§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that, in the ease of the death of Inglis at the Newbattle Colleries on the 9th instant, the Procurator Fiscal had not visited the scene of the accident to make inquiries up to the morning of the 20th instant; and will he cause inquiry to be made into the cause of this delay on the part of the Procurator Fiscal?
§ MR. J. B. BALFOURThe death which occurred on the 9th instant was reported to the Procurator Fiscal by the police on the 10th, and it is the fact that the scene of the accident was not visited by the Procurator Fiscal, or his Depute, till the 20th, when the latter went there. The Procurator Fiscal gives reasons for the delay, but I am unable to regard them as sufficient, seeing that the value of such inquiries largely depends upon their being made personally and as soon as possible after the accident.