§ MR. NIELD (Middlesex, Baling)I beg to ask the Secretary of State forth e Home Department whether he will inform the House in how many instances and in what manner the preponderance of Conservative justices on county and borough benches has impaired the confidence that ought to prevail, and caused a legitimate sense of injustice; and whether he can give any cases in which the law has been maladministered or a miscarriage of justice has taken place by reason of the political views of the justices.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, Stirling Burghs)The Home Secretary on July 30th † in my absence, and on my behalf, answered a Question which was addressed to me; and his Answer, in which I entirely concur, no doubt supplies the foundation for the hon. Member's Question. It was not suggested by anything that he said that Justices of the Peace have maladministered the law under the influence of political opinions. What he said was that the Lord Chancellor wished to secure a fair balance of classes and opinions on the bench. The view held by His Majesty's Government is that it is unjust that any persons should be excluded from, or treated as ineligible for the magistracy because they do not belong to a particular Party. They are of opinion that whore this is the case, confidence is impaired. If the hon. Member does not share this view of the matter, I am afraid nothing that I could say would convince him.