§ MR. COBBI beg to ask the Attorney General whether he is aware that the registrars' clerks and officials of County Courts, in which more than six thousand plaints are issued in one year, are under the complete control of the Treasury; whether in May, 1888, when the County Courts Bill was before the House, he authorised the late Mr. Bradlaugh to inform the Committee of County Court Officials that it was the intention of the Government to deal with the question of superannuation allowances generally by a separate Bill, and that, in consequence of this assurance, Mr. Bradlaugh refrained from pressing the claims of the County Court officials before the Grand Committee; and whether he proposes to carry out what was then arranged; and, if so, when?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER,) Isle of WightI am informed that none of the registrars' clerks or officials of County Courts are under the control of the Treasury. I believe that the only communications 556 between the late Mr. Bradlaugh and myself were public statements made in the Grand Committee on Law, during which I stated, upon the authority of the Treasury, that the question of superannuation allowances was to be dealt with by a separate Bill; but I do not know whether the late Mr. Bradlaugh took any action in consequence. No arrangement of any kind was made to which I was a party.