§ SIR THOMAS DEWAR (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that inconvenience is experienced in the Metropolitan Police Courts owing to there being an insufficient number of stipendiary magistrates to cope with the work, and will he consider the expediency of adding to their number.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's)The matter is one which has been constantly under consideration; but I do not see my way at the present time to ask the Treasury to increase the charge on Imperial Funds for the Police Court service of the Metropolis. I think any inconvenience there may be arises from the difficulty of arranging the sittings of the magistrates rather than from the insufficiency of numbers.