MR. HERBERT ROBERTSI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been directed to the proceedings at the Petty Sessions at Ruthin on the 12th inst. Whether he is aware that a summons for drunkenness against a resident in the Borough was laid before the Bench for signature, and that two magistrates, the warden of Ruthin and Mr. T. W. Rouw, had previously declined to sign the summons upon the ground 569 that they were on intimate terms with the family of the gentleman charged with drunkenness; whether it is competent for a magistrate to refuse to sign a summons upon such grounds; and, whether he will inquire into the circumstances referred to?
§ SIR M. W. RIDLEYI have inquired into the circumstances of the matter referred to, and am informed that only one of the magistrates mentioned was asked to sign the summons, and that he he did not positively refuse to do so, but merely expressed the opinion that it had better be done by someone else. Though the signing of summonses is a ministerial and not a judicial act, this feeling seems very natural. I have no information leading me to think that inconvenience was caused or the administration of justice hampered in any degree by the view the magistrates took of their duties.