§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)asked Mr. Solicitor General for Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to the Memorial from the Irish civil bill officers, praying that the salary allowed them under the Civil Bill Act should be increased; whether it is the fact that at present a civil bill officer is only paid £10 a-year, together with the small fees for service paid by litigants; whether he is aware that several of the County Court Judges have publicly commented on the desirability of improving the position of the civil bill officers, and that all the County Court Judges are in favour of such a course; and, whether, in view of the difficulty of procuring respectable officials for so small a salary, he will consider the advisability of revising a rate of wages fixed at a remote period when the circumstances of the county were wholly different?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN) (Dublin University)My attention has been called 1692 to this matter by the Question of the hon. and learned Member. There would be a difficulty in increasing the amount of the fees, having regard to the desirability of keeping down the cost of Civil Bill proceedings, and no increase of the annual salary could be made without the consent of the Treasury. I shall, however, be glad to consider the matter in detail, with a view to seeing whether anything can be done.