§ MR. D. SULLIVAN(for Sir THOMAS ESMONDE) (Dublin, Co., S.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it is a fact that 75 per cent of the inhabitants of Flintshire are Nonconformists; if it is a fact that there is not a single Dissenter among the County Magistrates; if there are no Nonconformists in the county qualified to fill the position of County Magistrate; and, if there are, what is the reason of the present state of things?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.), in reply, said, that he was not aware that 75 per cent of the inhabitants of Flintshire were Nonconformists, and that there was not a single Dissenter among the County Magistrates. The practice of the Lord Chancellor had been to rely on the Lords Lieutenant of counties to recommend proper persons for appointment as County Magistrates. He assumed that the appointments in Flintshire had been in accordance with that practice; and it was, undoubtedly, desirable that the recommendations of the Lord Lieutenant should be based on the qualifications of individuals, without regard to their religious belief.