§ House in Committee (according to Order).
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he wished to do an act of justice to a number of gentlemen of great respectability who felt themselves aggrieved by correcting a misapprehension of what he had said on a previous evening. He was reported to have said—but he certainly did not intend to say—that the Government had introduced the clauses in regard to the treasurers on account of many defalcations on the part of the treasurers having taken place. What he stated was, that defalcations had taken place, not on the part of treasurers, but of inferior officers to the treasurers; that the Treasury had thought fit to look into the matter, and that they had come to the conclusion that the whole machinery of the treasurers was unnecessary, and that the investigation of accounts could he carried on as well without the treasurer as with him. He was very anxious to put himself right, because nothing could be more unjust than to charge him with attributing blame to a class of persons not one of whom, he was informed, had been charged with defalcations during the twenty years in which the County Court system had been in existence.
§ LORD CHELMSFORDsaid, he had received a number of letters from County Court Judges and high bailiffs, many of whom were opposed to this measure.
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he did not ask their Lordships to pass the Bill sub silentio, but he was of opinion it would be highly advantageous to have only one judicial and one executive officer in each court.
§ Bill reported, without Amendment; and to be read 3a To-morrow.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Eight o'clock, till to-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.