§ MR. BROADHURSTasked the Lord Advocate, Whether he is in a position 543 to state if any progress has been made towards the establishment in Scotland of a public inquiry into all cases of sudden death?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)Public inquiries are frequently held under special statutory provisions into certain classes of accidents—namely, accidents in mines, shipwrecks, railway accidents, and boiler explosions; but sudden deaths, generally, and fires, are investigated by the Procurator Fiscal, and the results reported to the Crown Office. Greater publicity is, however, now given to sudden deaths by the Returns, which are published monthly in the localities, according to instructions given about a year ago. There is no present intention to make legislative provision for public investigation regarding all sudden deaths and fires in Scotland, as there does not seem to be any prevalent demand for so large a change in the law—a change which could only be carried out by the creation of a new staff of officials, who would be substantially Coroners, throughout the country, at great cost.