§ SIR BALDWYN LEIGHTONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he can state approximately the number of applications made during the last two or three years to be excused serving the office of sheriff in England and Wales on account of the expense; and, considering the anomaly of charging the cost of administering justice on private individuals who can sometimes ill afford it; considering also that the expenses of the office were formerly paid out of the receipts from escheated and other estates, and that there is a similar fund now known as the "Crown Nominee Account," which would about cover these expenses, whether the Government, in their proposed relief to local burdens, would consider the propriety of relieving sheriffs of these anomalous charges?
MR. GLADSTONEI have made inquiries at the Council Office in regard to the number of persons who have applied to be excused serving the office of sheriff. The total number nominated for the office in England and Wales before "pricking" is 144, being three for each county. In 1880 there were 12 applications to be excused, in 1881 there were 11, and in 1882 there were 12. I have no knowledge that the expenses of the sheriffs were ever paid out of escheats, nor am I aware that they have 121 any claim upon the estates of intestates. With regard to the question of relieving sheriffs from their expenses, the Government look upon it as so much connected with the general position of the unpaid magistracy and the subject of local government, that we do not purpose to entertain it as a separate matter.
§ SIR BALDWYN LEIGHTONsaid, he should call attention to this subject next Session, unless, in the meanwhile, some measure for relief was proposed by the Government.