§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, stated that in accordance with 7 & 8 Vict. c. 71, under which the Assistant Judge was appointed, a salary was paid to him out of the Consolidated Fund of £1,200 a-year. He was allowed, besides performing his duties as a Judge, to practise as a barrister, and by 14 & 15 Vict. c. 55, a second Chairman was allowed to be appointed, with the view of facilitating the transaction of the business. That second Chairman was also allowed to practise as a barrister; but under 22nd & 23rd Vict. e. 4, afresh arrangement was made, the County agreeing to pay a sum of £300 in addition to the £1,200 paid out of the Consolidated Fund, the Assistant Judge being required to give up his practice as Serjeant-at-law or as a barrister. But a proviso was added terminating the whole arrangement upon the termination of the appointment of the Judge then appointed. With the recent resignation of Sir William Bodkin, therefore, the question arose of providing a salary for his successor. The present Bill would give effect to an arrangement by which one moiety of the salary should be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, and the other moiety should be charged on and paid out of the county rate of the county of Middlesex. The Treasury had also agreed to pay to a Deputy a fixed sum of five guineas a day whenever the Assistant Judge became inca- 341 pacitated by illness or other reasonable cause from attending to the discharge of his duties. The Bill had been most carefully considered by the Treasury and the Home Office, and it appeared to him to be a fair settlement of the question. He hoped, therefore, the House would assent to the second reading.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for To-morrow.