§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he or his deputes are aware that, owing to the great amount of criminal work in Glasgow, a large proportion of the investigations there regarding sudden deaths and criminal cases is conducted by clerks who hold no Crown appointment and are not under Civil Service Regulations, but are appointed by the Procurator Fiscal, and are paid salaries ranging from £70 to £130 per annum, the average salary being less than that paid to the police officers who make the preliminary inquiries; whether this practice of employing clerks to perform such work has existed in Glasgow for a considerable number of years; whether the present staff have performed their duties efficiently; and, if so, whether he will cause them to be officially recognised and to be more adequately remunerated; and whether, during the year 1892, the cases inquired into by the precognition clerks were 1,248, and by the Procurator Fiscal and his two deputes 332?
§ * THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR,) Clackmannan, &c.I answer the first and second paragraphs of the question generally in the affirmative, but I am not able to state how the salaries of the Procurator Fiscal's clerks compare with those of the police officers. With reference to the third paragraph, I am informed that the present staff are thoroughly efficient. The question of their official recognition and their remuneration does not rest with me. The former, at all events, is part of a much larger question. As regards the fourth paragraph, I understand that the actual number of cases of death, accident, and unexplained fires, investigated in the Procurator Fiscal's Office (and nearly all of which were reported to the Crown Agent), from 1st January to 31st December, 1892, was 1,152, and that of these 891 were investigated by clerks, while 261 investigations (being those of a graver character) were made by the Procurator Fiscal personally and his deputes. Of course, these were in addition to many other duties of a highly responsible character which devolve upon the Procurator Fiscal, and which he discharges most efficiently.