§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the present Lord Chancellor has in any case exercised his power of appointing county magistrates where a Lord Lieutenant has refused; and whether, in cases where the names of duly-qualified persons have been forwarded to him, he will submit them for appointment to the Lords Lieutenant, and, if they refuse to appoint them, exercise his right to do so without further reference to the Lords Lieutenant?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As to the second part, the Lord Chancellor informs me that it would be impossible, within the limits of an answer, to state hypothetically all the points which would arise for consideration in the case supposed, and the manlier in which, if they arose, the Lord Chancellor would deal with them. The Lord Chancellor hopes soon to be in a position to make a full statement on the subject.