THE IRISH JUDICIARY.
[To TM EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—A few weeks ago you published some letters on this subject which showed that the writers olearly understood the wasteful extravagance of the Irish judicial establishment. What follows is a further proof of the overmanning of the Irish Bench. The Irish Bar insist on keeping up the farce of five Circuits with two Judges each in a country with a population of four millions; whereas, as every one in Ireland knows, two, or at most three, Circuits would be sufficient. As a result the two Lord Justices of Appeal go Circuit, and the Irish Court of Appeal closes its doors during the Circuit, and therefore only sits about four months in the year ! But still there are no arrears, and the Court has not enough business to occupy it during even four months. The President of the Court of Appeal, the Irish Chancellor, has almost a. sineoure at .26,000 per annum. Most of the motions which come before the K.B.D. in Dublin are applications which are by the present rules in England disposed of in the offices. But in Dublin these applications are still made in Court to keep up a semblance of business. There are twenty County Court Judges in Ireland who only sit for three months in the year, and yet Mr. Duke, after a vain struggle by the Treasury against the Irish Bar, has just appointed another County Court Judge. Surely it is time that this bloated judicial establishment should be- cut down to reasonable proportions. Moreover, the over- manning of the Irish Bench tends to make the Bar politically venal, as all appointments are unfortunately made on political grounds, thereby diminishing the confidence of the public in the
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