§ 65. Sir FRANK NELSONasked the Attorney-General the total number of borough and county justices of the peace on the 1st January, 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926, respectively?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir Doublas Hogg)It is net possible to give the information asked for by the hon. Member.
The number of magistrates appointed in the years 1924 to 1926 was given in my reply to a question by the hon. Member for Melton Division on the 7th instant. The number of appointments for 1923 is 1,001, particulars of which shall be circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. R. MORRISONCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether before the appointment of a man as a magistrate any steps are taken to ascertain whether he proposes to give reasonable time to the discharge of his duties?
§ Following are the figures:
§ The number of appointments made 1923 was
| — | Men. | Women. | Total. |
| Counties, England and Wales, | 504 | 42 | 546 |
| Boroughs, England and Wales. | 172 | 29 | 201 |
| Scotland | 226 | 28 | 254 |
| 902 | 99 | 1,001 |
§ 66. Sir F. NELSONasked the Attorney-General if any record is kept of non-effective justices of the peace, i.e., those who do not sit, and have not for some time sat, on the bench for reasons of illness, infirmity, old age, or by reason of their having left the area?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALNo record is kept by the Lord Chancellor of non-effective justices of the peace, and my Noble Friend does not think it possible to prepare such a record. The Lord Chancellor receives annually a list of the names of those magistrates who have died during the year, as far as this information is known to clerks of the peace and town clerks.
§ Mr. B. SMITHWill the Attorney-General take steps, through the Lord Chancellor, to see into the effectiveness of these Justices, on the ground of the inadequacy of their service and the cost to the various guardians of getting their services when necessary?
§ Mr. EVERARDIs it not a fact that, besides sitting on the Bench, Justices do a great deal of other useful work?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALI think the last Supplementary Question is the effective answer.
§ Mr. TAYLORWhat are the practical difficulties in obtaining information with regard to non-effective Justices? Surely it would be quite easy to obtain that information.
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALThe first practical difficulty is to find out what is a non-effective Justice, and the second practical difficulty would be that you would be spending a great deal of money 1362 and getting very contradictory reports in from different areas according to the definition of a non-effective justice.
§ Sir H. BRITTAINIs it not a fact that some of those who do sit arc the most ineffective?