§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLasked the Lord Advocate, If he will arrange that the vacant office of Sheriff Substitute of Kinross shall not be filled up till there is an opportunity of considering whether the jurisdictions in Fife and Kinross cannot be re-arranged, so as to provide better for places more important than Kinross?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. WATSON)Sir, it is not intended to fill up the vacant office, because there will be no difficulty in making arrangements by which the whole judicial work of the county, which is a small one, may be efficiently performed. At present, what will be the best arrangement is a matter engaging the consideration of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department and myself. I may say the office has been vacant upwards of a month, and a great many parties interested, or who conceive themselves to be so, have made representations on the subject; and I would suggest to the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy whether he would not better attain the object he seems to have in view by asking those bodies he has referred to in the Question to make similar 152 representations, instead of by putting a Question in so vague a form as he has done. Whilst an arrangement cannot be indefinitely delayed, I shall be very glad to receive any recommendations they have to suggest on the subject.