§ MR. M'LAREN (Leicestershire, Bosworth)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General whether his attention has been called to the continually increasing arrears of causes in the Court of Appeal, which at the beginning of the present sittings amounted to 427, and also to the similar increase of causes in the King's Bench Division; and whether the Government will take into consideration the desirability of either increasing the strength of the judicature, or of decreasing the length of the Long Vacation, in order that judicial a rears may be overtaken within a reasonable time.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir ROBERT FINLAY, Inverness Burghs)It is the fact that the causes in the Court of Appeal are considerably in arrears. This is in great measure due to the large amount of additional work which has boon thrown on to Courts of Appeal by recent legislation, and to exceptional causes in the past, which have now ceased to operate. The question what measures should be taken is under consideration. As regards the King's 1454 Bench Division, I am informed that the condition of business there is better than it has been for a considerable time. The cases pending before the Divisional Court, and in bankruptcy, should be finished in the course of these sittings, and the number of cases for trial is due to fluctuations in the number of entries which from time to time occur.