§ MR. HANBURYI beg to ask the Attorney General if he can now state the 1467 effect of the changes introduced by the present Government upon the total remuneration at the public cost of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General respectively; and what was the total amount payable out of public funds to each of those Law Officers in the 12 months preceding, and the 12 months succeeding, the change of system?
§ * THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir C. RUSSELL,) Hackney, S.As to the first part of the question, I am informed by the Solicitor to the Treasury that it is impossible to judge of the effect of the change referred to by the experience of a less period than some five years. For instance, it appears that the fees for contentious business paid to the Solicitor General in the year 1888–9 was £5,056, whereas in the year 1891–2 the sum paid was £1,275 only. On the other hand, during the year 1892–3 the contentious business of the Crown was very heavy and important. As to the second part of the question, the figures asked for are as follows:—For ordinary contentious work from August, 1891, to August, 1892, the Solicitor General was paid £1,275 6s. 6d. and the Attorney General £3,674 3s. 8d. For the like work from August, 1892, to August, 1893, the Solicitor General was paid £4,285 12s. and the Attorney General £4,594. The payment to the Solicitor General included £707 paid in relation to the Behring Sea Arbitration. Further, in relation to that arbitration, each of the two leading Counsel for Great Britain (of whom the Attorney General was one) was paid £7,900.