§ MR. COXsaid, he would beg to put the following questions to Mr. Solicitor General:—Whether in the amounts he stated on Thursday last as the remuneration received by the Crown Solicitor in the Court of Bankruptcy, he included the sums received by such Solicitor from Bankrupts for the Fees payable on adjourned meetings; and whether such amounts included the sums received by such Solicitor under the second clause of the General Orders of the 22nd day of February 1862? When an Order in Bankruptcy by the Lord Chancellor, reducing the Fee payable to Mr. W. W. Aldridge under the Order of the 22nd of February 1862 from £3 to £2 was made; and whether such Order has been laid upon the table of the House pursuant to the Act 24 & 25 Vict., c. 134? Under what Clause of the Bankruptcy Act of 1861, or of any other Act of Parliament, the Lord Chancellor made the General Orders of the 22nd of February 1862, appointing Mr. Aldridge not only the Solicitor for all Petitions in formâ pauperis, but also appointing him the Solicitor to act in the prosecu- 1277 tion of all Bankruptcies where no creditors' assignee was chosen at the first meeting of creditors, and directing that "in every Bankruptcy prosecuted by such Solicitor, and not being under a Petition in formâ pauperis, the bill of costs, charges, fees, and disbursements of such Solicitor shall be taxed and paid in like manner as bills of costs of other Solicitors in matters of Bankruptcy are taxed and paid"?
THE SOLICITOR GENERALsaid, in reply, that the gross sum he stated on a former occasion to have been received by the gentleman referred to by the hon. Member did not include the sums received in respect to the other branches of his emoluments, which were paid in the ordinary manner; but the statement he made with respect to the net remuneration would include everything paid for that gentleman's services. The gross sums received by Mr. Aldridge from all sources amounted to £3,565 8s. 5d. for the first year of his appointment, and, deducting disbursements, the net amount received during the first year was £1,519 17s. 10d. The gross receipts during the third half-year from all sources were £1,689 8s. 8d., and, deducting disbursements, the net receipts were £623 1s. 11d. for that half-year. This statement agreed substantially with that which he made the other night. With regard to the second question of the hon. Gentleman, he had to state that the facts were as follows:—The Lord Chancellor had originally made arrangements for a single year's remuneration, with the intention that any subsequent allowance should be made dependent on the working of the first year. On a revision of the accounts for the last half-year of the first year, which came down to the 11th of October 1862, the amount paid in the shape of remuneration was ascertained to come to a greater sum than the Lord Chancellor considered necessary. Accordingly, in December 1862 the Lord Chancellor directed that the remuneration for the future should not exceed two-thirds of what it was formerly. In April last an instruction was issued to prepare a formal order to that effect; but owing to the illness of the official who had charge of these things, it had not been presented to the Lord Chancellor for his signature. It was, however, quite understood that Mr. Aldridge was not to receive more than £1,200 a year in all. The Lord Chancellor in this matter had acted under the authority given to him by the Bankruptcy Act. In reply to the last 1278 Question of the hon. Member, he (the Solicitor General) had to state that the Lord Chancellor made the order under the authority given to him by the Bankruptcy Act of 1861. He would take that opportunity of further stating that he held in his hand a letter from the three Commissioners in Bankruptcy, in which they stated that—
They were of opinion that a more efficient officer than Mr. Aldridge for the duties that devolved upon him in the Court of Bankruptcy could not have been selected; and that his services had been most useful as a security to the Court and in the interest of the suitors.