§ Mr. Raikesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the difficulty in disposing of criminal business in the superior courts in South Lancashire; and whether he has any remedy to suggest.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeMy noble Friend the Lord Chancellor and I have appointed a Departmental Committee with the following terms of reference
To inquire into the need, in order to relieve pressure on courts of assize and quarter sessions, for the establishment in South Lancashire of a court on the lines of the Central Criminal Court; and, if satisfied that the need for such a court exists, to consider and to report upon its composition, the nature 190W of its jurisdiction, the areas (whether within or outside Lancashire) from which persons might be committed thereto, its place or places of sitting, the staff required for the proper functioning of the court, and how the cost of providing, maintaining and operating the court should be met.The Chairman of the Committee is Sir Alexander Maxwell, G.C.B., K.B.E., who was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1938 to 1948. The other members of the Committee are:
- Mr. P. Allen, Home Office;
- Sir Leonard Holmes, J.P., solicitor, President of the Law Society, 1950;
- Mr. A. E. Jalland, Q.C., J.P., Chairman of the Lancashire Quarter Sessions and Recorder of Preston;
- County Councillor J. Selwyn Jones. J.P., of Lancashire;
- Alderman A. Moss of Manchester;
- Mr. Basil Nield, M.B.E., Q.C., M.P.. Recorder of Salford;
- Sir Alfred Shennan, J.P., of Liverpool;
- Mr. R. Somerville, of the Duchy of Lancaster Office;
- Mr. R. E. K. Thesiger, of the Lord Chancellor's Office.
The Secretary to the Committee is Mr. N. S. Ross, of the Home Office.