3

A.—2b

No. 36. " An Act to enable the Governor to sell a certain Parcel of Land in the City of Wellington, part of the Mount Cook Barracks ;" No. 37. " An Act to empower the Patca Harbour Board to borrow Money;" No. 38. " An Act to authorize a certain Piece of Land situate at Norsewood, within the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay, to be vested in Trustees ;" No. 39. " An Act to vest certain Lands in the Napier Harbour Board ;" No. 40, " An Act to amend ' The Wellington College Act, 1872,' and the several Acts amending the same ;" No. 41. " An Act to provide for the Disposal of a Reserve in the Township of Foxton, in the County of Mauawatu ;" No. 42. " An Act to provide for the Control and Management of a High School in the Education District of Wanganui, and for the Endowment thereof;" No. 43. " An Act to transfer a Piece of Land, situate on Parnell Rise, at Auckland, to the Mayor, Councillors, and Burgesses of the Borough of Parnell, and to the Board of the Education District of Auckland, for certain Public Purposes ;" No. 44. "An Act to authorize a certain Piece of Land situate at Hamilton, within the Provincial District of Auckland, to bo vested in Trustees in trust for Volunteers and Others;" No. 45. " An Act to vest in the Newmarket District Board Control and Management of certain Land situated within the said District;" No. 46. "An Act to vest certain Lands in the Municipal Corporation of the Town of Invercargill as an Endowment for the New River Harbour, mid to empower the said Corporation to borrow Money for the Improvement of the said Harbour;" No. 47. " An Act to regulate the Lease and Settlement of certain Education Reserves within the Provincial District of Olago ;" No. 48. "An Act to authorize the Government to transfer to the Corporation of the Borough of Lyttelton certain Waterworks;"

No. 49. "An Act to provide for the Establishment and Management of the Ashburton High School j" No. 50. " An Act to confirm certain Reserves made by the late Provincial Government of the Province of Wellington for the Wellington College;" No. 51. "An Act to amend the Boundaries of the City of Wellington ;" No. 52. " An Act to provide for the Establishment and Management of the New Plymouth High School;" No. 53. "An Act to authorize a Grant of Land to the Thames Harbour Board, and to empower the said Board to borrow Moneys ;" No. 54. "An Act to provide for the Establishment and Management of a Boys' and Girls' High School at the Thames;" No. 55. "An Act to provide for the Establishment and Management of a Girls' High School in Auckland j • No. 56. "An Act to constitute a Harbour Board for the Port of Milford ;" No. 57. " An Act to constitute a Harbour Board for the Port of Wairoa;" No. 58. "An Act to constitute a Harbour Board for tho Port of Nelson ;" No. 59. "An Act to vest certain Land in the Provincial District of Canterbury in tho Borough Council of Christchurch ;" No. 60. "An Act to provide for the Oamaru Market Reserve;" No. 61. " An Act to make further Provision for the Supply of Water to the Suburbs of Duncdin ;" No. 62. "An Act to validate certain Grants commonly known as the Whakatane Grants." No. C 3. "An Act to provide for the Establishment and Management of a High School at Whangarei, in the Provincial District of Auckland ;" No. 04. " An Act to grant certain Special Powers to the Governor to issue Crown Grants, and to enable him to carry out certain Contracts and Promises."

In tlie Bill, Xo. 49, entitled " An Act to amend the Law relating to the Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons," which has been reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, I observe some defects, probably due to inadvertence, which I Avill proceed to point out for the consideration of your Advisers; and, as they may think it desirable to invite the Legislature tore-enact the Bill in an amended form, I shall at present take no steps for submitting the Bill for Her Majesty's assent. By section 4of the Bill "real estate" is to include " chattel interests," and by section 10 (4) and (5) the executor or administrator is to hold the " real estate" of an intestate dying before the Ist October, 1875, or after that day and before the Act comes into force (unless he leaves a wife or issue), upon trust for his heir-at-law. The effect of this is to transfer the beneficial interest in chattels real in these cases from the next of kin to the heir-at-law, which was evidently not intended. Section 10 omits to provide for the trust of real estate of a person who dies before the Act comes into operation leaving a will. This would be remedied by leaving out the words " after this Act comes into operation "in subsection (1). In section 23 the word " lands" is used twice where " real estate "is evidently intended. In section 35 the use of the expression "next of kin" leaves it doubtful whether the nearest of kin, according to the rules of the civil law, or the persons who under the English Statutes of Distribution would have taken the mother's personal estate if she had died intestate at the time of the bastard's death, are intended. In section 36 the provision for succession to the estate of a female intestate leaving no husband or issue Avas presumably intended to apply, and should apply, only to the case of an illegitimate, as there can be no reason for excluding from succession the father, the brothers and sisters, and their issue, and the paternal next of kin in any other case. I have, &c, M. E. Hicks Beach. By Authority : Geokoie Didsbuky, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB79. Price 3d.]