The Act passed last Session to permit the appointment of
Roman Catholic or Dissenting chaplains to gaols, at the discretion of the county magistrates, has already been carried into operation in some places. In Liverpool, a Roman Catholic chaplain has been appointed, with a salary of 300/. a year. At Worcester and Wakefield similar appointments have been made. But the Middle- sex magistrates have, we regret to say, refused to appoint a Roman Catholic chaplain to Coldbath Fields House of Correction, the Westminster House of Correction, and the Clerkenwell House of Detention. On Thursday a meeting of the Middlesex magistrates was held to consider the subject. There were, it was said, now 350 Roman Catholic prisoners in Coldbath Fields, and at Westmin- ster 250. Last year 4,691 prisoners had passed through the West- minster House of Correction, of whom 2,082 were Roman Catholics. At Coldbath Fields the number of Roman Catholic prisoners visited was about 20, and at the Westminster House of Correction only 15. There seemed, therefore, great need of a regular chap- lain, but the magistrates refused to appoint one. One resolution, of which the drift was simply to obtain more accurate details before making the appointment, was negatived by 31 to 16. The original resolution recommending the appointment was negatived by 33 to 19. So the Roman Catholics are to go without religious offices because the Protestants choose to play dog in the manger.
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