§ MR. ANDERSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he can state the circumstances under which the late Government found it necessary, before quitting office, to add a chairman at £1,000 a-year, to the Scotch Prison Board, an office which up to that time, though the Act had been passed in 1877, had not been made; and, under what Vote the salary of the officer in question is to be provided, as it does not appear on the Estimates?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, that by the Prisons Act (Scotland), 1877, there was power, out of the monies provided by Parliament, to appoint two paid Prison Commissioners, whose salaries were to be fixed by the Secretary of State in consultation with the Secretary to the Treasury. At present, there was only one paid Prison Commissioner appointed. There were formerly two ex-officio Commissioners, and one unpaid Commissioner, Dr. Burton, formerly stipendiary magistrate and Secretary of Prisons. The latter gentleman, being retired on a pension, served on the Prisons Commission without 1337 salary. In the course of the present year, however, Dr. Burton intimated his intention not to act any longer as he intended in future to live in London. An additional paid Commissioner in his place was appointed on the 22nd April last. The appointment having been made, the salary would be placed in the Supplementary Estimates, on which the hon. Member would have the power of discussing the question and the reasons for the appointment.