§ Considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That it is expedient to authorise the payment, out of moneys to be provided by Parliament, of salaries and pensions of officers, and of compensation to them for loss of emoluments; also in the event of the Honourable Stearn Ball Miller becoming the remaining Judge of the Court of Bankruptcy, of the payment to him of additional salary in consideration of additional duties which may be imposed upon him under the provisions of any Act of the present Session for the establishment of Local Courts of Bankruptcy in Ireland.
§ MR. MELDONcalled attention to the circumstance that, under the proposed Bill, the interests of the two messengers of the Bankruptcy Court had been entirely neglected by the Government. Not only was the position of these officers one of great importance and responsibility—their duties being to travel to all parts of the country, and to take possession of the property of bankrupts—but they were men of education, refinement, and superior social position. Their salaries of £250 a-year were increased by fees for travelling, over and above their actual expenses. Now, it was proposed to do away with these latter emoluments; and there was, seemingly, no provision whatever for recompensing the officers in question. He could not understand why these gentlemen should be left out in the cold, unless it was that, from their title of "messengers," it was wrongly inferred that they were merely subordinate officers. Nor did he approve of passing the Bill into law in its present shape. There was, certainly, no reason why these gentlemen should be deprived of emoluments amounting to 15s. a-day over and above their salaries.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. GIBSON)said, this question would be more properly raised in Committee. The clauses of the Bill had been very carefully drawn.
§ Resolution agreed to; to be reported To-morrow.