§ MR. ERSKINE (Perthshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been directed to the fact that the burgh of Dunblane has, in respect of their powers under Act of Parliament, set up a police court in the said burgh; whether he is aware that the county council of Perthshire has been applied to for, and has refused to supply, the necessary police assistance (such as it affords to other burgh police courts in the county) to enable the business of the said court to be carried on, with the result that it is impossible to adequately prosecute the police offences that are committed within the said burgh; and whether he will take such steps, by legislation or otherwise, as may be necessary to bring this state of matters to an end.
§ THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (Mr. SINCLAIR,) ForfarshireI understand that the burgh of Dunblane has set up a police court and has applied for the assistance of the police in connection with it to the county council, but these two authorities have not come to terms on the question. I am advised by the present Lord Advocate, who concurs with an opinion of Lord Advocate Graham Murray, expressed on the same subject, that neither the Lord Advocate nor the Secretary for Scotland has any authority to intervene, and I do not therefore propose to take any further steps in the matter.