§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSONTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that a second Court was unable to sit at Guildford last week in consequence of there being no shorthand writer; whether a second Court was unable to sit at Birmingham last week for the same reason; whether the learned Judge who was presiding invited 817 gentlemen who were present to act as shorthand writers, and that they refused on account of the lowness of the remuneration; whether in many places shorthand writers have had to be engaged at a greater cost than the Treasury scale of remuneration; and whether he will reconsider his decision not to raise the scale.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) As I stated in reply to a Question on Thursday last, the appointment of official shorthand writers for the purposes of the Criminal Appeal Act rests with the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, with whom I am in communication on the subject.