§ 35. Sir C. Osborneasked the Attorney-General whether, in the forthcoming legislation dealing with reforms in the administration of justice, he will seek to make provision for the avoidance of delays in the hearing of cases by the Court of Appeal.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI do not think there is any shortcoming in the present arrangements which could be remedied by legislation. The main problem is that criminal appeals are nearly three times as numerous as they were four years ago. Everything possible is being done to expedite the hearing of these appeals and I hope that the new arrangements for giving legal aid to intending appellants may reduce the number of hopeless appeals. As to civil appeals, the current interval of about six months between the setting down of the case and the final hearing has not been the source of complaints as being too long; indeed, many requests are made to keep the cases out of the lists because the parties are not ready.