§ MR. JOHN WILSON (Falkirk Burghs)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that the sheriff of Linlithgow has appointed to the office of procurator fiscal or criminal prosecutor for the county of Linlithgow a Mr. John Main, who is not qualified for the position, being neither a law agent nor having 54 any other legal qualification further than having been a clerk to the previous procurator fiscal at a salary of £120 per annum; and whether the appointment, which is disapproved of by the law agents resident in the county, has been sanctioned by the Secretary for Scotland.
MR. SCOTT DICKSONIn answer to the hon. Member, I am aware that Mr. Main has been appointed procurator fiscal at Linlithgow by the sheriff of Midlothian. It is not the fact that he is not qualified for the office. It is not, and never has been, a necessary qualification for a procurator fiscal to be an enrolled law agent. The gentleman in question has had thirty years experience as procurator fiscal depute in various parts of Scotland, and had possessed the confidence, to which they testified, of the various sheriffs under whom he served; and in particular had, as depute procurator fiscal in Linlithgow since 1892, acted to the entire satisfaction of the sheriff who has now appointed him. In these circumstances the Secretary for Scotland had no hesitation in approving of the appointment.