§ 79. Mr. FREEMANasked the Attorney-General, in view of the hardship imposed on the other relatives by the passing of land only to the eldest son in case of an intestate death, if he will consider introducing legislation which will remove this hardship?
§ The SOLICITOR-GENERALMy hon. Friend is in error in supposing that on an intestacy and passes only to the eldest son. The residuary estate of an intestate, whether consisting of land or not, is distributed in accordance with the provisions 612 of the Administration of Estates Act, 1925, which are too long to set out in a reply to an oral question. Broadly speaking, and disregarding purely transitory and purely technical provisions, they provide that, after the provision of £1,000 for the surviving spouse of the intestate absolutely, the remainder of the estate, subject to a life interest in one-half of the residuary estate to the surviving spouse, if any, is distributed among the issue equally, or, if there be no issue, among the relations of the deceased in the order and manner prescribed in the Statute.
§ Sir GEORGE PENNYMay I ask for the middle part of that reply to be read again? I did not quite hear it.