§ MR. A. E. PEASE (York)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, What is the normal salary of the Attorney General for Ireland for non-contentious business; and, whether, in the case of the present Attorney General for Ireland, or any future Attorney General, the Government intend, as in the case of the late Attorney General, to adhere to the undertaking given by them that the salary should be fixed at £4,000, instead of £5,000?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said: The normal salary of the Attorney General for Ireland for non-contentious business is £5,000 a-year. The present Attorney General receives that salary, as did the late Attorney General. A Note will appear in the forthcoming Estimates to the effect that the salary is subject to revision; but no undertaking was ever given by the Government that the salary should be £4,000, instead of £5,000. Successive Irish Governments have expressed a strong opinion that the salary should not be less than £5,000 a-year, as appears from the printed Correspondence on the subject laid before the House.
§ MR. A. E. PEASEasked, if a letter had not passed between the Treasury and the Chief Secretary, in which £4,000 was fixed as the salary for the non-contentious business, with an exception in the case of the present Mr. Justice Holmes, the then Attorney General?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANsaid, the Correspondence would show that the only official who advocated £4,000 a-year was Sir Robert Hamilton, the then Permanent Under Secretary. Successive Chief Secretaries had been of opinion that £5,000 was not at all too much to be paid to the Attorney General for Ireland, and he was glad to say the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Mr. J. Mor- 581 ley) concurred in that view when he was Chief Secretary.