§ MR. HADFIELDsaid, he would beg to ask the hon. and learned Gentleman the Solicitor General what course he intended to adopt respecting the Wills and Administrations Bills, when he intended to proceed with the same; and whether he considered that it would be prosecuted to an issue during the present Session?
THE SOLICITOR-GENERALsaid, his noble friend at the head of the Government had promised him that Monday, the 23rd of that month, should be devoted to the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill. It would be the first Order of the Day, and he hoped the second reading would then take place. He had agreed with the hon. and learned Member for East Suffolk (Sir F. Kelly) to 1228 make some modifications in the Government Bill, particularly with reference to facilitating the proof of wills by persons dying in the country, which he thought would render the prosecution of the hon. and learned Gentleman's Bill wholly unnecessary, and the hon. and learned Member for Plymouth (Mr. Collier) had said that if he were assured it was the intention of the Government to prosecute their Bill, he did not intend to proceed with his Bill. The Government never entertained any other intention than that of diligently prosecuting the Bill they had laid on the table; and, if it should be the pleasure of the House to read it a second time on the 23rd instant, he hoped it would be pressed through Committee, so as to go up to the House of Lords within the first seven days of July.