thousand dollars per annum. I think it is all wrong. The Commonwealth should not pay for the settlement of decedents' estates. We provide here that they shall be settled without any cost to the parties. I say it is all wrong. The parties ought to pay for it. Why should the Commonwealth at large be at the expense of settling a guardian's account, an executor's account, an administrator's account? I can see no reason whatever for it, but the parties themselves should be at the expense of it, and properly and naturally so.

But, sir, the evil of excessive costs and charges can be corrected. I have no fear whatever on that score. We have our acts of Assembly legislating upon the subject, and the courts do adhere to it whenever their attention is brought to it; and that is the proper plan. They are the proper persons to correct abuses. But here we are now providing for a separate judiciary, expensive to the State, and relieving the proper persons that ought to pay for the expense of settling the estates in which they are interested. I cannot vote for this amendment, because, as I said before, it is destroying the uniformity we have heard so much about; and then, finally, I shall vote against the whole section.

Mr. BAER. I hope the amendment of the gentleman from York will prevail. As much as I was in favor of the clause proposed to be stricken out, originally, I am opposed to retaining it now, because the necessity for it ceased the moment we voted down section twenty-four; and I ask the lawyers of the interior, living in counties where no president judge resides, what would be the effect of this provision, and whether they are willing to change the practice as it now prevails and adopt this; whether this will not necessitate the fixing of a week for the special hearing of auditors' reports at which the same rigid rules will be enforced as are enforced on the trial of cases in the common pleas? A party will go there to have his account audited, and the court will expect him to have all his witnesses there and finish at the first hearing. The purpose of an auditing is that parties shall have ample time and opportunity of being heard and the auditor full time for hearing and eliciting all the facts, and if it becomes necessary it may be adjourned from day to day, that all the facts may be ascertained; but the moment you fix in the Constitution the pro

vision that we have now there the judge will be so burdened with labors when he comes from another county that he will be compelled to ask you to go through your hearing at once, as though you were in a court trying a cause, and the effect will be that cases will not be tried half so well nor results attained half so well as they are by the system that now prevails. That it should apply to cities and to counties where they have separate orphans' courts, I agree, and will vote for so much; but I will vote to strike out all that the gentleman from York proposes to strike out and insert what he proposes to insert, in order that the interior may not be afflicted as it would be by that provision. If section twenty-four is restored I shall then again approve of the clause proposed to be stricken out.

Mr. BRODHEAD. Mr. President: I move that the hour of adjournment be extended half an hour for the purpose of finishing this article. ["No!" "No!"] If we do not finish this article this afternoon we shall waste the whole day tomorrow on it.

Mr. HARRY WHITE. Do I understand that the delegate from Somerset has concluded?

The PRESIDENT pro tem. The Chair so understood.

Mr. BROOMALL. I supposed I had the floor, if the motion of the gentleman from Northampton was not in order.

The PRESIDENT pro tem. The gentleman from Delaware has the floor.

Mr. BROOMALL. I shall not occupy two minutes. I only desire to say that the section as it stands makes the Commonwealth bear the expense of the auditing of accounts in all the counties of the State. The amendment proposes to make exceptions of certain small counties, among which mine happens to be numbered. Now, I am not willing that my constituents shall bear the expense of auditing their own accounts and shall help bear the expense of auditing the accounts in Philadelphia and Pittsburg also by paying their State taxes.

Mr. HARRY WHITE. ["Question!" "Question!"] I have not been heard on this section, and as it is a matter of the greatest moment possibly to the district in which I reside-and I know it is a matter of the greatest moment to the people at large-I desire to say a word.

I understand the precise question to be on the amendment offered by the honorable delegate from York (Mr. Cochran.)

May I inquire from the Chair the exact technical shape of the question before the Convention?

The PRESIDENT pro tem. The shape of the question is to insert after the word "court" the words, "in those counties in which a separate orphans' court shall be established."

Mr. HARRY WHITE. Mr. President: I sympathize entirely with the purpose of the amendment offered by the honorable delegate from York; and in corroboration of that, I would observe that I voted against this section entirely when it was before the Convention on a prior occasion. I voted against it because I was opposed to the principle of allowing the Legislature to impose upon the several counties of this Commonwealth, irrespective of population, a separate orphans' court when it is a matter known to every delegate here that the most important practice before the judges holding our courts of common pleas sitting as orphans' courts are questions arising in the distribution of the estates of decedents. Therefore I was opposed to the principle of the section itself.

I am not, however, here as a dog in the manger, unwilling to afford relief when delegates representing other counties and parts of this Commonwealth come here and say that they must have relief in a

particular direction. I am not willing to say that delegates representing the great city of Philadelphia, the great city of Pittsburg, the large and important county of Luzerne and the important counties of Lancaster and Schuylkill and Berks shall not be allowed the privilege of having a separate orphans' court if the business of those localities actually requires it, if the business of the locality actually interferes with the practice of the common pleas so greatly that it is impossible to transact the business there. But for the smaller counties, comprising a population of forty thousand, fifty thousand, sixty thousand, or seventy-five thousand inhabitants, I do pretend to be of opinion and insist that there shall be no gerrymandering, and no bartering should be allowed to obtain in the Legislature by which an act of Assembly is passed imposing a special orphans' court in those counties; and that is one of the reasons why I am in favor of the proposition offerred by the honorable delegate from York, which deprives the Legislature of the power of imposing upon the judges of the court of common pleas or upon separate officials the duty

The PRESIDENT pro tem. The hour of six having arrived, the Convention stands adjourned until to-morrow morning at nine o'clock.

The report was read as follows: The Committee on Accounts and Expenditures of the Convention respectfully reports:

That it has examined the account of William W. Harding, dated June 27, 1873, for two hundred reams of paper, amounting to $1,500.

That the contract of said Harding with the Convention required him to furnish paper in snch quantities as might be ordered by the Committee on Printing and Binding of the Convention; that the paper mentioned in said account was furnished under the order of the said committee, and the bill approved by them. That the paper has been actually received by the Printer as appears by his receipt. The following resolution is accordingly reported:

Resolved, That the above mentioned account of William W. Harding for two hundred reams of paper, amounting to $1,500 is hereby approved, and that a warrant be drawn in his favor for the said sum in payment thereof."

The resolution was ordered to a second reading, read the second time and agreed

to.

THE STATE CAPITAL.

Mr. NILES. Mr. President: In the absence of the chairman of the Committee on the Legislature, (Mr. MacVeagh,) I am directed to submit a report from that committee.

The report was read as follows:

"The Committee on the Legislature, to which was referred the resolution of the delegate from Fayette, (Mr. Kaine,) instructing said committee to consider and report upon the expediency of incorporating a provision in the Constitution locating the capital of the State permanently at Harrisburg, beg leave to report the following section, with the recommendation that it be adopted:

SECTION. No law changing the present location of the capital of the State at Harrisburg shall be valid until the same shall have been submitted to the people at a general election and ratified and approved by them.

(Signed,) WAYNE MACVEAGH, Chairman,

In behalf of the Committee. The PRESIDENT pro tem. The report will be laid on the table and ordered to be printed.

Mr. J. PRICE WETHERILL. I give notice that a minority report will be pre

sented by my colleague (Mr. Dallas.) He is not here this morning, or he would present it.

Mr. KAINE. I believe the President has decided that no minority reports are in order. A minority cannot report an article.

THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM.

Mr. MANN. I move that we proceed to the consideration of the article on the judiciary.

The motion was agreed to, and the Convention resumed the consideration on second reading of the article on the judiciary.

Mr. ARMSTRONG. I now renew my motion to reconsider all the votes on the proposition submitted yesterday by the gentleman Philadelphia (Mr.

Cuyler.)

from

The PRESIDENT pro tem. Only one vote can be reconsidered at a time. The last vote must first be reconsidered.

Mr. ARMSTRONG. I desire to reconsider the motion by which it was voted down, as well as the motion by which "Pittsburg" was inserted instead of "Philadelphia.”

Mr. STANTON. I should like to ask the gentlemen from Lycoming if it is the additional section he asks to reconsider.

Mr. ARMSTRONG. The additional section proposed by the gentleman from Philadelphia (Mr. Cuyler.)

Mr. MANN. We refused yesterday to reconsider one of those votes.

Mr. ARMSTRONG. It is very manifest that the occurrences of yesterday were in some degree unfortunate. I cannot suppose for a moment that any member of this Convention intended anything like disrespect or want of courtesy to the gentieman from Philadelphia.

Mr. MANN. I raise the point of order that one of these votes cannot be reconsidered.

The PRESIDENT pro tem. The gentleman from Potter raises the question that the Convention refused yesterday to reconsider the vote by which "Pittsburg" was inserted in the stead of "Philadelphia" and that therefore that vote cannot be reconsidered this morning. The Chair believes that the gentleman from Potter is correct in his statement.

Mr. HARRY WHITE. I ask leave to make a statement at this time. I sympathize entirely with what has been said by the delegate from Lycoming with reference to this matter, and I think the shortest way to get rid of the difficulty, and accomplish the desire of all parties,

would be for the Convention to give unanimous consent for the withdrawal of this proposition and for the expunging from the Journal of all proceedings relating thereto. That can be easily done, and I hope unanimous consent will be given. I make a motion to that effect.

as it now is. It is precisely the same in effect as that I offered yesterday.

Mr. TURRELL. As I understand it, it leaves the matter just as it was left yesterday, and the same objection exists to it that it makes one rule for one part of the State and another rule for another part of

The PRESIDENT pro tem. It is not debatable.

phans' courts, the auditing will be done without expense to parties; where there are not, it will be done at the expense of

Mr. TEMPLE. I should like to hear the amendment to the amendment read. The PRESIDENT pro tem. It will be read.

The CLERK. It is proposed to strike out all after the word "court," in the sixteenth line, to and including the word "court," in the eighteenth line, and to insert as follows:

"Where there is any dispute about any account filed or about the distribution of the estate of any decedent in any separate orphans' court, such dispute shall be determined by such court without an audi

The PRESIDENT pro tem. You cannot now modify it.

Mr. COCHRAN. If I cannot modify it, I move to amend it by striking out all after the word "court," in the sixteenth line, to and including the word "court," in the eighteenth line, and inserting these words:

"When there is any dispute about any account filed, or about the distribution of the estate of any decedent in any separate orphans' court, such dispute shall be determined by such court without an auditor, and shall be audited without expense to parties."

This does not change the practical effect of the section in the least, nor does it interfere with the other part of the section, relating to auditing in the city of Philadelphia. This proposition says that whenever a dispute occurs about an account filed or about the distribution of the estate of any decedent in any of the separate orphans' courts, then such dispute shall be determined by the court without an auditor and without expense to the parties. That is to say, wherever there is a separate orphans' court the matter shall be determined without an auditor and without expense to the parties. Where there is no separate orphans' court the matter is not regulated by this amendment, but left to stand on the law

expense to parties," &c.

Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. President: It is very difficult to know what the interpretation of the word "dispute," in that connection, would be. It is certainly a word not very familiar, and I think not often used in legal enactments. I should be a little at a loss to know what would be meant by a "dispute." If the section is to be adopted in that way there should be something to make the "dispute" more certain, by saying "in the nature of exceptions," or "when exceptions are filed." But it is worth while to consider that this whole system of auditors is apart from the ordinary exercise of judicial functions. Any matter which is to be audited is a judicial inquiry, and there is no reason why the important matters which are referred to an auditor ought not to go before the court by the same process and in the ordinary mode in which other litigations are pursued. The reference to a master is a matter of convenience, and every lawyer here knows that proceedings in the orphans' court are virtually proceedings in equity, so recognized repeatedly. If, then, a matter of audit should arise upon any estate, the orphans' court charged with the necessity of deciding that question could just as well decide it as they could decide other litigation that might arise. Nor do I see any objection to requiring the court to