§ MR. WEIR (ROSS and Cromarty)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Mr. Anderson, senior, Procurator Fiscal for the mainland of Inverness-shire, acts as law agent to the Earl of Lovelace and Mr. Charles James Murray, of Apple-cross, owners of deer forests; that Mr. Anderson, junior, son of Mr. Anderson, senior, in his capacity of law agent, secured a complaint, at the instance of Mr. Duncan Shaw, solicitor, Inverness, partner of Mr. Anderson, senior, as clerk to the Fishery District of Balgy, against Angus Maclennan, Finlay Mackenzie, and Duncan Macdonald, all residing at Applecross, for alleged salmon poaching; that two of the accused, with a witness 1265 were on their way to Dingwall to answer the complaint, which both of them denied, and one of them was prepared to prove an alibi, and when at Strathcarron Railway Station, 30 miles from their homes, they were met by the police constable of that district and told that the case against them had been withdrawn, and that they were not to go to Ding-wall; why this system of allowing Procurators Fiscal and their assistants to act as landlords' agents has not been abolished in this part of the Highlands, and upon whose authority the policeman at Strathcarron acted; and whether the accused men are entitled to recover their expenses?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR, Clackmannan, &c.)The prosecution to which the question relates was in Ross-shire, and was brought at the instance of the Fishery District Board of the River Balgy, of which Mr. Shaw, a partner of Mr. Anderson, is clerk. Mr. Anderson is Procurator Fiscal for Inverness-shire, and had nothing to do with the case. He acts as law agent for Lord Lovelace, but he states that he has never acted for Mr. Murray. The accused were from the township of Ardheslaig, upon Lord Middleton's property, and as the charge related to a first offence it was departed from on his Lordship's appeal for clemency, and upon no other ground. There was considerable difficulty in communicating this to the accused owing to their living in a somewhat remote place, and it was only when two of them reached Strathcarron Station, six or eight miles from their homes—on their way to Dingwall—that this was possible, but I am informed that up to that point no expenses had been incurred. Procurators Fiscal, recently appointed, have usually been debarred from taking private practice; but this condition cannot be extended to older appointments, of which this is one, without the consent of the holders. The policeman at Strathcarron acted upon the authority of the Chief Constable, to whom the clerk to the Fishery Board had communicated the determination of the Board to withdraw the complaint.