§ MR. WETHEREDasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether instances have not lately occurred of Lords Lieutenants of counties refusing to place in the commission of the peace gentlemen who have been recommended by chairman and petty sessions, and are in every way duly qualified for the office, on the ground that they are connected with the brewing business; and, if this be the case, whether the Government is prepared to issue instructions to Lords Lieutenants of counties to the effect that the fact of gentlemen being engaged in the brewing business shall not be regarded as a disqualification for appointment as a justice of the peace?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, in reply, said, the initiative in 663 recommending gentlemen for the position of county magistrate lay with the Lords Lieutenant of counties, and that the Government had no knowledge of the grounds upon which they recommended or declined to recommend such gentlemen as were referred to in the Question of the hon. Member—namely, gentlemen connected with the brewing business. The Lord Chancellor who, as a rule, appointed any gentleman whom the Lord Lieutenant recommended, unless there was some specific objection to his so doing as regarded the person so submitted, had no means of knowing the grounds on which a Lord Lieutenant declined to make such recommendation. As a matter of fact, many brewers were on the commission of the peace; and, in the opinion of the Government, the fact that a gentleman was engaged in the brewing business was no disqualification for his appointment as a justice.