§ MR. R. WALLACE (Edinburgh, E.)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate—(1) whether the consent of the Treasury to the re-organisation of the Sasines Office, Edinburgh, was, by Minute of the Secretary for Scotland of 7th February, 1890, announced to be contingent on the daily attendance at that office being fixed at seven hours; (2) whether this arrangement has been carried into effect; and, if not, whether it is intended to be effected at an early date; (3) whether, although Lord Lee's Commission recommended that there should be only two 1446 classes of clerks in the Sasines Office, there are at the present moment ten, or what number of temporary clerks employed on staff work in the said office; (4) whether it is proposed to add to the number of temporary clerks on the occasion of any coming vacancy; and (5) whether the Secretary for Scotland will arrange for the carrying out of the recommendations of Lord Lee's Commission?
§ * THE LORD ADVOCATEThe increased scale of salaries granted to the staff in the Sasine Office by the Minute of 7th February 1890, applied to an attendance of seven hours, but the Minute also provided that the seven hours should not be introduced into the office until the proper number for the staff was ascertained. The seven hours has not yet been introduced, as, owing to the consideration of certain proposed changes in the present system of registration and the remarkable increase in the business of the office, it has not been possible to fix the final number of the staff. With reference to the second part of the question, it has been arranged meantime to maintain the staff at a nominal number of 75, and when vacancies occur these are filled by temporary clerks, selected by the Keeper, with salaries of £80, the minimum salary of the Second Division. The whole matter is under consideration.