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section 4 of Ord: 9 of 1870 which enacts that:-
"It shall be lawful for the Official Administrator
whenever he shall deem it expedient and upon such proof
of death as he shall deem sufficient to take possession
of all private papers, monies etc., and to provide for
the safe custody thereof, until probate of the will of
such deceased person or letters of administration shall
have been granted" I sent a circular to the managers
of these companies requiring them to refrain from sending
these dividend warrants out of the colony and to forward them to be cashed and opened an account in
favor of the estate - In doing so, I have not only not
committed any irregularity, but have in many instances
hastened the proving of the will, and have in other
cases secured the dividends which otherwise would have
remained in the hands of the companies, thus realizing
a small revenue for government by means of the commission on the sums received and also from the interest
on the Registrar's surplus cash which has been increased
by the regular receipt of these dividends. I could
not obtain letters of administration or further deal
with the estate because I had no formal proof of death,
and not having the shares themselves in my possession,
I could not dispose of them and so close the account.
I do not think any legislation is on this point necessary for the present these accumulations do no harm
to anyone, they are the source of a small revenue to
Government, and the system has been in force only some
ten years, from time to time a claimant turns up and the
money is handed over to him if in future years a sum
is accumulated which it is really worth while to transfer to the general revenue of the colony a short ordin-
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