*SIR CHARLESIDILKET beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in connection with the proposed reduction 300 of county court fees, his attention has been called to a report of the Incorporated Law Society, dated 1895; and whether, in fixing the fees charged in County courts, regard is had to making the county courts self-supporting, a principle not applied to the High Court.
§ *THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (MR. HANBURY, Preston)I have seen the report mentioned in the first paragraph. The total expenditure of the Supreme Court is (roughly) £632,000. But it is generally accepted as a constitutional doctrine that the courts and judges should be supplied gratis to the suitor by the State. If £199,000 he deducted in respect of rent and the salaries and pensions of the judges, there remains a balance of £433,000 representing other expenditure. The fee revenue (including the Land Registry) amounts to £417,000 which would leave a deficit of £16,000. But the Supreme Court must also be credited with the annuity of £92,000 a year, which was established in 1869 as the equivalent of interest on the Suitors' Fee Funds, which converts this deficit of £16,000 into a net surplus of £76,000 per annum. The county courts, on the other hand, show a net deficit of £19,000 per annum. The total expenditure upon them amounts to £598,000 per annum, which gives a balance of £439,000 when £159,000 is deducted in respect of rent and judges' salaries and pensions. As against this outlay the fee revenue only amounts to £420,000.