THEODORE R. McKELDIN, GOVERNOR                    481

CHAPTER 308
(Senate Bill 469)

AN ACT to repeal Section 298 of Article 93 of the Annotated Code
of Maryland (1954 Supplement), title ''Testamentary Law", sub-
title "Register of Wills", and to enact a new Section 298 in lieu
thereof, said new section to stand in the place and stead of the
section so repealed, repealing all laws which specify salaries to
be received by the several Registers of Wills in this State and
providing generally that such salaries shall be fixed and deter-
mined by the Board of Public Works based upon certain consid-
erations more particularly described herein and providing fur-
ther that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the com-
pensation of any Register of Wills in office at the time this Act
becomes effective for the duration of the term of office in which
he then is serving.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 298 of Article 93 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1954 Supplement), title 'Testamentary Law", sub-title "Register
of Wills", be and it is hereby repealed and that a new Section 298
be and it is hereby enacted in lieu thereof, said new section to stand
in the place and stead of the section so repealed and to read as
follows:

298. (a) The Register of Wills of each county of this State shall
be entitled to receive annually a salary of not less than $2,500.00
and not more than $9,000.00 to be fixed and determined in each
instance by the Board of Public Works of this State. Each Register
of Wills shall be entitled to the salary fixed and no more. In fixing
the annual salary of the Register of Wills of each county and of
Baltimore City, the Board of Public Works shall be guided in the
exercise of its discretion in regard thereto by the population of said
county or city, determined by the last official United States census,
by the dollar volume of total fees and taxes collected and of excess
fees turned over to the State for each of the preceding five years
by the Office of the Register of Wills for which the salary is being
fixed and by other pertinent data which has relation to the reason-
ableness of the salary in relation to the work done and volume
handled by the office, it being the intent of this section that each
Register of Wills shall receive a fair and adequate compensation
for the effort and duties required of him by his office and the
volume and character of work done by him as Register of Wills in
relation to the salary fixed by the Board of Public Works for each
of the other Registers of Wills in this State.

(b) The salaries of the Registers of Wills shall be payable semi-
monthly from the fees, receipts and emoluments of the office, after
first deducting therefrom the necessary expenses of the office, includ-
ing salaries of deputies and clerks, books, stationery, office supplies
and other necessary and customary expenses of doing business. If

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