§ MR. CUNINGHAME GRAHAM (Lanarkshire, N.W.)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the fact that, on the death of Mr. Donald, the late Commissary Clerk of Lanarkshire, in 1887, the commissary work devolved on the district deputes, but no increase of salary was given to the district deputes until 1st April, 1839, and that increase of salary was then given by the Sheriff Clerk not out of the £850 added to his emoluments for commissary work, but out of money rendered available for distribution, as at March, 1889, in consequence of the removal of Mr. Wilson, one of the deputes at Glasgow, to the office of Procurator Fiscal at Hamilton; whether the additional clerk sent to Hamilton at a salary of £60 was sent in direct response to the request, of a deputation of the Hamilton Court Procurators, who complained of the undermanned condition of the Hamilton Office; and, if he can explain the reasons for which Mr. Wood, chief of the Process Room in Glasgow, was promoted to the deputeship rendered vacant by the removal of Mr. Wilson, and the Sheriff Clerk promoted his own son to Mr. Wood's place as chief of the Process Room over the heads of other clerks of longer service?
§ * MR. J. P. B. ROBERTSONAs I previously informed the hon. Member, the great bulk of the commissary work is done in Glasgow. The £850 addition to the allowance the Sheriff Clerk got for deputes and clerks was made in respect of the increase in the Sheriff Clerk's ordinary work, and also in respect of the new commissary work. Prom a statement made by the previous commissary officials, it was believed that the commissary business in the districts would be small, but after it was tested additions were made to the salaries of the deputes. The additional clerk was sent to Hamilton at the request of a deputation of Hamilton Procurators. Neither the district depute nor any of the officials had made any complaint. Mr. Wood was appointed as the best qualified and having the best claim. He has been connected with the office for 19 years. The Sheriff Clerk's son was removed to the Process Room 994 without any addition being made to his salary, which is £60 less than that of his predecessor, the money thus saved being distributed amongst the staff. This post at the reduced salary would have been the reverie of promotion to the clerks of longer service.