OFFICIAL WASTE.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."?
SIR,—In your article of November 17th under this heading, it is stated, on the subject of the Official Referees :—" From one cause or another, the work these gentlemen have to do has steadily declined, until, as Mr. Cozens-Hardy informed the House, it is not two-thirds of what it was ten years ago. Even then it was less than it had been expected to be ; so that, according to the same authority, it would now scarcely find full occupation for one Referee out of the four."
The first of these statements made by Mr. Cozens-Hardy might have been true if made two years ago. I am not at this moment in possession of the figures for the earlier years which bear on the question. But, made now, it is quite in- correct. The cases sent to the Referees, on. comparing the legal year 1887 with 1886, show an increase of about 15 per cent. ; and on comparing 1888 with 1886, an increase of about 4-5 per cent. In 1888, the total number had risen to 138 from 90, as it had been in 1886.
As to the second of Mr. Cozens-Hardy's statements, it must be remembered that many of the cases are lengthy, and to say that one person, however capable, could dispose of 138 of them in a single legal year is ridiculous. I am sure that Mr. Cozens-Hardy could not have known the real facts when he made such statements in the House of Commons.—I am, Sir,
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