§ MR. R. WALLACE (Edinburgh, E.)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. William Stewart, merchant, Leith, who was arrested on the 18th August last on a charge of scuttling a vessel called the Tryst, but released on bail, and against whom no further proceedings have yet been taken; whether Mr. Stewart's business books and papers were at the same time seized and impounded by the authorities, and have been kept by them ever since in such manner that access to and inspection of them even under supervision, with a view to the making out and collection of his accounts, has been refused to Mr. Stewart; whether, in consequence, Mr. Stewart has been ruined, and driven to contemplate bankruptcy proceedings; whether such treatment of an accused person, not yet put upon his trial, is according to law; and, if so, whether it can, in suitable circumstances, be dispensed with or modified; and whether he will direct that, under proper safeguards, Mr. Stewart shall have access to his books pending preliminary inquiries into the charge made against him?
§ * THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR,&c.) Clackmannan,The case to which the question relates is an important one, involving a charge of fraud upon insurers of £2,390, and it has required a protracted and difficult inquiry; any avoidable delay which has occurred has been caused by the failure of those acting for the accused to produce documents called for under warrant, but it is hoped that they will now be produced. Access to the accused's business books was asked within 10 days after his arrest, and it was answered that at so early a stage it was not possible to grant it, but access generally has not been refused. Application was made on the 5th October, not for access, but to have the books delivered up, a request which could not be complied with. When access to them was asked by the Judicial Factor in the sequestration, it was at 1137 once allowed, the only condition being that they should not be removed from the office of the Procurator Fiscal, Dundee, where they were and are required for the preparation of the ease. Although the accused cannot in the meantime have access personally to the books and documents in the Procurator Fiscal's Office, with a view to preparing a state of his affairs, that object can be accomplished by the access which has been offered to the Judicial Factor. There is no reason to believe that the bankruptcy of the accused has arisen from the absence of his books. Generally, I may say that such access will be given as may be consistent with the ends of justice.