At a Court of Common Council, on Thursday, Alderman Waithman
presented the petition of a gentleman named Holmes, praying that the Court would inquire into the practicability of supplying the metropolis by means of railways with coals from the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Alderman again adverted to the enormous tax which the coal-lords levied on the public ; and stated that it amounted to 800,0001.—not to 400,000/. as he had formerly supposed. Mr. Tickner remarked that public opinion would soon prove too strong for the coal-lords, powerful as they are.
Mr. Bousfield then submitted to the Court, a matter connected with the new Secondary. It appeared, he said, in the newspapers, that a verdict had been given by a Jury against the Secondary for having maliciously issued a commission of bankruptcy against a man named Cotton : he therefore moved, "that a committee should be appointed to inquire into the circumstances of the case ; and that in the mean time the Court of Aldermen should be requested not to swear the new Secondary into office." After sotne discussion, the cotnmittee was unanimously agreed to.
The parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden has lately been saddled with heavy additional expenses, in consequence of the new police force in that district bringing to the watchhouse of that parish all the disorderlies whom they fall in with in that quarter, though these may have been apprehended in adjoining parishes. A man was last week found insensible in a part of the Strand, which happens to be in the parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, and carried to Covent Garden watehhouse. When a surgeon arrived, he was found to be dead ; and when the body was opened, it was ascertained that he had died suddenly, from an affection of the heart. This seemed to warrant the transference of the expenses of the funeral, as the per. son was unknown to the parish of St. Martin's ; and so the Jury decided. The Jury then signed the following recommendation, which, at their request, the Coroner promised to forward to the Commissioners of Police. "Tile Jury recommend to the Commissioners of Police, that they will give orders to the police force of this district, to remove persons found in a similar condition to the deceased to the nearest surgeons, and if death ensues, to carry the body to the workhouse of the parish in which it is found."
A meeting of the St. Martin's Vestry was appointed to take place in the Vestry_ room of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, yesterday, for the purpose of considering matters relative to the Almshouses. Some of the non-select parishioners, who had no right to be present, found means to enter the room, and refused to depart. A disturbance ensued, which became so boisterous in an attempt to eject them, that the police were called upon to interfere.
There was a meeting of the inhabitants of St. Saviour's Parish, Southwark, on Tuesday, to inquire into some charges of malversation, arising out of contracts which the parish authorities had formed. A committee was appointed to investigate Abe case. The West Middlesex Water Company held a meeting on Tuesday, for the purpose of receiving the report of the Directors relative to the Company's affairs and for declaring a dividend. A dividend of thirty shillings a share was deela'red; and a correspondence which the Chairman had had in June last with Mr. Peel was submitted to the meeting. Some discussion arose as to the propriety of publish. ing the report of the Directors, containing as it did some reflections on Mr. Peel.
The thirty-fifth anniversary of the acquittal of Thomas Hardy was celebrated 011 Thursday, at the Golden Lion, West Smithfield. Mr. Hardy was present. The common toasts were drunk, and the usual speeches repeated.
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