MR. PASSMORE EDWARDSasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether it is true that the Lord Chancellor has recently refused to confirm the nominations of Mr. Duncan, of Cardiff, and of Mr. Ramsden, of Halifax, to the Magisterial Bench, on the ground that those gentlemen were proprietors of newspapers?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, he understood that the Lord Chancellor had not laid down any general rule that he would not, in any circumstances, appoint newspaper proprietors as magistrates; but, in deal- 1154 ing with applications for the appointment of magistrates, he had to consider the business position and general influence of the gentlemen nominated. It was true that in these cases he had not acceded to the application; but it was certainly not on account of any question of personal character. It was rather on account of general considerations applying to their position, and the influence they might exercise within the local areas, that it was thought best, on the whole, not to sanction the appointments.