HC Deb 06 August 1887 vol 318 cc1452-3
MR. MURPHY (Dublin, St. Patrick's)

asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Corporation of Dublin have to pay in the first instance, on the order of the Clerk of the Peace, to any prosecutor or other person named in the order, such costs as the Judge or Recorder might award in cases of felony tried in Dublin; whether the Treasury, in 1859, undertook to repay the costs of those prosecutions, and did they in fact do so down to 1885; if, in that year, and frequently since, considerable portions of the costs awarded by the Judges and paid by the Corporation have been disallowed by the Treasury as being in excess of the "Treasury scale," although the Courts do not recognize this scale; were some of the prosecutions, in respect of which disallowances have been made, against fraudulent bankrupts from other parts of Ireland; by what authority, statutable or otherwise, do the Treasury prescribe their scale of costs or apply it to those repayments; and, will the Treasury simplify this matter in future by paying the costs direct to the person named in the Judge's order, or will they at least refund the full amounts paid by the Corporation?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR. IRELAND (Mr. GIBSON) (Liverpool, Walton)

said, the hon. Member would, perhaps, allow him to answer the Question. The answer to the first paragraph, of the Question was, yes. In answer to the second paragraph, he had to say that in 1859 an arrangement was come to with the Treasury by which they agreed to bear a certain proportion of costs of witnesses in cases of felony. Costs which were in excess of the Treasury scale had been disallowed. In cases of prosecutions against bankrupts the Treasury scale must be applied; and where they had been exceeded the costs must be taken out of the borough or county. The Treasury prescribed a scale of costs in pursuance of the arrangement come to, and not under the terms of an Act of Parliament, and the Treasury were bound in no way to make any payment over and above such scale. The costs of prosecutors and witnesses should be borne by the county or borough.

In reply to Mr. MURPHY,

MR. GIBSON

said, under the Statute the costs of witnesses and prosecutor should be borne by the county; and it was only in accordance with the arrangement he had mentioned that the Treasury bore any of these costs; and any costs over and above the Treasury scale must, according to Act of Parliament, be paid by the county or borough.