The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-01 00:00:00

judge decided, was no criterion of the importance
of the case, or the judicial knowledge and acumen
required to be brought to bear on it, and he instanced the
important question of ship money in past times, where
the money at issue was 20s. ; but who would say the
principle at issue was not one of vital importance to the
country After referring to the position the judges of
this country held in the State, and the jealousy felt of
keeping the judges free from the influence of the Govern-
ment, he said that by the County Court Actthese judges
were brought cap in hand to the Treasury, and made to
bow to the Treasury Bench for the increase of their
salary from 1,2001. to 1,5001., which, was not right, and
he illustrated this by referring to the case of his brother-
in-law, who was a County Courtjudge, on the minimum
salary. For some time he (Mr. Roebuck) hal a notice
on the books of the house disagreeetble to the Govern-
ment, which he was unable to bring on after that Mr.
Wilson, the Under Secretary, came to him and said,
"How about your motion ?" he (Mr. Robuck) replied,
"Why, you know as well as I do, that I can't bring it
on ;" be then said, "You know your brother-in-law
has been for some time entitled to the maximum salary,
but your notice being on the books be ccuid not have
it." (Hear.) The hon. gentleman then referred to the
manner in which the Treasury advanced the salaries of
the-e j edges, passing over excellent men, who felt it a slur
on their character. It was not the difference of pay
these gentlemen valued, but their reputation, and he
(Mr. Roebuck) charged the Under Secretary of the
Treasury, who did the dirty work of tho Government, with
passing over Mr. Falkner, an estimable and learned gen-
Venter, from political reasons. There was another case of
the working of this act. The county court clerks were
usually appointed by the judges, but Mr. Morris, who
was clerk of the county courts in GLemorganshire, and
a political agent in that district, wishing to retire, ob-
tained the appointment of his successor from the trea-
sury, and when afterwards it was proposed to divide
the districts, the clerk objected, saying he had pur-
chased his appointment of Mr. Morris. (Hear. hear.)
He asked for an explanation of this. (Hear, hear.) If
they demanded the service of men of high reputation
they ought to pay them well ; but he wa- as t with the
remark "Oh, we can get plenty of men well up to the
mark for less money." Yes, but by the same rule he
(Mr. Roebuck) could say that he could get plenty of men
in that house up to the mark and capable of discharging
the duties of the hon. member fur Westbury quite as
well as he did for half the amount he was paid. (Hear,
and la fighter.) The same objection was raised
by the Lord Chancellor to the increase of these
sslariee and his (Mr. Roebuck's) ar,,urnent applied
equally to the Lord Chancellor, that plenty of legal
gentlemen could be found capable of discharging Lis
duties for less money. (Laughter.) He contended that
the maximum sum given to these judges was not too
much for all of the u to be paid—(hear) —to place them
above tl e stexieees and meannessee of the world, to
enable them to hold that position in society they ought
to hold. (Hear )
Lord STANLEY seconded the motion, and in doing
so entered fully into the history of the establishment of
the County Courts and the appointment of the judges,
and referred to the number of cases each of them beard
annually, and the number of miles they had to travel,
which gave but a slight idea of the amount of labour
hey had to perform.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)