§ Sir FORTESCUE FLANNERYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state the system upon which Advisory Committees for the selection of magistrates are being formed by the Lord Chancellor; whether the membership of such Advisory Committees should, as far as possible, be distributed over the whole of each county concerned, and whether the Lord Chancellor's attention has been called to the fact that in forming an Advisory Committee for the county of Essex the whole of the justices selected for that committee reside in the western part of the county, and that only one gentleman with residence and local knowledge in the eastern part of the county has been selected; and whether, in these circumstances, in order that complete local information may be at the disposal of the Lord Chancellor, he will recommend for the consideration of next quarter sessions the addition of, say, two justices to the committee resident in east Essex?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe Lord Chancellor, in appointing Advisory Committees, endeavours, so far as he can, to choose members from different parts of the county, so that information shall be accessible in regard to the whole of the county. It is impossible to adopt any rigid methods. The Lord Chancellor has not had his attention called to the matters suggested by the question, but he will make inquiries.