§ MR. STEWART MACLIVERasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, If his attention has been called to the suicide of John Walter, aged seventy, for thirty years an assistant bailiff to the Shoreditch County Court (as reported in the "Standard" of 24th February); whether deceased, being previously disabled by accident, had been refused an allowance by the Treasury; and, whether any consideration can be given to the repeated memorials of assistant bailiffs of County Courts, supported by the judges under whom they act, for a superannuation allowance such as is given to others in the public service?
§ MR. HERBERT GLADSTONE (for Mr. COURTNEY)My hon. Friend has seen the paragraph referred to, and can only say that the facts of the case, as regards the question of pension, were not before the jury. Assistant bailiffs of County Courts are appointed and paid by the high bailiffs, who can dismiss them at pleasure. They are, therefore, in no sense Civil servants; and it was no more possible to give Walter a pension from public funds than it would be in the case of any other private person not in the service of the State. With reference to the last paragraph of the Question, I am informed that the point has been considered, and that it is thought better, in the interests of the Public Service, that assistant bailiffs should remain outside the Civil Service, as at present.