Mr. Osborne Morgan once more calls attention to a great
grievance,—the excessive delay in settling civil causes. There are 001 cases standing for hearing on the Chancery side, and 860 jury cases down for trial at Westminster. He believes that the block is due to an insufficiency of Judges, and denies either that more Judges would cost much money, or that it would be difficult to find men competent to the office. The true reason, he says, of the dislike to create more Judges is an impression that the block is temporary,—an impression derived from experience of the result of appointing more Judges of Appeal. Their number was increased, and business fell off. That experience, however, he contends, shows nothing, as we have not really increased the number of Judges of First Instance for forty years, during which business, population, and wealth have much more than doubled. If this is the greatest obstacle, cannot Mr. Morgan suggest some method in which the number of Judges could be made a little more elastic ? What is wanted seems to be the power of appoint-
ing every year a varying number of judicial adlati. Is that 'impossible ?
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