§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what fees are demandable from county justices on being sworn in at quarter sessions; to whom such fees are paid; whether they differ in amount in each county; what Government Department approves the scale before it is legalised; and whether, as it is desirable that such fees should be uniform, he will direct his attention to this matter?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Churchill)A complete return of the fees chargeable is given in a Paper laid before this House and published in the Session of 1907 (H.C. 314). The amount varies in different counties: the fee is ordinarily paid into the county fund, but in some cases, as will be 1813 seen, from the Return, it forms part of the remuneration of the clerk of the peace. Any alteration in an existing table of fees chargeable by a clerk of the peace is subject to the Secretary of State's approval; but in most counties very old tables are in force, and new tables are rarely submitted for approval. I have therefore no power to secure uniformity, and I do not at present see my way to introduce legislation for the purpose.
§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Home Secretary whether the fees payable by a county justice on being sworn in at quarter sessions in the county of Dorset amount to £5 5s.; whether £3 3s. of this amount is claimed for payment of lunches; under what statute this latter sum is demanded; and whether, seeing that the Report of the Commission on the Appointment of Justices of the Peace recommended that working men should be appointed magistrates, he will take steps to abolish these fees?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am informed that in Dorset in addition to a charge of £2 to cover the fees payable on appointment, every new justice of the peace pays a sum of £3 3s. to cover the cost of luncheons supplied to him for the rest of his life when attending quarter sessions. There may be some difficulty about putting an end to this practice, but I will make further inquiry.