CO129-274 - Public Offices & Others - 1896 — Page 428

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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 deen 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 dividends wezrants out of the colony and to for-

ward them to ne cashed them and opened an account in

favor of the estate - In doing so, I have not only not

committed any iregularity, 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 commis-

sion 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 neces-

sary 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 trans-

fer to the general revenue of the colony a short ordin-

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