§ MR. ELLIOTT LEES (Birkenhead)I beg to ask the Attorney General whether he is aware that the Commission of Assize was not opened at Reading, on the Oxford circuit, until Wednesday last, the day after that appointed for opening of the Commission, and that the Judge of Assize has not disposed of the civil causes entered for trial at the Assizes; and whether the Lord Chancellor will consider the advisability of sending a Commissioner to assist Mr. Justice Hawkins, in order that the work on the Oxford Circuit may be disposed of?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERALThe Lord Chancellor has received no communication respecting the matters mentioned in the Question. As doubtless the hon. Member is aware, under the Statute and Order in Council the date of the Commission day can be postponed upon the certificate of the Judge 1570 of Assize. There is no necessity for appointing a Commissioner. In the event of great pressure, which the Lord Chancellor does not expect, the services of some one of the Queen's counsel whose names are in the Commission could be utilised in the usual way.