HC Deb 17 April 1883 vol 278 cc424-5
SIR R. ASSHETON CROSS

asked the Lord Advocate, Why the sheriff clerk of Forfarshire is to hold for six months offices which are incompatible with the duties of the sheriff clerkship; whether it is proposed that he should perform the duties of his office at Dundee while continuing to reside at Montrose; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the Correspondence which has taken place between himself and Mr. Ross upon the subject?

THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)

It is not the fact that the sheriff clerk of Forfarshire is to hold for six months offices which are incompatible with the duties of the sheriff clerkship. Mr. Ross, at the time of his appointment, was joint-agent of the Commercial Bank at Montrose, the duties of the offices being discharged by his son, the other joint-agent, and he was also clerk and treasurer of Montrose Harbour. As I have already informed the right hon. Gentleman, Mr. Ross was permitted to complete his engagements for the current year in these offices; but I understand he will be relieved of the bank agency during the present month. Such offices are commonly held by sheriff clerks all over Scotland; but in Edinburgh and Glasgow the sheriff clerks do not engage in any business outside of their offices, or hold any other appointments. We thought that arrangement a good one where financial considerations admit of its being carried out, and particularly applicable to the next largest town in Scotland, Dundee, where the head office of the sheriff clerk of Forfarshire ought obviously to be. But the conditions which we thought it right to insert in Mr. Ross' commission, though proper and expedient, are entirely new in Forfarshire, and are not required by law or previous practice. I am not aware that any stipulation as to residence has ever been made with a sheriff clerk. The sheriff clerk of Forfarshire may reside where he pleases, so long as he performs his duties at Dundee. I am willing to lay the Correspondence on the Table, if the right hon. Gentleman thinks it worth while.