VOTERS' AND JURY LISTS. (Hansard, 14 February 1938)

HC Deb 14 February 1938 vol 331 cc1527-9 1527

§ 60. Mr. Robert Gibson
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Parliamentary voters, men and women, there are in each of the Lothian counties and Peebles, respectively; and how many 1528 persons, men and women, there are on the jury lists for jury service in the Court of Session in each of these counties for a comparable date?

Mr. Wedderburn
As the answer includes tables of figures, I propose, with the hon. Member's permission, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

§ Mr. Gibson
Can the hon. Gentleman give us the relative proportions?

Mr. Wedderburn
They are all in the figures.

§ Mr. Gibson
Does the Minister realise that the jury lists are unreliable and out of date because many persons are cited for jury service who have been for many years dead or, worse still, have been resident in London?

Mr. Wedderburn
The jury lists are compiled by sheriffs from those who are qualified to serve. If the hon. Member wishes to know how, he had better put a question down.

§ Following is the answer:

§ The number of Parliamentary voters on the current Register in constituencies or parts of constituencies lying within the three Lothian counties and Peebles is as follows:

—	Men.	Women.
Parliamentary Borough of Edinburgh (5 Divisions).	103,542	134,693
Parliamentary Borough of Leith.	23,218	26,021
Northern Division of Parliamentary County of Midlothian and Peebles.	26,929	31,153
Peebles and Southern Division of Parliamentary County of Midlothian and Peebles.	16,948	18,068
Parliamentary County of Linlithgow.	25,208	23,381
County of East Lothian (part of Parliamentary County of Berwick and Haddington).	14,168	15,460

§ Jurors cited for the Court of Session are drawn from the General Jury Books for the City of Edinburgh and the counties of Midlothian, East Lothian and Westlothian and the numbers of men and women whose names appeared in these Books in October, 1937, are as follow: 1529

—	Men.	Women.
City of Edinburgh	4,867	4,334
Midlothian	475	527
East Lothian	782	899
West Lothian	1,659	1,264

§ No persons are summoned from the county of Peebles for jury service in the Court of Session.