During this period the question of Judge's salaries also arose, and almost caused a constitutional crisis. As Permanent Secretary Schuster was tasked with ensuring that the courts ran correctly, and although the Judges were independent they were paid by the Lord Chancellor's Office. Although a Select Committee in 1878 had recommended that County Court Judges be paid £2,000 a year this increase had still failed to appear due to the economic hardships caused by the First World War. The increase was eventually implemented in 1937, but in the meantime High Court Judges had also been lobbying for an increase, as their pay had stayed at the same level since 1832. Schuster and Warren Fisher had produced a report recommending a pay increase in 1920, but again the economic hardship prevented their plan from being implemented. The 1931 led to the government passing the National Recovery Act 1931, which reduced the salaries of High Court judges by 20%. The judges, who had been expecting a pay raise instead, were shocked, and six High Court judges threatened to resign, with Mr Justice McCardie accusing Schuster of having his salary almost doubled in the last twelve years. The Prime Minister and Sankey met to write a letter to the judges demanding that they give in; as soon as Schuster heard about this he rushed to Whitehall to "stop the madness". The protests from the judges increased through 1931 and 1932, with several judges including Mr Justice Clauson and Mr Justice Luxmoore threatening to sue the government. After negotiations between Schuster and the judges failed to bring an end to the crisis the section of the act cutting judges' pay was quietly dropped.