§ Mr. WATTasked the Secretary for Scotland whether a vacancy has recently been filled up in the sheriff-principalship of Renfrew; what is the salary attached to this position; what are the duties outside of judicial work which cannot be performed, and which are not performed, by the sheriff-substitutes of the county; whether he is aware that the number of appeal cases from substitutes to the principal were in 1916 only twenty-two, of which eighteen were in Paisley and four in Greenock; whether in the great majority of these twenty-two cases the opinion of the principal was simply a repetition of the judgments of the substitutes; and whether it is proposed during war-time in any way to limit the cost of the administration of justice in Scotland?
§ Mr. MUNROThe salary of the post, which has been recently filled, is £800. For an enumeration of the duties of a sheriff, I beg to refer my hon. and learned Friend to my answer of the 28th February, 1917. The figures quoted in reference to a portion of those duties are substantially correct. On the general question I can only refer my hon. and learned Friend to my previous answers on this subject.