The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 21, 24 January 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1880.

Scarcely a session of the Assembly passes but towards its close some stupid, blunder is almost sure to be made in one Act of Parliament or another. Members are in hot hasteto get away to their homes and no one has time to look at anything very closely, and so in the general disinclination for business some busybody manages to pop an iU con- rsidered clause into an Act, which, when it comes into operation is! found to cause no end of : trouble, and eventually leads, to one of those irritating little Amendment Bills with which our Statute books, teem. A notable instance of this — and one .that may, we fear, be attended with serious consequences — occurs in the Act passed in the late session to validate the proceedings of certain District Courts. At the last moment, someone — we believe Mr Hislop the member for Waitaki— seems to have been struck with the idea that there was a doubt whether the District Court Judges had jurisdiction to grant probates of wills,' letters of administration &c, and so at his instigation a' clause was hastily inserted which has succeeded most completely in creating the very donbt it was intended to set at rest. This clause runs as follows : — << Whereas doubts have arisen as to the powers of Judges of District Courts to grant probates of wills and letters of administration within their own districts : Be it enacted that the Judge of every District Court has had, and shall have the same power as the Supreme Court to grant probates of wills and letters of administration within his own district, unless the office of the Registrar of any district of the Supreme Court has been, or shall be at the time of the granting of the same situate within the district o£ such District Court." It is at least open to question whether thisclause has not a retrospective effect, and if so it will probably invalidate all grants already made in those districts where a Registrar of the Supreme Court has an office. But, whatever doubts it may give rise to with regard to the past, it evidently takes away for the present, and until an opportunity is afforded for amending the Act, the probate jurisdiction from District Judgesacting in districts where there is a Registrar'B office, and it so happens, singularly enough, that the districts which will be immediately affected are those in which such a jurisdiction is most needed. There is a Registrar of the Supreme Court here, at Hokitika, New Plymouth, aud Napier, and consequently the District Judges for Nelson, Westland, Taranaki, and Hawke's Bay can no louger deal with probate matters, and as Registrars of the Supreme Court have no power to grant probates or letters of administration, all such business will have to be transmitted to Wellington, Auckland, or Christchurch from all the above districts, causing much unnecessary expense and a large amount of vexatious delay aud inconyenisjice.