§ MR. MILLERsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether in the late appointment of Sheriff of the counties of Berwick and Haddington, any condition has been made to the effect that the Sheriff appointed shall not be entitled to any compensation in the event of his office being abolished by Parliament, when the question of the Sheriff Courts comes to be considered in the Report of the Royal Commission to inquire into the Scotch Law Courts; and, whether it is the intention of Government to fill up the office of Sheriff vacant in the county of Kincardine and in the county of Orkney and Shetland, or to extend the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs of the adjacent counties so as to embrace the vacant counties?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in answer to the Questions of the hon. Member, he had to state that, in the late appointment of sheriff of the counties of Berwick and Haddington, no condition had been made that the sheriff should not be entitled to compensation in the event of his office being abolished by Parliament. The gentleman so appointed had been transferred from the sheriffdom of Kincardine. It was the intention of the Government to unite the sheriffdoms of Kincardine and Aberdeen, but no resolution had yet been come to as to those of Orkney and Shetland.