§ SIR ALBERT ROLLIT (Islington, S.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General whether any steps have been, or are likely to be, taken to reduce the Court fees payable under proceedings in the County Courts, the present scale of such fees being deterrent, and in many cases prohibitive, to suitors.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir ROBERT FINLAY,) Inverness BurghsThe present scale of fees was settled after a reference to a Committee, appointed by the Lord Chancellor and the Treasury, so recently as 1900, and they were specially instructed to consider whether any of the fees could be reduced. There were a great many suggestions made and referred to the Committee, including a valuable communication from the Law Society, all these were very fully considered, and some reductions were made. I understand that it is not likely that the scale will be again revised in the immediate future. The fact that the number of suits instituted in the County Courts is so large as it is, tends, I think, to show that the present fees cannot have any deterrent or prohibitive effect to the extent which my hon. friend apprehends.