§ MR. RUSSELL GURNEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the intention of the Government to introduce a Bill to render compulsory the payment of Clerks to Magistrates by salary?
MR. BRUCEreplied that under the 14 and 15 Vict, power was given to counties and boroughs to make arrangements with the clerks to the justices that they should be paid by salaries instead of by fees, That power was permissive, but inasmuch as it had been taken advantage of by thirty counties, exclusive of Wales, and by certain Welsh counties also, as well as by a considerable number of boroughs, the Government did not think it would be necessary to bring in a Bill to make its adoption compulsory.