§ SIR GEORGE BOWYERasked the President of the Board of Trade, What legal arrangements have been made at the Board of Trade consequent 701 upon the transfer to that department of the business of conducting inquiries into casualties to shipping, and the increase of prosecutions under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1867, inclusively; whether any and what description of Board of Trade legal business hitherto done by the Solicitor of Customs will continue to be done by that Solicitor; and, whether any increase or reduction of the number of officers in his department, or in the amount of their salaries, is in contemplation?
§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEYSir, the legal arrangements which have been made at the Board of Trade consequent upon the transfer to that Department of the business mentioned in the Question consist in the appointment of a Solicitor to the Board of Trade, and his staff is in course of formation. The only description of Board of Trade legal business, which will continue to be done by the Solicitor to the Customs as heretofore, is that portion of the business relating to the registry of ships, which is transacted through the officers of Customs at the outports and in London, and which has not yet been transferred by statute to the Board of Trade.
§ MR. W. H. SMITHsaid, that the Government had abolished the office of assistant Solicitor to the Customs.