8 APRIL 1871, Page 3

Mary Ann Folkard, wife of City Constable Folkard, seems to

be the victim of very cruel circumstances. It is the rule of the City Police that constables must live in the City, but so many poor .dwellings have been pulled down that Folkard can find none. He

lived in one wretched place till the roof was taken off, and then got permission to pig in a large warehouse. His wife, a sober, indust- rious woman, lost her head with misery, tried to commit suicide, and when brought before the Lord Mayor refused to promise to live, unless she could find a home. It was stated that four other con- stables were known to be in the same position. We presume the rale will be relaxed, but there will be trouble with these evictions yet. Rent is fast becoming the misery of the London poor, as it is of the Parisian workmen, and if work were to grow slack it would be the greatest of metropolitan social difficulties.