THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDEsaid, that considerable alarm had been excited in Ireland by the rumour that it was in contemplation to provide, by annual votes of Parliament, the salaries of certain officers of law courts in Ireland who exercise judicial functions, and their successors, which salaries are now charged by Acts of Parliament upon the Consolidated Fund, and he wished, therefore, to ask the Lord Chancellor if there was any such intention on the part of the Government? He submitted that nothing could be more injurious to the due administration of justice than to make the salaries of gentlemen engaged in the administration of justice subject to an annual Vote of the House of Commons, besides that it would afford an opportunity to any partisan in that House, when party spirit ran high, to get up in his place and question the salary of any particular person.
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he was happy to be able to relieve his noble Friend from all apprehension on this subject. It was not the intention of the Government to transfer from the Consolidated Fund to the annual Votes of Parliament the salaries of any officers of the law courts in Ireland who exercised judicial functions. He had himself received, about a fortnight ago, a communication from the Lord Chancellor of Inland, stating that apprehension existed among the persons interested there, that the meaning of the words "officers of the courts," used in a provision in the Public Revenue and Consolidated Fund Charges Bill, extended to the Masters of the Courts. He (the Lord Chancellor) quite admitted that the expression was rather vague, and steps would be taken to alter the wording in that particular, so as to divest it of all ambiguity.
House adjourned to Monday next.