Liddellasked the Attorney-General whether he will recommend that magistrates' clerks should discontinue the now out-of-date practice of taking down in longhand the evidence of witnesses, and that, in order to avoid the waste of time of the whole court, evidence should be, as given, taken down by a shorthand typist or by dictaphone, and the transcript read aloud in court to the witnesses for confirmation?
§ Mr. LloydI have been asked to reply. Attention has been given to the question of what is the most convenient and efficient method of taking depositions, and there is a recommendation in the report of the recent departmental committee on Courts of Summary Jurisdiction in the Metropolitan Area that the taking of depositions in shorthand should be tried experimentally at one or two London Courts. This suggestion is being considered.
50W