§ MR. FERRANDsaid, he rose to ask Mr. Attorney General, Whether he has seen any grounds for changing his opinion, expressed in this House on the 27th of June last, that Mr. Patrick Robert Welch should be suspended from the discharge of his duties as Registrar in the Leeds Bankruptcy Court pending his criminal prosecution for corrupt practices in obtaining, of attempting to obtain, a judicial appointment; if so, to be so obliging as to state them to the House; and whether, after the evidence taken before the Select Committee on the Leeds Bankruptcy Court, he is of opinion that Mr. John Miller is a fit and proper person to discharge the very responsible duties of Chief Registrar of the Court of Bankruptcy?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALSir, the opinion to which the hon. Member refers, as expressed by me on the 27th of June last, was given under the belief on my part that the Lord Chancellor had the power, if he thought fit, to suspend a Registrar of the Court of Bankruptcy; but on examining the Act of Parliament under which that office is held—the Act of 1861—it appears that she office is to be held during good behaviour—that is, subject to dismissal by the Lord Chancellor by order, for some sufficient reason, to be set forth in such order. So that it does not appear that the Lord Chancellor has the power of suspension at all with respect to the office. I need not point out to the hon. Member and the House that while Mr. 282 Welch is subject to a prosecution which I must be tried in one of Her Majesty's Courts, it would be impossible to institute another proceeding upon the same ground with a view to his dismissal from office. That is the reason why it has not been found possible to take any steps on the subject. With regard to Mr. Miller, he holds his office on the same terms, and, speaking for myself, I am of opinion, and am authorized by the present Lord Chancellor to say that he also is of opinion, that no facts appear in the Report of the Select Committee on the Leeds Bankruptcy Court on which it would be possible to found proceedings for the purpose of removing Mr. Miller from the office he holds.