§ (The Lord Stanley of Preston.)
§ (NO. 60.) REPORT.
§ Amendment reported (according to Order).
§ Clause 5 (Sittings of Commissioners).
§
On the Motion of The Lord STANLEY of PRESTON, the following Amendment made:—
In clause 5, page 3, line 6, at end of clause, insert as a fresh sub-section—"If the President of the Board of Trade is satisfied either of the inability of an appointed Commissioner to attend at the hearing of any case, or of there being a vacancy in the office, and in either case of the necessity of a speedy hearing of the case, he may appoint a temporary Commissioner to hear such case, and such Commissioner, for all purposes connected with such case, shall, until the final determination thereof, have the same jurisdiction and powers as if he were an appointed Commissioner. A temporary Commissioner shall be paid such sum by the Commissioner so unable to sit, or, if the office is vacant, cat of the salary of the office, as the President of the Board of Trade may assign.
§ On the Motion of The Lord STANLEY of PRESTON, the following Amendment made:—After clause 5 insert—
§ (Appointment of additional judge.)
§ "It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, having regard to the business required by this Act to be transacted by the ex officio Commissioners, and to the proper transaction of the business of the superior court in England, to appoint an additional judge of such court, and from time to time to fill any vacancy in such judgeship, and the law relating to the appointment and qualification of the judges of such superior court to their duties and tenure of office, to their precedence, salary, and pension, and otherwise, shall apply to any judge so appointed under this section, and a judge so appointed under this section shall be attached to such division or branch of the court as Her Majesty may direct, subject to such power of transfer as may exist in the case of any other judge of such division or branch."
§ Clause 15 (Appeals on certain questions to superior court of appeal).
§ LORD GRIMTHORPE moved an Amendment with the object of allowing appeals from the decisions of the Commissioners upon questions of fact. He argued that one could never make sure that on a first hearing the full merits of a case would be understood. When the point had been raised in Committee, he was told that Railway Companies were monopolists and rich and that their opponents would be poor. He could not, however, admit that this was a true view of the case.
§ Amendment moved, in page 6, lines;and 2, to leave out the words ("upon a question of factor.")—(The Lord Grimthorpe.)
§ THE LOED CHANOELLOB (Lord HALSBURY)said, that matters of fact were usually decided by a jury or an inferior Court, unless they had reason to believe there was a miscarriage of justice. The general principle of law was that upon questions of fact there ought to be no appeal.
§ On Question, That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill? Their Lordships divided:—Contents 36; Not-Contents 14: Majority 22.
§ Resolved in the negative.
§
On the Motion of The Lord STANLEY of PRESTON, the following Amendment made:—
In page 6, line 11, after ("may") insert ("draw all such inferences as are not inconsistent with the facts expressly found, and are necessary for determining the question of law, and have all such powers for that purpose as if the appeal were an appeal from a judgment of a superior court").