§ MR. MURRAYsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Attorney General, For an explanation of the delay in laying before Parliament the Annual General Return, to the 11th of October 1862, of the business of the respective Offices in the Courts of Bankruptcy, and Registrars of County Courts acting in Bankruptcy (required by the 67th Section of the Bankruptcy Act 1861); and if he can state when the Returns will be laid upon the table; and whether they will then be arranged under the authority of the Home Department, and published so as to complete the Judicial Statistics for the year 1862?
THE SOLICITOR GENERALsaid, the delay had been a subject of much regret to the Lord Chancellor, who had not failed to press for a speedy production of the Returns. The explanation was, that the gentleman whose duty it was to prepare the Returns for the Bankruptcy Court had suffered during the past year from illness, and being unwilling that his duties should be imposed upon any other person, a delay had arisen. He was, however, informed that the Returns would certainly be laid upon the table by Monday next, and every effort would be made to add them at once to the table of Judicial Statistics already published.