REASON VIII.—In order to avoid the expense and inconvenience resulting from all wills being proved in London, the committee of the House of Commons propose that copies of country wills should be deposited at certain stations throughout the kingdom.-(Vide page 7 of their Report.)

ANSWER.-If copies were so deposited, officers must be paid for preserving and affording facility of reference to those documents; and, in point of expense, there would then be no saving. But the people in the country would never be contented with the inspection of the mere copies; they would still require to see the originals. Thus they would be put to the expense of sending the originals to town; of supporting establishments in the country for the custody of the copies, and for supplying the means of rendering them accessible; and also of consulting, whenever they required it, the originals in London. Considering the small classes of property to which the country wills in general appertain, this treble expense would be highly unjust.

REASON IX. The expense of communicating between a great majority of the country towns and the metropolis, would be less than the expense of communication between such towns and the principal towns of each county.(Evidence given before the Committee of the House of Commons.)

ANSWER. This is by no means the case. Every country solicitor knows that there are many economical modes of sending small parcels from one part of the country to another. But even though it might be granted that the statement on the other side were true, still it would only apply to those persons who can conveniently pay postage and coach expenses. But it is in evidence, that many poor people who wish to consult an original will, are unable to employ an agent for that purpose, and that they often walk twenty, thirty, or forty miles, with a view to satisfy themselves on that point, and are not even able to pay the shilling fee for inspection, after they have incurred that charge.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS.

REASON X.-"All deeds, or rather copies of all deeds," say the Real Property Commissioners, "ought to be registered in London: therefore so should all wills."

ANSWER -The House of Commons have already negatived the first of these propositions, even though it was conceded that the original deeds should remain in the hands of the parties to whom they belonged. Therefore, the consequence does not follow as the premises do not exist. But even if the idea of a general registry of the copies of Deeds had been adopted by the Legislature, the precedent would, at best, be good only for a general registry of the copies of wills; to which there is no objection. Why cannot the copies of wills sent to the legacy office by all the country courts, and for which the public pay, be made available after the abstracts are entered in the books of the office?

REASON XI.-An impression prevails in highly respectable circles, that the applications for searches of wills in the country registries, generally apply to matters of personal estate.

ANSWER. So far from this being the fact, it may be safely asserted that three-fourths of these searches are connected with matters of title to real estates, and that by far the majority are for wills lodged more than twenty years since.

REASON XII. The local courts are too numerous; they sometimes clash with each other as to jurisdiction, and therefore lead to confusion and unne

cessary expense.

ANSWER. The 380 courts which at present exist in England and Wales, may be easily consolidated so as to reduce the total number to about 48. If the diocesan courts be retained at the cathedral establishinents, courts of registry can be formed or retained in such counties or districts as may be most convenient to the people. Such an arrangement would be infinitely preferable to a single metropolitan court and registry.

Table of Searches for, and Applications to Inspect Wills and Administrations, made in the larger portion of the Country Courts in the Province of Canterbury, on an average of the three years 1829, 1830, and 1831.

Personal Searches by parties themselves, or their Agents .

Searches made by the Registrars on behalf of parties resident in the Diocese

Searches made by the Registrars on behalf of persons resident in London Searches made by the Registrars on behalf of persons not resident in the Diocese or in London

No. 5,335

2,423

7,758

268

453

ORGANO-HISTORICA;

Or the History of Cathedral and Parochial Organs.

NO. XXIV. THE ORGAN AT THE NEW CHURCH, (ST. LUKE,) CHELSEA.

In pursuing our description of the new organs at the London churches, we purpose taking them according to the number of stops they contain. This being our guide, the organ at the new church, Chelsea, comes next under our consideration.

In laying before our readers the history of the above-named instrument, we beg to observe, it was not originally built for the church in which it now stands. It is the workmanship of the late Mr. Nicholls, son-in-law and successor to the late George Pike England, of Stephen-street, Tottenham-court-road, well known as one of the most eminent English organ builders of his time. He died about twenty years ago. His successor lived but a few years after him, and the organ we are about to describe was intended, and built expressly, for a large chapel in the West of England; and as will be seen by the summary of its stops, was most magnificently designed, being the largest organ, as far as relates to duplicate stops, that was ever built.

The instrument contains the following stops:

5 Fifteenth.

The compass of the great and choir organs is from G G to F in alt, 58 notes; that of the swell, from F in the tenor, to F in alt, 37 notes. The pedal pipes are double open diapasons, to C C C; the four lower notes are unisons; and the last octave of one of the open diapasons, is of wood. The quality of tone in this instrument is good, but there is not so much power in the full organ, as might be expected from the number of stops. The quality of tone in the choir organ is very pure; the stops mix well together. The swell also is very good; but the compass is too confined. The pedal pipes are not weighty enough in their tone; the upper part of the instrument overpowers them in chorus. There has lately been added a cremona, in the place of the bassoon. The quality of this stop is very good. It is the workmanship of Mr. Gray, who has the care of the instrument. Since its erection great improvements have taken place in almost every department of organ building. If this instrument were now modernized, it would, we think, rank amongst the best in London. The compass of the swell should be extended at least an octave lower, if not to C C. Another set of pedal pipes should be added, and supplied by a separate pair of bellows. The swell and choir should couple to the great organ; and the swell and great organ should have composition pedals. With these additions and improvements, it would be inferior to none of the same class. Although this instrument was built by Mr. Nicholls, it was finished by Mr. Gray, who purchased it of the assignees of the builder in an unfinished state. The trustees of Chelsea purchased it of Mr, Gray, for their newly erected church.

COLLECTANEA.

BISHOP RIDLEY.-Very affectionate and truly beautiful is this excellent prelate's apostrophe to his college, Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, just before his martyrdom.

"Farewell, Pembroke Hall, of late my own college, my cure, and my charge. What case thou art now in, God knoweth I trow not well. Thou wast ever named, since I knew thee, which is not thirty years ago, to be studious, well learned, and a great setter forth of Christ's Gospel, and of God's true word. So I found thee, blessed be God, so I left thee, indeed. Woe is me, for thee my dear college, if thou suffer thyself by any means to be brought from that trade. In thy orchard, (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) I learned without book, almost all St. Paul's Epistles, yea and ween all the canonical Epistles, save only the Apocalypse: of which study, though in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sweet scent thereof I trust I shall carry to heaven with me,-the profit thereof, I think I have felt in all my life-time ever after,"

LAW REPORT.

No. XXXV. ON THE RIGHT TO THE TITHE OF POTATOES.

GILBERT AND OTHERS v. Towns.

* Notwithstanding an endowment of 1374, conferring all small tithes on a vicar, the Court refused to set aside a verdict finding the right to potatoes grown in fields to be in the rector, evidence having been adduced from which it might be presumed that, on good consideration, an alteration had been made in the endowment previously to the restraining statute of 13 Eliz.