§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury—(1) will he explain why the fees payable on attested copies of documents in the Cork and Belfast local bankruptcy courts have recently been increased by 50 per cent by a Treasury Order; (2) what the object of this increase is; (3) whether, though these local courts chiefly deal with small cases, the Stamp Duties and court fees are substantially the same as in the largest cases in the Dublin courts; (4) whether the revision of County Court Stamp Duties, now in progress, affects the Stamp Duties in bankruptcy cases; and (5) whether a special scale of Stamp Duties and court fees will be adopted for cases where the assets are small?
§ MR. HANBURYThe fees on certified copies in local bankruptcy courts were recently increased from 1½d. to 2½d. per folio by the Lord Lieutenant, with Treasury concurrence. This was done in order to make the produce more commensurate with the cost of the service rendered; its effect is to make the scale the same as in the Dublin Court. The 3rd paragraph of the question refers to a different subject, and involves comparisons between scales of fees, which are very numerous, and some of which are specific, some ad valorem, and it has been found impossible to make any adequate comparison at such short notice. Any complaints as to inequalities in the fees are matters to be referred, in the first instance, to the legal authorities. The Inquiry into county court fees, now in progress, does not extend to bankruptcy fees. The question of a special scale for cases where the assets are small, is one primarily for the legal authorities to initiate, and the Treasury has, at present, no information on the subject.
§ DR. KENNY (Dublin, College Green)May I ask what part of the folio goes to the Crown and what part goes to the copyist?
§ MR. HANBURYThat is a question of detail. I will get the information.