MR. BLENNERHASSETTasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether he is aware that during the trial of the case Fell and wife v. Apps, at Westminster on Monday last, Lord Coleridge, commenting on the fact that the costs of an administration suit referred to in the course of the proceedings amounted to a very large sum, instanced a case in his own experience where an estate of £1,300 was administered by the Court of Chancery and only £156 remained to be distributed, and added "I can 329 only say that a system that permits such a state of affairs is scandalous, yet so it is;" and, whether he will recommend this expression of opinion by the Lord Chief Justice to the attention of the Government?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)I have no doubt whatever that the statement made by Lord Coleridge was correct, as the matter was within his own cognizance. It does not appear to me, however, that there is any necessity for formally recommending it to the notice of the Government. The Lord Chancellor, upon whom the responsibility of the matter rests, is most strenuously endeavouring to lessen the cost of litigation, and is taking practical measures to that effect.