§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that the coroner for South West London and City of Westminster is in the habit of employing a pathologist to determine the cause of death, in preference to the medical practitioner last in attendance on the deceased; and will he state why the practice adopted by other coroners throughout the country is departed from by the coroner for this district.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) I have had under my notice certain statements made with regard to the procedure at inquests held by the coroner in question, but I do not know how far these statements are accurate; and, in any case, I have no authority to interfere with the discretion of a coroner in the conduct of inquests.