Mr. THAYER. move to strike out “$5,000” and insert “ $2, 600;” so that it will rea: The salaries of said registers shall be fixed by the judges of the circuit court and shall notexceed in any casethe sum of, 2. 50operannum, in addition to the necessarytraveling and incidental expenses, and shall be)aid to the registersin each district. in the order oft cir appointment. out of the feeshere inafter required to a paid in the courseof proceedings authorized by this act. No reaternniountshall be paid for such salaries than shall be received for fees and in casethere shall be a surplusof feesafter paying the salaries, such surplus shall be invested under the direction of the court to meetfuture deficiencies. The subject of the amendment is the compensation of the registers. The compensation, as the House will perceive, is derived entirely from fees received in the several cases heard before them. It seems to me unjust to prescribe the same amount of compensation for different amounts of labor. It may happen that one register may do ten times the work of another register, and where the fees are actually received in excess he onght certainly to receive a larger compensation than where the register has a few cases before him. The House will see by reference to the 4th section of the bill that the functions of these officers are important. They are not merely clerical; they are judicial in their character. He must be a lawyer, or he cannot discharge the duties imposed on the office with any satisfaction to the interests of the parties who are before him. Now to expect a lawyer, who is competent to decide these questions and pursue these investigations, should be willin to serve for the small sum to which he is limited is not to expect what is reasonable. I do not think that a class of men who are fit to discharge these responsible duties can be had for this sum. In the amendment I have proposed that the compensation shall not exceed $2, 600. I suppose where a register of this kind is necessary his services will be worth that.