§ MR. THOMAS ELLISI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Lord Chancellor will, when Lords Lieutenant nominate persons for the office of County Magistrate, ask for the opinion of County Councils in the same manner as the opinion of Town Councils is now asked when Borough Magistrates are nominated?
§ *MR. MATTHEWSI am informed by the Lord Chancellor that it is not accurate to represent the recommendations of the Lords Lieutenant as nominations. The Lords Lieutenant have peculiarly good opportunities for ascertaining the requirements of the counties and the fitness of gentlemen for the Benches upon which they will act. The reasons which have induced the Lord Chancellor in recent years to invite Town Councils to assist him with their local knowledge of the personal fitness of the gentlemen he proposes to appoint are not applicable when he receives a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant of a county.