§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHasked the Lord Advocate, Whether the Keeper of the Register of Sasines (salary £1,000) assumes the position that he is not responsible for the discharge of the business of the office by the staff engaged therein; whether, during the past six months, after intimation of supposed defalcations, he allowed weeks to elapse before taking the trouble to call at the office to institute personal inquiries; and, whether John Calder Bryce, one of the inculpated clerks, after admitting his guilt, was for several days allowed to frequent the Register House, or at least went about so publicly as to permit of easy capture?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)Sir, I am not aware of any ground for the suggestion that the Keeper of the Register of Sasines assumes the position described in the Question. He informs me that he has never done so, and that he does not consider his position to be different from that of any other head of a Department of the Civil Service. When the suspicion of defalcations arose in the Sasine Office, the Keeper was absent on holiday in the month of August. He considered that it would be injudicious for him to return to Edinburgh at an unusual time, as his doing so would have given rise to remark throughout the Office, and not improbably have defeated the discovery of the suspected frauds; but he immediately gave the necessary instructions for inquiries being instituted, and they were well and properly conducted. John Calder Bryce never admitted that he had participated 302 in the frauds. On his admitting that he knew that two other clerks had made higher charges than they were entitled to, he was immediately suspended, and the fact of his having made the admission was communicated to the Procurator Fiscal. A few days afterwards, he absconded; and, up to the time of his doing so, there was no evidence to warrant a criminal charge against him.