HC Deb 03 February 1938 vol 331 cc419-20W
Mr. Holmes

asked the Attorney-General whether he is aware that the Lord Chancellor, with the approval of the Treasury, has recently increased the salaries of certain Masters of the High Court, namely those of the King's Bench Division, without increasing the salaries of the Masters of the Chancery Division, and that those two classes of public officers have hitherto been remunerated on the same scale; and what the grounds are upon which this differentiation has been made?

The Attorney-General

The Masters of the King's Bench Division are required to possess substantially the same qualifications as those who are appointed County Court Judges and Metropolitan Police Magistrates. As the salaries attached to these latter appointments were raised under the Statutory Salaries Act, 1937, it became desirable to raise the maximum salaries of the King's Bench Masters to the same figure in order that the standard of the appointment might not suffer. The same considerations do not apply to the Masters of the Chancery Division.