension to importance
Is pat of eaten's' speculate, and rendered vastly Mae.
venient its poiat of shape. Now, it was marvellous that
premiss, which had done so much for literature, science,
and postal cdvilisationoiroald have dome so little for the
Improvemeat of the law. (Hear, bear.) He believed, how-
ever, that no greater improvement could be introduced into
our judicial system than that which was proposed in this
bill with regard to wills, and which would be the fist step
towards 'ideals( the country from the tyraney of parch.
meat. Hear, hear.) There was no reason why every
will 'hostel not be priated, no matter what its length might
he, or wbether It extended over two, three. or more abuts
of paper; the beeefit and advaatage of such a plan would
be, fleet, eel cheapness ; and,seconoly, its plainness. More-
over, he hoped it would not be confined to wills, but
that it would be 'Mended to deeds, Hottentots, and legal
Instruments plurally. There was no reason why a gentle-
man's title to property should be spread over a perfect Isby-
ninth of written puehmeat ; there was no necessity for cc, •
nor was there any reason why It Amid not be compressed
cute a close compact volume, which should be easy of re-
ference and in which the owner could road the history cf.
his family without poring over a crowd of p nehmen".
(Hear, bear.) the plan had already been introduced into
the Court of Chasery, where it had been attended with
the most beneficial results ; it had reduced the tendency to
repetition sad verbiage which had previously prevailed in
the prepsestion of Chancery doetimects, and had elute:her
prosily economised the peceedingo in a Chancery snit.
He proposed, therefore, that when a will had been proved
is the Testamentary office, it should be printed, and
the executor should be entitled to receive any num-
ber of copies that might be required, each of them
be be stamped with the seal of the office, and such
copies so mrSted and stamped should be received as con,.
cleats evidence etas will M all courts of law. The result
of this would be • considerable saving in the expense
attendee' upon the pieties of wills; at present the cot of
• espy wee 3e. 4d. • folio of some 90 words; whereas under
this new system say pruner would be glad to tort i,h copies
of the doc anent printed in • clear lied intelligible moaner
oe paper of ezeollent quality at a eost of say 9i. a Clio.
(Hear, hoer.) At ant he had proposed that there should
be only one 'fiestameatary.offies. bat his bon. and heart ed
frieads the members for Baffolk and Plymouth had poti ted
oat to ha the inenueniesee which would arise in the rural
districts from such a plan. Parties who had hitherto
been is the habit of resorting to the district
*flee for the purpose of proving wills and ?sue ng
advise as to what they should do on the death@
of persons, would experience great inconvenience
if they were deprived of the opportunity of still resorting to
• local office of that description. He ban no doubt the views
of hie boo. aid leaned friends would be mere scceptable
tan his own plan, sad therefore he bai most ',illicitly
sanded to their suggestion, and the second alteration in the
bill to which he begged the attention of the house would be
MU—there would be a provinces in the bill for the este-
blishosest of district testamentary offices in the ci,cuits of
the meaty courts. (Hear, hear.) There were 60 county
ems Semite, hut 8 were metropolitan, so that is point of
feet there would be only 62 rural districts is England aid
Wales to be provided for, red he proposed, therefore, that
in each of thee* 62 siesta an office should l' established for
the purpose of reseiviag all papers ocanected with the proof
of wills, and the pastime of letters of andebtration is
Besse where the poetess' estate did not exceed 1,500 f.
At the isms time, for the sake of securing
strict ass .cy it would he provided that although wilts
eoald be received from the local office, yet the papers would
have to be sent to the sheaf office in London, for the peeress
of pada under the supervision of the more *epeeist cad
persons there. It might lead to • little delay, but no addi-
tional *spews, and the inereseed security against error rr
fraud which the referee ce to Loudon must provide would
man than compeseste for the delay. There would then be
dl district offices, with a mightier and premises for clerks.
The bill as It originally stood, provided that there should ht
In she metropolitan office, • chief spins", four re-
gistrars, sixteen Mein proctors, and the commissioners for
administering oath.; but so the disitictefie. a would tend to
✓educe the labours of the astral department, he proposed
to reduce the staff to ose principal registrar, three other
raisins, tea official wean, and sae comm 4•
skieer for the admisistratioa of Gabe. (Eesr, hoar j
The sett subject et importance widish he mat
refer to was the sassily of providlog sews mare plus for
the deposit of wills and the decumests osioneeled with
them. At preset they were scattered about is &ferret
and interline plums ; many of the decussate were either lii
a mutilated state or wholly destroyed ; ad it was of the
utmost Importance that some general provision should be
made by which iastrveneats of suds importune could be
gathered together and preserved for the benefit of three
who were Mumma in them. He had had some summates-
ties with the register-general epee this bracts of the sub-
teen, and he learned scow that gentleman that provision
might be made at Somerset-how for the reeeptioa of about
six Wilms' of wills. Calculating upon the basis of past
ssearieeer, the nglatrar-gaseral estimated that arcommo.
dada eahl be provided is liossenet-lioase for sot less ti as
6,9112,0911 but the system of printing p opued
to be ismeased, sad the plea of establishisg
loeul resandess throughout the mostry, .101114 go far to
mass. the Mini &pet, while apices would have to he
lodg
e6la the metropolis, In the Prerogative Court of Dahlia,
Mstir7rlo% the Prettiest:scary of the Testamentary Court of
Bilishersh. At mesa the whole of the wills peeved
I. la the Prerogative Coen of Canterbury wen deposited is