§ MR. HENRY BEMROSE (Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if his attention has been directed to the fact that the fees now charged in the county courts are proportionately far in excess of those charged in the High Court; and that they press very heavily on the poor suitor, as for instance in the case of a man claiming, say £5, for damages, or for wages, etc.; if he is not prepared with 10s. hearing fee, the case is struck out, with the loss to him of 6s. entrance fee already paid; and if, seeing that the county courts are not only self-supporting, but produce a surplus, he will consider whether the fees can be reduced, especially the hearing and execution fees?
§ MR. HANBURYI am not in a position to compare the fees in county courts with those charged for corresponding services in the High Court, and I am not sure what my hon. Friend may mean by the phrase "proportionately far in excess." The figures given are correct in the case selected. The fees must, of course, have some relation to the cost of the Courts themselves, and my hon. Friend is mistaken in supposing that the county courts are self-supporting and even produce a surplus. On the contrary, they cost the taxpayer over £30,000 yearly, besides £90,000 for the salaries and pensions of Judges. As more than 1,100,000 plaints are entered yearly for amounts not exceeding £20, the fees do not appear to deter suitors. I will have inquiry made as to the allegation that those fees fall with undue weight upon poor suitors; but the whole question of the amount of these fees is, of course, subject to the approval of the Lord Chancellor.
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