§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Prime Minister, whether it is proposed to issue an annual report giving the number of county magistrates appointed since the constitution of the advisory committees; whether any tabulated information exists concerning the number of county magistrates who do and who do not perform the duties of their office; whether it is possible for the advisory committees to properly fulfil their functions unless they have such information in their possession; and is it proposed to procure this information for them by following the example set by certain advisory committees, namely, by calling for a return from the magistrates' clerks of each petty sessional division in the county, giving the number of attendances on the bench of existing magistrates during the last two years?
§ The PRIME MINISTERWith regard to the first part of the question, there is 597 no objection to issuing such a report, if it is desired. With regard to the second part, no such tabulated information exists, nor would it be practicable to make such a table. The reply to the third and fourth parts is that the Lord Chancellor has called the attention of the advisory committees to the subject, and no doubt each committee, which requires it, will obtain the information regarding its own district; attendance, however, on the bench by no means exhausts the duties of a Justice of the Peace.