§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the fact that at the Herefordshire Quarter Sessions on 29th June no official shorthand writer was in attendance, and that the local reporters declined to act, on the ground that the remuneration was inadequate, with the result that the chairman was compelled to remand the remaining prisoners to the Assizes, and that at the Surrey Assizes at Guild-ford on Thursday last no official shorthand writer was present in the second Court and the local reporters similarly declined to act for the same reason, with the result that the progress of business was stopped for two hours until some one was sent down from London; and also that at the Assizes at Birmingham on Saturday last, after the trials of prisoners had proceeded some time, it was found that no shorthand writer was present and the business had to be suspended; and whether he will take such steps as will result in the provisions of the Court of Criminal Appeal Act being carried out without justice being delayed.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) My attention has been called to these cases, but the appointment of official shorthand writers for the purposes of the Criminal Appeal Act rests with the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, and I am in communication with them on the subject.