§ MR. SERJEANT SIMONasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to the want of accommodation for holding additional Courts, of Judges sitting singly in Banco, as required by the Judicature Amendment Act of last Session; and whether anything is being done to supply the deficiency?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALAttention has been called to the fact that there have appeared in the newspapers statements to the effect that complaints had been made by some of the learned Judges that there were no Courts in which they could sit singly under the Act of last year, and that for this reason more Judges were obliged to sit in Banco than the Act contemplated. No communication as to the want of accommodation was, however, made to the Lord Chancellor or the Office of Works; but after the commencement of the Hilary Sittings the Lord Chancellor noticed the statements in the newspapers to which I have referred. He at once made inquiries, in conjunction with the Office of Works, with a view to the provision of further accommodation. It was ascertained that every Court in Westminster Hall was fully occupied, and also the Westminster Sessions House; but the Office of Works agreed to have ready on two days' notice two large rooms with retiring rooms at Richmond Terrace, being rooms in which Royal Commissioners had sat, and which would be sufficient for the temporary accommodation of the Judges sitting in Banco. The learned Judges were accordingly informed by the Lord Chancellor, at a council of the Judges on the 20th of January, that these rooms would be ready at any time on two days' notice, and further that as the Judge of the Admiralty Court was about to attend at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council at the hearing of a cause which would occupy about 10 days, the Court in which he usually sat would also be available for that interval. I believe after this communication the Admiralty Court was made use of, but the Judges were enabled to do without the rooms in Richmond Terrace.