§ MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to a recent Correspondence between the Rhyl Liberal Club and the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Flint on the subject of the appointment of Magistrates in Flintshire; whether he is aware that very great dissatisfaction exists at the small number of Liberals who are placed on the Bench—namely, some ten only out of a total of 90 Magistrates; whether he is aware that there is only one Protestant Nonconformist on the Bench, while fully two-thirds of the population of the county are Nonconformists, and whether he is aware that there are a considerable number of Nonconformists resident in the county who are qualified, legally and otherwise, for appointment as 8 Magistrates; whether he is aware that only a very few of the Magistrates can speak Welsh, and that the need of an interpreter is often required, and whether the Government will use the needful pressure to induce the Lord Lieutenant to take steps that all Political Parties shall be fully represented on the Bench in proportion to their numbers, and thus remove a cause of bitterness which exists on the subject throughout the county?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.I have received a Copy of the Correspondence. The Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire informs me that he is unable to ascertain the proportion between Conservative and Liberal appointments to the Bench made by him, as his appointments have never been influenced by political considerations. He believes that few of the Magistrates speak Welsh; but that in a large portion of Flintshire no Welsh is spoken, and that in the Welsh-speaking districts interpreters are always to be obtained, and in no case has there been a failure of justice owing to want of knowledge of Welsh on the Bench. In the Rhyl district the Lord Lieutenant has recently appointed three Magistrates, two of whom are Welsh-speaking gentlemen. It is no part of my duty to interfere with the discretion of the Lord Lieutenant in selecting suitable persons to be placed on the Commission of the Peace.
§ MR. S. SMITHThe right hon. Gentleman has not answered my question as to whether there is only one Protestant Nonconformist on the Bench?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI have no information as to the religion of any of the Magistrates.