1894, ch. 151. 319. Every will or other testamentary instrument made out of the State shall be held to be valid in Maryland, if the same be made according to the forms required by the law of the place where the same was made or by the law of the place where the testator was domiciled when the same was made, or according to the forms required by the law of this State; and if the testator was originally domiciled in Maryland, although at the time of making the will or at the time of his death, he may be domiciled elsewhere, the said will or testamentary instrument then so executed shall be admitted to probate in any orphans' court of this State; and when so admitted, shall be governed by and construed and interpreted according to the law of Maryland, without regard to the lex domicilii, unless the testator shall expressly declare a contrary intention in said will or testamentary instrument. 1894, ch. 405. 326 A. No will, testament, codicil or other testamentary paper shall be subject to caveat or other objection to its validity after the expiration of three years from its probate. Garrison v. Hill, 81 Md. 551. Manning v. Carruthers, 83 Md. 8. 1890, ch. 416. 331. Every executor or other person exhibiting a will shall be examined on oath whether or not he knows of any other will or codicil, and in what manner the will or codicil exhibited came into his hands. 1890, ch. 416. 1892, ch. 81. 334. In proving a will or codicil all the witnessess thereto shall be examined if their attendance can be had, and the register of wills of any county or of the city of Baltimore where any will shall have been filed for probate, or any deputy of his when directed so to do by an order of the orphans' court may examine and take the deposition of any or all of the witnesses thereto who from any cause cannot conveniently attend to the office of said register of wills, wherever he may find such witness, or witnesses, whether within the State of Maryland or beyond its jurisdiction, provided that before the original will is taken from the office of said register of wills for the purpose of being so proved, the said register shall cause to be made out and filed among the records of his court, a copy of said will duly certified under the seal of his court; and the probate of any will so taken shall have the same effect and be as valid as if all of the witnesses thereto had appeared before and been examined by the orphans' court or the register of wills of the county or city where the same had been filed for probate and record, provided further that the orphans' court may in their discretion, accept proof of any will, in the manner prescribed in section 337 of this article, when the attendance of the witnesses thereto cannot, in the judgment of the said court be conveniently had. 1892, ch. 504. 337. If any witness or witnesses to any will shall die before probate thereof, or if at the time of the probate of any will any witness or witnesses shall be non-residents or beyond the jurisdiction of the orphans' court, or if for any other reason their presence cannot be secured, then proof by any credible witness of the signature of the testator or of the signature of any such deceased or absent witness shall have the same effect upon the probate of said will as if said deceased or absent witness had been present at said probate and had testified that said will was duly executed. 1892, ch. 268. 7. The treasurer of Maryland shall appoint three clerks to assist in the discharge of his duties, one of whom shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars, and the other two of whom shall each receive an annual sum of twelve hundred dollars. 1890, ch. 571. 23. The comptroller and treasurer shall within the first two weeks of January, April, July ond October in every year, in the presence of the Governor, count and cancel the bonds and certificates for stocks of the State and count and examine the other securities purchased or obtained by the treasurer for the use of the sinking fund; and a statement of the bonds and certificates so counted and those so counted and cancelled signed by the comptroller and treasurer and countersigned by the Governor shall be filed in the office of the comptroller within one week after each such count and cancellation; and the committee on finance of the Senate and the committee on ways and means of the House of Delegates shall jointly during each session of the legislature and within the first month of such session, examine and count all such bonds and certificates of stock so purchased or obtained up to the close of the fiscal year next preceding such session, and cancelled or stamped "purchased for the sinking fund," as required by the provisions of this article, and shall burn all such bonds and certificates of stock as belong to the overdue debt of the State, and shall examine carefully all bonds or certificates of stock maturing at some future day for the purpose of ascertaining that the same have been endorsed or marked, cancelled or stamped "purchased for the sinking fund," as required by section twenty-six of this article, and that the accruing coupons and interest thereon have been collected and credited to said sinking fund, and shall make a joint report of their proceedings therein to both houses. of the legislature, within two weeks after they shall have finished their said duties as prescribed by this section. Ibid. 26. All money remaining in the treasury of the State at the close of each fiscal year in excess of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and of the sums required to meet the interest due or accruing upon the public debt of the State and the expenses of the State government as defined by law shall be held by the treasurer of the State to the credit of the general sinking fund of the State and shall be invested by the treasurer in the overdue bonds. and stocks of the State, and when such overdue bonds and stocks of the State are not procurable, then in the obligations of the State not yet matured at the best possible rates for the State, or in the securities issued by the United States or in such other productive stocks or bonds as the treasurer, the governor and comptroller concurring, may consider safe and reliable at the best possible. rates for the State, and the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which is directed by section eight of this article to be set apart in each year for the augmentation of the sinking fund, may be invested in the same manner and under the same conditions by the treasury; every bond, certificate of stock or other security, purchased for the sinking fund under the provisions of this article, and every coupon attached thereto shall at once be distinguished and identified by the treasurer in the presence of the comptroller, by stamping in red ink accross the face thereof the words "purchased for the sinking fund," and also except in case of coupons by writing thereon in red ink the date of its purchase and the signature of the treasurer; all securities purchased for the sinking fund shall be held by the treasurer to the credit of said fund in manner as prescribed by section twenty-eight of this article, and the interest and coupons on all such securities, maturing at a future day shall accrue to and be regularly and promptly collected for and credited to the sinking fund, until such time as such securities shall mature and be redeemed respectively, or until the General Assembly shall dispose of the same, or in case of overdue securities of this State, until the same shall be burned by the finance committee and the ways and means committee as prescribed by section twenty-three of this article. 1890, ch. 571. 28. All bonds, certificates of stock and other securities purchased or obtained by the treasurer for the use of the sinking fund, and all bonds, certificates of stock and other securities belonging to the State shall be deposited and kept in some safe deposit company in the city of Baltimore, to be selected by the treasurer with the approval of the board of public works; the treasurer alone shall not be entitled to have access to the box, boxes, vault or vaults, where such securities shall be kept, but on all occasions when access to the same is to be had by him, he shall be accompanied by the comptroller or by some other member of the board of public works, designated by the Governor for that purpose; in case the comptroller be unable to attend in any particular case, the box or boxes, vault or vaults where such securities shall be kept shall be so constructed that two entirely different keys shall be required to gain access to said securities, one of which keys for each such box or vault shall be in the custody of the treasurer, and the other in that of the comptroller. 1890, ch. 571. 29. The treasurer of the State and the comptroller of the treasury shall each forthwith procure a properly bound book, to be used for the sinking fund account, in each of which shall be properly and regularly entered a registry of all bonds, certificates of stock and other securities belonging to the sinking funds; said books shall be ruled in columns appropriately headed, in which said several columns shall be entered the number, kind, class, character, value, denomination or other proper description of all bonds, certificates of stock or other securities now held and belonging to the sinking fund of the State, and in all cases of future purchases or acquisitions for said funds, the kind or class of security so purchased or acquired, the proper number borne by each such bond, certificate of stock or other security so purchased or acquired, the number of shares of stock represented by each such certificate, the par value of each bond, share of stock or other security, the price paid for the same, the name of the person, firm or corporation from whom or through whom the same was or were purchased or acquired, the date of each such purchase or acquisition, and the date of depositing each such security in the box or boxes, vault or vaults of the safe deposit company, or any other place rented by the State for that purpose, and finally a column headed remarks, in which shall be entered the final disposition made of each such security so purchased or acquired, whether burned, redeemed or otherwise disposed of, and the date, authority and cause of such disposition; one of |