§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)asked the Lord Advocate, Whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. George Robertson, who was arrested in Glasgow on December 1, 1887, on a charge of having forged an order to an iron broker to sell 15,000 tons of iron with a view of influencing the iron market; whether it is true that the consent of the Crown to Robertson's liberation was not given for a week after his committal for further examination, although bail was applied for at that date, and that, after his liberation on bail, his agent on his behalf made repeated applications to the Fiscal to have him brought to trial on bail in order that he might have an opportunity of proving his innocence; whether, on the 22nd instant, the Fiscal informed Mr. Robertson's agent that proceedings against him were to be abandoned; and, whether, as Mr. Robertson has suffered three weeks' imprisonment, has been obliged to part with his furniture to make up the bail money, and has lost his situation and cannot obtain another with the stigma of a grave charge un-disposed of, he will either direct that he be brought to trial and afforded an opportunity of clearing himself or admit that the authorities acted on mistaken information in his case?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H. A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities)I am aware of what was done in this case. The accused person was not admitted to bail for a week, and would not have been admitted sooner under any circumstances when the charge was of so serious a nature. It is the fact that the accused's solicitor called on the Procurator Fiscal more than once to ask when the trial would take place, and that on the 22nd of February he was informed that no further proceedings would be taken at present. I am not prepared to order a trial; and I am not prepared to admit that the authorities acted on mistaken information in the case.