§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHI beg to ask the Lord Advocate if Sir John Orde, Baronet, proprietor of North Uist, corresponded with the Sheriff of Invernessshire, or his substitute in the Long Island district, or the Procurator Fiscal of that district, with the view of compelling Mr. Thomas Wilson, Solicitor, Lochmaddy, either to act for Sir John Orde in certain proceedings against his crofters, which Mr. Wilson deemed unjust, or to have Mr. Wilson removed from an office he held in connection with the Procurator Fiscal; and, whether he will lay a copy of the correspondence upon the Table of the House?
* MR. J. P. B. EOBERTSONIt appears that in April of last year Sir John Orde wrote to the Sheriff relative to some crofter cases then in progress, in which Mr. Chisholm, the Procurator Fiscal, and Mr. Wilson, who was then his partner, were interested. The Sheriff, considering it undesirable that a firm of which the Procurator Fiscal was a partner should act in such cases, instructed them to that effect. Mr. Chisholm eventually agreed to give up such cases, but Mr. Wilson refused, and Mr. Chisholm consequently severed his connection with him. I cannot lay this correspondence on the Table. It relates to the arrangements for carrying on the criminal business of the district; and I may add that I approve of the Sheriff's action in the matter.