§ MR. CHARLES LEWISasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it has been the practice of the Solicitor to the Treasury, in some recent bankruptcy and other prosecutions taken up or adopted by the Government, to commit the conduct of such prosecutions to private solicitors, on the terms that half of the profits on the bill paid to the acting solicitors for the prosecution are returned to the Solicitor to the Treasury; if so, in what part of the Estimates or Accounts the account of such returned profits will be found; and, whether such a system of engaging the services of members of the legal profession to conduct a public prosecution has the sanction of the Government?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHSir, it has been and is the practice to commit the conduct of the prosecutions referred to in the Question of the hon. Member, not as he has stated, but "on the usual agency terms of half charges," which terms are well understood by solicitors. 1070 In the event—which is excessively rare —of costs being recovered, those costs became extra receipts, and are paid into the Exchequer. The result has been an average annual saving to the public of between £6,000 and £7,000 a-year.
§ MR. CHARLES LEWISgave Notice that, on going into Committee of Supply, he should call attention to the subject and move a Resolution.