§ MR. H. H. FOWLERasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether his attention has been called to the following' remarks of Mr. Justice Day, in his charge to the Grand Jury of Manchester on the 16th instant:—
The largeness of the number of cases was, as they were aware, owing to a recent change introduced in regard to the administration of justice at assizes. A change had been introduced in the form of the commission, and it now became the duty of the judges to clear the gaol of all the prisoners confined therein, whether committed for trial at quarter sessions or for trial at the assizes. The result of that necessarily was that a great number of the cases which the Grand Jury would have to investigate were in every sense of the term sessions cases. He could not help thinking, having regard to the vast amount of serious work which was accumulating on the judges and almost overwhelming courts of justice, and when he considered the great paraphernalia which properly surrounded the administration of justice at assizes, and the value of the time, and the inconvenience which it perhaps was to the gentlemen of the Grand Jury to be kept away from their occupations, he could not help thinking that their time and that of the judges of assize might with greater advantage to the public interest he occupied with the trial of cases of perhaps a more serious character than that of a woman charged with stealing a shawl of the value of 3s. 9d. or that of a man—hungry it might be—who was accused of stealing two meat pies and twelve ounces of bacon;whether he will inform the House why the Government have introduced the recent change referred to by the learned judge; and, whether it is the intention of the Government to continue the practice of requiring the judges to try cases committed to the quarter sessions?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES), in reply, said, it was after full consideration by all the Judges that it was determined that their visits to the two principal Assizes should be for the purpose of delivering the gaols of all prisoners, and therefore he was at a loss to know how Mr. Justice Day, sitting at Manchester, could have expressed himself against that arrangement.
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERThe Attorney General has not answered my second Question. I want to ask him if it is the intention of the Government to continue the practice of requiring Judges to 740 dispose of these trivial oases, and so prevent them from returning to London, where their presence is so much needed?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)It is not so much a question for the Government as for the Legislature. I think provision might be made in the Criminal Code (Indictable Offences Procedure) Bill to meet the difficulty.