§ MR. H. L. W. LAWSON (Gloucester, Cirencester)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the great disproportion between Liberals and Conservatives on the Commission of the Peace for the County of Gloucester, where out of 260 Magistrates only nine are of Liberal politics, while in the Eastern Division there is no Liberal on the Bench; and 201 whether the Lord Chancellor will consider the expediency of adding to the Commission?
§ MR. J. G. TALBOT (Oxford University)Before the right hon. Gentleman answers, may I ask him if there is any official record of the politics of the Magistrates of Gloucester, and whether the right hon. Gentleman considers it consistent with the spirit of the Ballot Act to inquire how gentlemen exercise their political privileges?
§ MR. WHITMORE (Chelsea)Is it not the case that the present Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire is still, in any intelligible sense of the term, a Liberal in politics?
§ SIR J. DORINGTON (Gloucester, Tewkesbury)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Lords Lieutenant of Gloucestershire have, for the last half century, been exclusively members of the Liberal Party; and has he received any complaints as to the administration of justice; and, if so, whether there is any sufficient foundation for such complaints?
§ MR. H. L. W. LAWSONMay I ask whether the late Mr. Winterbotham did not, on several occasions, bring the miscarriages of justice before the House in the form of questions; and whether the present Lord Lieutenant is not known as a Unionist?
§ MR. MORE (Shropshire, Ludlow)May I ask whether it is the duty of the Lord Lieutenant or of anyone else to seek for gentlemen to be recommended to the Commission of the Peace unless vacancies have been certified on the Magisterial Bench?
§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)What connection has politics with judicial appointments? If the principle of inquiring into the politics of Magistrates is to be adopted, will the politics of Judges of the High Court also be inquired into?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.In reference to the question put to me by the Member for Preston, in my judgment politics ought to have no connection whatever with appointments to judicial functions; and that I gather to be the ground of my hon. Friend's question. I am not aware of the precise proportion between the number of Liberal and Conservative Magistrates in Gloucestershire, though I have 202 no reason to doubt the accuracy of my hon. Friend's figures. The Ballot Act, so far as I am aware, has no connection, direct or indirect, with the appointment of Magistrates or the exercise of their duties.
§ MR. J. G. TALBOTI did not suggest that the Ballot Act had anything to do with the appointment of Magistrates. I asked the right hon. Gentleman whether he did not consider that the spirit of the Ballot Act would be infringed by inquiring how gentlemen exercised the franchise?
§ MR. ASQUITHWe are not considering the question of how these gentlemen vote, but the question of what their politics are. So far as the politics of the Lord Lieutenant are concerned, I am afraid I must confess total ignorance upon the subject, though I am credibly informed that the present Lord Lieutenant is not, and has not for a long time, been a Member of the Liberal Party.
§ SIR J. DORINGTONrose again, but Mr. ASQUITH did not give way.
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! The right hon. Gentleman is not bound to give way.
§ MR. ASQUITHI have no official knowledge of miscarriages of justice in Gloucestershire. As to the duties of a Lord Lieutenant being only to fill up vacancies, I am not aware there is any rule as to that.
§ MR. FREEMAN-MITFORD (Warwick, Stratford)May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire is not, and has not been all his life, a staunch Liberal, although he is not one of those staunch Liberals who joined in the surrender to Home Rule?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe hon. Member had better ask the Lord Lieutenant.