The Times is publishing letters on the unfairness of remunerat-
ing magistrates' clerks by fees. Whenever a fine is imposed, for instance, the clerk demands a fee, frequently tenfold the amount of the fine. The objection is just, as it should not be the interest of the clerk, who frequently guides the magistrates, to procure a conviction; but the whole system of fines requires revision. Fine is now almost the only punishment inflicted for petty offences, and it never can be just unless proportioned to the delinquent's means. A well-to-do farmer pays and forgets a fine that would ruin a labourer or consign him to prison. A wide discretion must be left to the magistrates, but fines should be clear of fees, and levied in the form of so many days or hours' income of the trans- gressor. The total abolition of fines is, we fear, impossible. We should either crowd our prisons, or leave petty offences like larceny—already a serious evil iu many counties—wholly unchecked.
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