§ Mr. W. Tookepresented a Petition from the Incorporated Society of Attorneys, Solicitors, Proctors, and others, practitioners of the law, not Barristers, praying the House would provide better accommodation for attorneys and others, whose vocations compelled their attendance at Judges' Chambers. The hon. Member observed, that at a period when improvements were taking place in every branch of the institutions of the country, the accommodations for the highest legal officers were totally overlooked; and it would scarcely be believed that the Chief Justice of England was compelled to transact all the important business which came under the denomination of chamber business in a room only eight feet high, twenty feet long, and twelve feet wide. The late member for Penryn, whom he regretted not to see in the present Parliament, presented a petition last Session on the subject. It was agreed on all sides that some better accommodation for the Judges was absolutely necessary; but the matter was put a stop to on the plea of economy—certainly, in this instance, unadvised economy. Though the subject might at first sight appear trivial to hon. Members who were not acquainted with the important affairs which came before the Judge in his chambers, he would beg to observe, that the public would derive considerable advantage if the prayer of the petition were granted, as the attorneys and solicitors would be enabled to accelerate the progress and settlement of the suits intrusted to them, by being able to bring them, in many cases, before the Judge, and by being allowed to settle them on motion before that functionary, which, from the confined and inconvenient nature of the place where they were obliged to attend, it was, at present, impossible for them to do.
§ Mr. Humesaid, that the accommodation which the hon. member for Truro wished for, was perfectly requisite as he had stated, and he would suggest a way 1166 of providing it without costing the public a shilling. There was paid out of the Suitors' Fund of the Court of Chancery, every year, a sum of 45,000l. to the Masters in Chancery. Now, if the 4,000/. and 5,000l. which were annually paid to those officers for doing little or nothing, were reduced to 1,300l. or 1,400l. there would be sufficient gained in one year to provide for the convenience which the hon. Member's petition prayed for. Let any man go to the ill-contrived and confused chambers allotted to the Judges, for the performance of their important private duties, and then compare them with what ought to be, when it was reflected that 7,000,000l. of the public money had been spent on public buildings alone, within the last few years. He would at once declare that they were unfit for the transaction of business, and equally unfit to administer justice in.
Petition to lie on the Table.