19 SEPTEMBER 1846, Page 2

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A Court of Aldermen was held on Tuesday,being the first after the holy- days. The chief business was the reception of the Lord Mayor's report on his visit to Oxford as Conservator of the Thames; which was ordered to be entered on the journals of the Court. Mr. Wire appeared at the bar and presented a statement of the reasons on which the Common Council Com- mittee declined to recommend the building of a new prison in the City. The paper was referred to a special Gaol Committee of Aldermen.

At a Court of Common Council on Thursday, Mr. D. W. Wire moved a resolution, that permission be granted to the Jones Testimonial Committee to place a marble bust of Mr. Richard Lambert Jones upon a pedestal in the Council Chamber, "to record and perpetuate the grateful sense enter- tained by the public and his fellow citizens of his disinterested and labo- rious devotion in the discharge of his duties as chairman of the committee for rebuilding London Bridge and making suitible approaches thereto, for rebuilding the Royal Exchange, and for effecting public inprovements within this city." Some discussion arose upon the question, whether Mr. Jones's services were of a kind to merit such a perennial monument; but Itimately, the motion was affirmed, by 65 to 34.

On Monday next, being St. Matthew's Day, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriffs, with the Governors of the several Royal Hospitals, will fulfil the annual custom of attending divine service at Christ Church, Newgate Street. They will then repair to the great hall of Christ's Hospital, to be present at the delivery of the usual orations and recitals by the scholars.

The revision of the lists of voters for the City of London, by Mr. T. J. ,frrnold, the Revising Barrister, commenced on Tuesday, in the Court of Common Pleas at Guildhall. The objections, which are very numerous, are as follows: Reform objections—To liverymen, 283; to householders, I,514: Tory objections—To liverymen, 577; to householders, 2,909. The Reformers made 291 new claims; the Tories not more than 6 or 8: but they had succeeded in placing 684 new names on the list, through par- ties claiming to be rated.

A public meeting of the Anti-Slavery League was held, at Exeter Hall on Monday evening; the object being to review the proceedings of the Evan- gelical Alliance at their late meetings in London. There was q. very full attendance. The Evangelical Alliance had manifested a disposition to Oompromise the Anti-Slavery cause by putting forward a declaration that all men might be brethren, if they held slaves against their will, and not for their own interests. The chief speakers were Mr. W. L. Garrison of Balti- more, and Mr. George Thompson; who carried resolutions declaring the sin of American slavery, repudiating the doctrine that slaves might be inno- cently held, and censuring the conduct of the Evangelical Alliance as a virtual abandonment of the Anti-Slavery cause.

On Wednesday, the friends and supporters of the Metropolitan Free Hos- pital celebrated their tenth anniversary by a dinner at the Freemason's Tavern. The Lord Mayor occupied the chair; supported by Sir George Carroll and other gentlemen. From the report read, it appeared that the total number of patients admitted during the year ended the 7th of April 1846, was 9,989; the gross number during the nine preceding years was 70,554. The subscriptions of the evening amounted to 5001.

The annual meeting of the proprietors of Drury Lane was held in the oaken of the theatre on Tuesday morning; Mr. B. B. Cabbell occupying the chair. Only about a dozen out of the 548 shareholders were present; and the proceedings appeared to excite very little interest. The report read by the Secretary was not highly satisfactory, although it encourages the proprietary to rub on.

The long-pending dispute between the Hungerford Market and Charing Cross Suspension Bridge Companies is now in course of arrangement, and will be finally settled this week; when the public will be allowed to land and embark from the Suspension Bridge, and the ricketty floating pier, Which is so great an obstruction to the navigation of the river, will be re- ps:med.—Doily News. Workmen began to snake preparations on Saturday for erecting the new Model Lodging-house in George Street, St Giles's; a piece of ground at the rear of the French Protestant Church has been granted by the Commis- sioners of Woods and Forests, and the expense of the building will be de- frayed by a subscription lately opened. - Fleet Street was reopened for traffic throughout its whole length on Mon- aity afternoon; it had been partially closed for five weeks. The result of the inquest held on Wednesday last week, before Mr. Wakley, on the body of Mary Anne Jones, has led to an investigation, by the Directors of the Poor of St. Pancras, into the charges made against

some of the workhouse officials. About twenty Guardians were present; the Junior Churchwarden, Mr. C. E. Wagstaffi being in the chair. Mr. J.

Howarth, the Senior Churchwarden stated the • ease for the parish. He said that, from the reports which had recently appeared in the papers, it would appear that several hundred of the inmates of that workhouse were

treated as vagrants, and placed in the refractory wards; whereas the fact

was, that out of between 1,300 and 1,400 inmates of that house, there were never at any time more than from fifteen to thirty of each sex in those wards. The persons so placed were mostly men and women of that disorderly and depraved character, that it would be a gross wrong and great discomfort both to the aged and juvenile well-conducted poor, to permit such characters to be mixed in their society. He denied most positively that those wards alluded to at the Coroner's inquest were places of con- finement. They were merely wards of separation; and the inmates could

discharge themselves whenever they pleased, either upon application to the Board or to the Master and Matron. Another misstatement was, that the

women's " shed," as it was called, was but twenty-five feet long and ten wide, with two rows of beds in it; but there was a day-room for the women of the same dimensions, where they were employed in feather-picking; and the yard, instead of being twenty, was forty feet in length. He denied that the diet was too low; and the only difference between the diet of the re- fractory ward and the general diet of the house was, that four ounces of meat was given instead of six ounces, and one ounce of sugar less per week.

Several members of the Board proceeded to inspect the "sheds." The women's shed, which is at the North end of the workhouse, consists of two rooms—a day-room and a dormitory—on the basement of the main build- ing. These apartments, the flooring of which is one and a half or two feet below the level of the yard, are each, on a rough calculation, from thirty- five to forty feet long, by about fifteen feet wide and seven feet high. The yard, which is paved, and surrounded by high walls, is of irregular form, and its extreme length is about forty feet, the width varying from fifteen to twenty feet. In the sleeping-room there are eleven bedsteads, including one for the superintendent. The wall in the South-west corner of this apartment exhibits an appearance of moisture to the extent of some feet; and this is accounted for by the fact that a drain or cesspool has been con- structed in its immediate vicinity. The men's shed is situate at the South- ern end of the workhouse. This is a better building than that appro- priated to the women. The day-room, which is from ten to twelve feet high, is on the ground-floor, and the sleeping-room is above it. The yard, however, is only about thirty feet in length, by ten feet in width; the walla are some feet higher than those which surround the women's shed; and the yard is roofed over with iron bars, apparently to prevent escape. It was stated, however, that this precaution had not been adopted to prevent escape, but in consequence of complaints made by the neighbours, that the paupers were in the habit of climbing upon the wall, and were guilty of the most disgusting conduct. Several of the men complained to members of the Board that their food was of bad quality.

On the return of the members to the Board-room, Mr. Lee, the Master of the workhouse, was examined. He stated that before he became Master it had been the practice to confine persons without any order from the Board. They sometimes remained in the black-hole for forty-eight hours; and he kept no account of such confinements. Persons are confined with- out his order; by the Matron; and possibly by Mr. Chadborn. He makeis no report to the Board in such cases. It is not the rule if a girl returns from service to place her in the separation ward. Develing, a witness at the inquest, was a violent, bad girl. Miss Stone was culled. She said that Mary Ann Jones, upon whom an inquest was held last week, had conduct- ed herself very ill; having robbed the mistresses with whom she had been placed. On one oceasion, she was sent to service at a Mrs. Coombe's, a laundress; she went on a Friday, and ran away on the following Monday, taking her clothes with her. She returned to the workhouse, having, as she said, lost her clothes, and remained there for twelve months. During that time she was in the cotton-room and never in the refractory ward.

The Chairman—" Had you ever threatened to place Jones in the shed if she came back from her place?" Miss Jones—" No, Sir; nor any other girl. She has been confined in the black-hole as it has been termed, for a few hours, perhapa from morning to evening, for refusing to do domestic work."

"Did you place her there of your own accord ?" "Mr. Lee generally did it, on my mentioning her conduct to him: I did not like to do it myself!' The witness continued—" Jones never complained that she was stinted of food in her last situation. Before she had completed a month's service, her mistress brought her back to the house, and said she was so helpless she was worth no- thing. Jones cried very much, and begged her mistress to take her back, offer- ing to work for nothing. Eventually, her mistress agreed to take her back for a fortnight. Jones had been sent to the black-hole three or four times. Develing had been in the shed eight times within two years. The longest time she ever remained in a situation had been five weeks and a half. In consequence of the accounts given me by her master and mistress of her conduct in her last place, I sent her to the shed. She had always been sent to the cotton-room on former occasions, when she returned to the house from service." Mr. Howarth—"It is reported in the paper that you stated et the iriguest that in one place the work was certainly more than the girl could do.'" "when the girl returned to the house she was pat in the shed." "It is also •iated that Miss Stone said the girl eame back of her own accord, and ea, being able to learn the particulars they were obliged to punish her.' What did you mean by that?" "I was so agitated at the time I could sclo.ce7 tell what I did say. I was so browbeaten, and felt so much degraded in the situation in which I was placed, that I hardly know what I said." "By whom were you browbeaten?" "By .the Jury generally; and I felt quite degraded at being placed in such a situation. The next witness was Mr. T. H. Cooper, the parish-surgeon. He had never been consulted about the diet. It would be injurious to the health of a girl to keep her for one week on that diet. Anything that would tend to check the growth of the body, whether for a longer or shorter period, would be more or less disadvantageous. He had no idea that the Master had power to reduce the diet; but he had made repeated al,1ariesirc tions on the subject of the insufficient diet to individual members of the 3: and he had also repeatedly called the attention of the Master and of the Storekeeper to the bad state of the broth in the house, and especially in the infirmary. Lie believed the broth in the infirmary was often thrown away; and three-fourths of the boys in the school never touched the broth. The mutton was frequently almost entirely fat, with a very small portion of lean meat attached to it. The beef was spoiled by being boiled in hot coppers, which rendered the outside per- fectly hard while the inside was not cooked at all. He had not stated his opinion On this subject to the Board; because on one occasion when he suggested that the paupers should not be allowed to wash themselves in vessels selected without re- gard to decency, he was told by the Master of the workhouse, in the presence of he Board, that he had better go and mind his own shop. That insult was un- rebuked by the chairman, and he did not wish to subject himself to a repetition of the same conduct.

The inquiry, which lasted nine hours, was then adjourned until Friday.

• Yesterday, the Board was engaged in taking the evidence of various die- taict-surgeons as to the dietary and the fitness of the " shed" for habita- tion. The inquiry was again adjourned till Tuesday next.

Captain Richardson, chairman of the Tenbury, Worcester, and Ludlow Rail- way, who stands charged, with a forgery on Couns's bank, was vesterday brought up at the Mansionhouse for final examination. The only fresh point elicited was, that Mr. Whitmore, one of the directors, had sisned checks in blank. The prisoner was committed for trial on the charge of forgery, and the witnesses were bound over to prosecute.

At Bow Street Police-office, on Tuesday, George Kurnot, a man who has kept a chemist's shop at Raleigh, in Essex, for twenty years, was charged with ab- stracting a five-pound note from a letter which passed through the post-office at Raleigh, of which he was the keeper. The note was sent in a letter to Mrs. Chambers, from her husband in March last; the absence of the money was noti- fied to the prisoner; about a fortnight since he paid a linendraper of Aldersgate Street for some goods with the identical note, giving his address "Brown, Ra- leigh." The prisoner was remanded, in order that Mr. Chambers; might attend; the Magistrate refusing to take bail.

At the Thames Police-office on Monday, Mr. Mellish. the vestry-clerk of St. Paul, Shadwell, waited upon Mr. Broderip to ask his advice respecting a nuisance which exists in New Gravel Lane, close to the Eastern entrance of the London Docks. A Mr. Cowan carries on there the business of a tallow-melter and bone- boiler; large consignments of putrid oxen are made to him, which he boils down for the fat; in the process poisoning the air of the place around. The health of the inhabitants has suffered. The carcasses, it appears, are those of animals Which are suffocated in the holds of steamers while on the voyage to London from Serious places. Mr. Mellish declared that the nuisance was excessive; the Police- men had informed him that they could scarcely remain on their beats in the neighbourhood when the carcasses were brought to Cowan's factory, or during the process of melting; and they were obliged to apply handkerchiefs steeped in vine- gar to their noses. On Sunday morning the carcasses of six or seven oxen, suffo- cated on board the steamer Lord John Russell, on the voyage from Holland, were brought from Blackwell; they were quite putrid, and some of the carcasses had burst in the vans which brought them to Shadwell. The effluvium was dreadfuL The Magistrate declined giving advice in a matter respecting which he might have to arbitrate; but he remarked that the parochial authorities might prefer an in- dictment at the Sessions.

• From the proceedings at a Coroner's inquest on the body of Richard Homer, a Cab-driver, held in the House of Correction at Cold Bath Melds, it appears that cabmen are subject to harsher treatment than other debtors. This man had been sent to prison for fifteen days, because he had not paid 14s., which he had signed an agreement to give as the daily hire of a cab. Mr. Coroner Wakley expressed an opinion that the committal was illegal: he considered that the act of 1844, which abolished imprisonment for debt on account of sums under 201., applied to the case of cab-drivers: that was the impression of Mr. Hawes, who had charge of the act, and of the House of Commons generally. A solicitor who attended for the friends of the deceased, with the Coroner's concurrence, applied to Mr. Combe, the Clerkenwell Magistrate, who committed Homer, for the grounds of his decision, and also asked to see the agreement on the arength of which the man was convicted. The Magistrate would give no information; • and treated the applicant very discourteously. It appeared from the evidence, that the deceased perished of a disease in no way connected with his incarceration. The Jury re- turned a verdict accordingly; appending a declaration of their regret that cabmen are liable to such harsh treatment, and a condemnation of the " improper, rude, and undignified" behaviour of Mr. Combe to the solicitor.

A serious collision occurred on the river' off Grays, on Monday evening, be- tween the Ruby and the Gnome steamers. The Ruby was going toGravesend, while the other vessel was returning from the Nore with an excursion-party of two hundred persons. From some mismanagement, the two steam-boats came together with great force; the fore part of the Gnome was crushed in, but the engines not having been injured she was ran ashore; where she eventually sank; all the people had previously been taken on board the Ruby. The conduct of the crew belonging to the Ruby, after the disaster, is highly praised.

A fatal disaster befel a sailing-boat on Sunday evening in Erith Reach. There were two watermen and three gentlemen on board. As the boat was coming up the reach, one of the men went aloft to reef the gaff-topsail; while he was doing so, a squall of wind caught the sail, the top-weight of the man above caused the boat to capsize, and the whole party were immersed in the water. Two of the gentlemen and a waterman perished; the others were picked up by a passing Wet.

Another boat was capsized on the same evening in Erith Reach. It contained a waterman and six other people. The waterman swam towards a sailing-barge which was at anchor, and made known the danger of his companions' who were clinging to the overturned vessel; the bargemen immediately put off in their boat, and saved the whole of the party.