The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-23 00:00:00

COURT OF PROBATE.

Sir J. SIZELLEY rose to ask the First Commissioner of
I\rorks when proper accommodation would be provided for
the Court of Probate, and what steps had been taken to ac-
quire the pr, perty for which powers were given under the
act of last session, and for the purchase of which a sum of
£60,000 was granted. The present offices were in every
respect inconvenient. The accommodation was not sufficient
for the gentlemen whose business it was to attend at the
offices ; and in one plan a gentleman was put into a room
where any member would be ashamed to put one of his ser-
vants. The inconvenience and insufficiency of the offices
had been the subject of long correspondence with the Trea-
sury, but the only result as yet arrived at had been that
portions of adjoining houses were hired, and openings bored
through the wall to connect them with the Probate-office.
The consequence of this state of things was that gentlemen
holding important offices, as registrars, and receiving high
salaries, found themselves on tke second floor of a house, the
floor below being hired by somebody else, and the floor
above by a third party. One of these registrars occupied
an office in the room above which lived a gentleman with a
zoological taste, who, by way of amusement, kept from 50
to 60 rabbits. (A laugh.) He would leave the house to
judge what the condition of the official gentleman was who
had to discharge most important business in the room be-
low. In 1857, such was the crowded state of the offices,
that an effort was made to increase the accommodation, the
chief object being to enable persons who wanted to ex-
amine or prove wills to do so without the assistance of
lawyers. This was, to some extent, carried out; but it
frequently happened that 80 or 100 people were waiting
who could not get up to the table when the examinations
had to be made. (Hear, hear.) In addition to this, there
was not room for the papers and wills deposited, and
the result was that many of these were dispersed all over
the country,':while a loss of fees to the revenue, amount-
ing to about £15,000 a-year, was sustained. By way of
remedy for this evil, many very valuable documents
had been sent to St. Paul's ; but the Dean and Chapter
would not allow a fire or candle in the room in which
they were deposited ; so that they could only be ex-
amined during the summer months, and were, besides,
being destroyed by damp and mildew. Last year a bill
was brought in giving powers to acquire property on
which to build a Court of Probate, and a vote of
£60,000 was taken towards the purchase of the ground.

It was said that the College of Advocates asked a fancy
price for their property, but Mr. Pennithorne stated that, if
the property were bought merely as a temporary arrange,-
ment, such was the growing value of property in the city of
London that he had no doubt it might be sold in five or six
years without loss to the Government. It was said to be
in contemplation to concentrate all the law courts on one
site, but the house had already had some experience of the
delay that was likely to take place in carrying out such an
object. The Keeper of Records had declared that after last
Thursday there would not be a room in which a single will
or fit paper could be placed in a state of safety. (A. cry of
"Move 1") This was a subject which required the imme-
diate attention of the house. Hon. members would not
sleep in their beds if they knew that in consequence of a
dispute between the Board of Works and the Treasury the
title deeds of their estates might at any moment be de.
stroyed by fire. He paid a visit to the building the other
day, and found, in a room four feet square, three gentle-
men, each with a companion, who were reading wills aloud.
He could not understand a word that was said, yet it was
evident that a vast amount of property might depend on
the correctness of a single word. Seeing that the Govern.
ment had the power of purchasing this property at a valua •
tien and that it adjoined the Probate-office, he begged to
ask the First Commissioner of Works when proper accom-
modation would be provided for her Majesty's Court of
Probate, and \i'hat steps had been taken to acquire the pro-
perty for which powers were given under the Act of last
session, and for the purchase of which a sum of £60,000
was granted ?
Mr. COWPER said that his hon. friend had prefaced his
question by a good many remarks, but the actual question
might be disposed of in a very few words. (Hear, hear.)
The real question was whether the Board of Works were
prepared to purchase the property that belonged to the Col-
lege of Advocates. Ile would shortly give the reasons why
they thought it better not to do so. The present Probate
Registry was an inconvenient building, and it was expected
that the commission now sitting for the concentration of
the law courts would recommend some plan for placing all
the law courts on some convenient and contiguous site. It
was therefore very desirable that the Board of Works should
not go to an expense that would stand in the way of uniting
the Probate Reg-i-try with the law courts. The Registry
ought to be in contiguity to the Probate Court itself, the
Divorce Court, and the Admiralty Court. He had there-
fore to consider how temporary accommodation could best
be supplied. This might be done in two ways—either by
buying the property belonging to the College of Advocates,
or extending the present accommodation by means of hiring

the houses on the other side of the way. He had preferred
the latter plan, because it involved a saving of £20,000. Ho
should thereby provide seven times as much accommodation
as was now found in the registry of wills and documents,
whereas the officers of the court stated that it would be
enough if they had five times the present space at their dis-
posal. The plan ho had alluded to would be much more
economical, and it would provide every accommodation until
a larger and more permanent scheme could be adopted.
(Hear, hear.)
CONVICT ESTABLISHMENT AT BERMUDA.
Lord NAAS called the attention of the house to the state
of the convict establishment at Bermuda, as detailed in the
repot laid before Parliament ; and asked the Secretary of
State for the Home Department whether it was the inten-
tion of Government to send any more convicts to that
island ? The noble lord made some observations, which
were understood to be depreciatory of the present system
that; prevailed in reference to the establishment in question,
but from his imperfect utterance he was quite unintelligible
in the reporters' gallery.
THE VOTE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Mr. WHALLEY said that as no other hon. member
seemed disposed to bring forward the subject of the vote
given last night in the Upper House, and as it was a matter
in which the country was deeply interested, he begged to
ask the Government for some information in addition to
that which had already been given by the noble
lord at the head of the Government. He wished to
know when any definite information would be given to the
house on tile most unprecedented, or, at all events the most
important step taken by the other branch of the Legislature
last night, in respect to the bill sent up from this house.
Sir G. C. LEWIS said that he had no information to
give the hon. member who last addressed the house in ad-
dition to what his noble friend, the First Lord of the Trea-
sury, had stated in respect to the subject of his observa-
tions. He would, therefore, proceed to answer the question
of the noble lord opposite. (Laughter.) He wished to inform
the noble lord (Lord Naas) that his attention had been
directed to the subject of the convict establishment at Ber-
muda. So far as the Home Department was concerned,
there would be no difficulty in snaking arrangements
that would render unnecessary the sending of convicts to
Bermuda. However the withdrawal of the supply of con-
vict labour would lead to a suspension of the works at Ber•.
muds, and would necessarily increase the public expendi-
ture. The affray that took place between the Irish and
English convicts at Bermuda last year was to be regarded
merely in the light of a faction, and was not of a serious
character.