§ 53. Mr. WATTasked the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. Macrae, who has been a clerk for twenty-nine years in the office of the sheriff clerk at Perth, but who has now become blind and has been forced to resign his office; whether he is aware that, although Macrae has been in the service of the State for such a long time, no fund exists out of which to pay him any honorarium or pension; will he make representations to the Treasury on behalf of this administration of the law in Scotland; and will he introduce legislation in the incoming Session dealing with the position and emoluments of the sheriff clerks' deputes and their assistants?
§ The LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. Ure)The answer to the first and second parts of my hon. Friend's question is in the affirmative. In answer to the third and fourth parts of the question, I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given by me to my hon. Friends the Members for the Wick Burghs and for Ross and Cromarty on the 1st August last
§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLIs blindness a disqualification for judicial office, and is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a man who was blind for fifteen years justified his retention of his position on the ground that justice is proverbially blind?