HC Deb 28 July 1893 vol 15 cc755-6
MR. A. C. MORTON

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Crown make any charge on the admission or appointment of County Magistrates; and whether Clerks of the Peace or Deputy Clerks of the Peace have the right to make a charge for Crown Office and other charges, amounting to £3 3s. and upwards?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH, Fife, E.)

I am informed that under an Order made on June 20, 1871, by the Lord Chancellor and others, with the concurrence of the Treasury, in pursuance of the 16th section of the Courts of Justice Salaries and Funds Act, 1869, the following fees in respect of the insertion of names in Commissions of the Peace are taken in the Crown Office in Chancery, and paid to the Exchequer:—Commissions of the Peace, England and Wales, irrespective of the number of names, £1; ditto, Scotland, £3. The Clerk of the Peace is further entitled to charge the individual Magistrate a fee upon taking the oaths of office. This fee is fixed by Quarter Sessions with the approval of the Secretary of State, and, though the amount is not absolutely uniform, it rarely exceeds 5s.

MR. HUNTER (Aberdeen, N.)

Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why it is the fee in Scotland is three times as much as the English fee?

MR. ASQUITH

I cannot.

MR. A. C. MORTON

Is the fee of 5s. payable for each Magistrate?

MR. ASQUITH

No; that applies to the whole batch of names inserted on a given occasion.

MR. A. C. MORTON

And if a charge of three guineas has been made it is wrong?

MR. ASQUITH

Yes; that is a charge which the Clerk of the Peace is not legally entitled to make.