§ MR. YERBURGHI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that it is a practice of money lenders in England to take promissory notes from English and Welsh farmers made payable in Scotland; whether he is further aware that under the Scotch law it is possible, without any investigation into the merits of a transaction, to obtain the process known as "summary diligence" by mere publication in a Scotch newspaper; and that thereupon, without any notice to the borrower being given, the necessary proceedings can be taken in Scotland, and an execution sent down to the Sheriff in England, who must forthwith levy upon the borrower; whether he is aware that many farmers have been sold up under this process; and whether he will take steps to remedy this grave abuse of the law?
§ SIR M. W. RIDLEYI have no knowledge of such a practice as is described in the question. One complaint was made to the Home Office in the time of my predecessor, but in that case the Lord Advocate advised that legal proceedings in Scotland, to enforce the Bill, would not be well founded. If the hon. Member will furnish particulars of the cases to which he alludes, I will consult the Law Officers as to the proper remedy for the abuse.