THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNmoved for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into and report upon the fees and profits received by the High Sheriffs of counties or their Deputies in the execution of their office, and the mode in which the duties of the High Sheriff now ordinarily performed by deputy might best be carried out. He said that three years ago their Lordships had passed a Bill dealing with some of the duties of High Sheriffs and for defraying the cost entailed by their discharge. It 785 provided that County Councils should, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, make regulations for the reception of Her Majesty's Judges, and that the cost so far as it was not defrayed by the Treasury should fall upon the county rate. Considerable difference of opinion was expressed as the Bill was passing through the House, and the Lord Chancellor proposed an alternative plan going rather deeper into the subject and suggesting a rather more comprehensive remedy. That was, that if the fees now received by the Under Sheriffs for the discharge of the legal duties of the Sheriffs were taken over by the Treasury or by some Central Authority, the whole of the costs now thrown upon the Sheriffs might be defrayed without any charge upon the county rate. He himself, as introducer of the Bill, had no preference at all for one plan over the other, so long as relief was afforded to the Sheriffs, and he would be willing to accept the alternative plan if, upon inquiry, it should be found a preferable mode of dealing with the subject. Unfortunately, he had not been able to obtain from the Under Sheriffs a statement of the emoluments they were now receiving, and he therefore proposed to obtain that information by means of the appointment of a Select Committee on the matter.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord HERSCHELL)My Lords, I think the information likely to be obtained by such a Committee as the noble Earl proposes would be very useful. The question of Sheriffs' expenses is of great importance, and it is desirable to deal with it in the best fashion possible. The proposal formerly was that the Sheriffs' expenses in receiving the Judges should fall upon the County Councils. There appear to be considerable objections to a scheme of that description upon which I will not dwell now; but it certainly deserves consideration whether this question of Sheriffs' fees should not be dealt with on a similar basis throughout the country; and if it should turn out that they are sufficient to meet the expenses of both Sheriff and Under Sheriff, that would seem to be a better scheme than allowing the matter to be dealt with by the County Councils, and throwing the burden upon them, in case it turns out that the fees are not sufficient to discharge those expenses. 786
Moved, "That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into and report upon the fees and profits received by the High Sheriffs of counties or their deputies in the execution of their office, and the mode in which the duties of the High Sheriff now ordinarily performed by deputy may be best carried out."—(The Earl of Camperdown.)
§ LORD ASHBOURNEMy Lords, I think the Committee moved for by the noble Earl will be of great interest and importance, and I trust it will supply valuable information. In Ireland the difficulty has been growing in acuteness for several years—it is not a question of to-day or of last year alone. I know the great difficulties connected with the question; and that at this time of day, when the incomes of country gentlemen are certainly as much reduced in Ireland as in any part of Her Majesty's dominions, it is an obvious hardship upon them, with their increased family claims, to impose upon them the necessity of putting their hands into their pockets. At this time they cannot afford it. Many of them have had to diminish their family expenses; and it is unreasonable they should be called upon to make great sacrifices in order to enable them to perform what, after all, are partly the duties of the State. It is all very well to ask country gentlemen possessing thousands a year to undertake these duties, but it is a great hardship to call upon the poorer gentry in Ireland to perform them. It has been a matter of increasing difficulty, and in some counties requiring sometimes great pressure, to induce anyone to undertake this onerous and thankless task. We all know, from the public Press, that the difficulty has recently culminated in Ireland in litigation. I only refer to that to show that real difficulty exists in the matter, and that it is important, when the noble Earl suggests names for his Committee, that he should take care there shall be among them adequate representation of Ireland, in order that the matter as regards that country may be fully investigated and looked into in all its aspects.
§ Motion agreed to.