The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-19 00:00:00

THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

We have just seen an agreement, already signed by
most of the respectable business firms in town, which
sets forth that " We, being desirous of affording the
assistants in our employ an opportunity of social enjoy-
ment -during the festivities of Christmas, agree to close
our establishments on Monday next, the 25th instant."
This agreement is still in course of signature, and it is
in Contemplation to publish the names when the list is
complete. There can thus be no doubt that all the
leading and respectable houses in trade etrill be shut up
on Monday next. The boon will be highly appreciated
by many h4ndreds of laborious clerks, shopkeepers; and
assistants, Whnie eihaiisting toil is so incessant nd whost)
opportunities for holiday recreation are to feit. They
will return to their duties after three entire holidays
grateful for the privilege so gracefully extended to them
and reinvigorated by the brief relaxation. This is a
judicious step on the part of the employers; for although
in the first place it involves a little sacrifice, it will, we
trust, be amply repaid in the end by the increased zeal
and energy of their employes, and by those substantial
acknowledgments which a discerning public likes to
bestow upon those who show that they exercise kind
ness and consideration towards all who serve them.

ROBERT STEVENSON IN THE AKBAR.

TO THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE LIVERPOOL REFORMA-

TORY ASSOCIATION.

GENTibIE*,—Mi. thing has done me the honour to
notice my letter to you of the 12th instant; dud, As 14_
has in a sense endorsed the strictures of the editor of
the Daily Post thereon, I think it proper first to refet
to those remarks before I animadvert on his letter. The
editor states that I had not read this controversy with
care, for had I done so I should have seen the letter
written from the gaol was acknowledged. On referring
to Mr. Hains' letter in the Post of the 23rd November,
I read these words—" A letter was sent by the governor
of Walton gaol advising them (the parents) of the boy's
detention, but, being wrongly directed, it never reached
its destination." • This surely is not acknowledging it I
And then, after kindly giving me credit for good intention 4
a supposed inconsistency between my statements and
Major Greig's report is pointed out. The editor does
not seem to have noticed that the head constable's report
refers merely to the proceedings of his own officers, and
to the work done by them. Important as this work is,
however, it does not embrace all that is accomplished in
the working of the Reformatory Act. The amount
acknowledged by Major Greig as having been paid into
court, £3l 9s. 6d., and which the editor derides as exhi-
biting " a profitable business," was the amount received
on distress warrants only; the total amount received
during the year in respect of the orders made by the
magistrates having been, as already publicly stated,
upwards of £2BO.

I have no controversy with Mr. Rains, and it is not
my purpose to resume the question as to whether the
boy Stevenson has been properly committed, since I feel
satisfied that, with the evidence already before you and
what will appear in the sequel, no one but Mr. Rains
will longer doubt ; but I do feel called upon to correct
some of my reverend brother's statements, lest his prin..
ciple should prevail with any of your members, that
what is not denied- must be accepted as true. Mr.
Rains states that the " language of the act specifies
that a magistrate shall not commit a boy to gaol
previous to his being sent to a reformatory, unless
communication be had with his parents ;" and Mr.
Heins goes on to say—" this part of the law was
here altogether neglected. It is in vain for Mr.
Carter to say that the Government officer visited the
parents' house on the first occasion ; that does not do
away with the injustice, the unreasonableness, the ille-
gality of not communicating with them upon his second
apprehension. The officer's omission in this respect
appears to me to be a direct contravention of the plain
language of the act." Mr. Rains must have known
when he penned this, or, if not, he ought to have
known, that there is no such provision in the act either
expressed or implied. He then quotes the law as to the
provisions for enforcing the parental responsibility, and
demands, "How is it that this portion of the act has
not been carried into effect in the Stevenson case ?"
Has it escaped his eye, in reading my letter, that I there
distinctly stated that a summons had been issued, but
that the detective police-officer charged with its service
had failed to find the parents, and had returned the
summons endorsed "left."

Mr. Haim says—" Mr. Carter admits that during the
few days he (tbe boy) was at Walton Gaol he was more
than once flogged," and repeats it in a subsequent part
of his letter. I cannot but wish Mr. Hains had been a.
little more accurate when referring to my words, and
that he could justify his suppression when he merely
states that among the lad's faults were creating a dis-
turbance and refusing to work. Why does he keep out
of sight the more grave offence of " breaking his window
and destroying Government property," and why did be
adopt a word to designate the punishment which, so far
from using, I did not even imply ? The boy was not
flogged.
Captain Hill will no doubt notice the allusion to biro
in the P.S. of Mr. Haim' letter, and it may safely be
left to that gentleman to make such reply as he may see
fit. For his information, and as confirmatory of the
statements put forth in my first letter to you, I here
give extracts of reports, in my possession, of two
police-constables, both of whom served on the beat of
Stevenson's home at the time the boy was residing
there. Police-constable 342 states that he recollects
being on duty in Paget-street in 1858, and says :—" I
recollect taking the boy Stevenson out of one of Messrs.
Busby's 'buses, which was standing in a yard in Denbigh-
street, between the hours of nine p.m. and six a.m., and
took him home and gave him up to his mother, in Paget-
street. She complained that he was a very bad boy, and
stopped out all night, and if he did not promise to be-
have better she would have him locked up. He
promised to behave better. About a week afterwards I
found him in a donkey shed during the hight, under the
railway between Denbigh-street and Lightbody-street ;
turned him out and sent him about his business, and told
him if I caught him out at night again I would lock
him up ; did not see him out afterwards."
An inspector of police reports as follows :—Ex-
police constable 258 states that "he knew the boy
Stevenson, and that he had found him sleeping out
several times, and that he had sent him home more than
once or twice. The last time he found him he was
sleeping in a cart at the top of Denbigh-street, with
two other lads, and he took him home to Paget-street.
Mrs. Stevenson stated to the police officer that he was a
bad lad, and she wished he was locked up, and he might
be better; that he was never above one night a week in
the house. She also stated to the police officer that the
lad had stolen trifling things out of the house, but she
had never preferred any charge against him."
Thus, then, we have the concurrent testimony of four
independent witnesses—Captain Hill, Mr. Kirkbride,
and two police constables—to the mother's statement of
the uniform bad conduct of the lad, who, notwithstand-
ing, is described by Mr. Hains as " unjustly used, still
in possession of a good name, and of an untarnished
character!"

I have now done with this controversy, for I have
sufficiently vindicated the boy's commitment and deten-
tion. The appeal, after all, is not to the public, but to
the Secretary of State. On the lad's treatment on board,
and Captain Fenwick's proceedings, it would be impro-
per for me to enter ; these points will become, no doubt,
the matter of discussion in a court of law.—l am, gen-
tlemen, faithfully yours, THOMAS CARTER.
Borough Gaol, 17th Dec., 1860.

ALLEGED SUlClDE.—Yesterday morning, a man named
John Welsh, 48 years of age, a painter and glazier,
living at 312, Scotland-road, was found suspended from
a hook in the back kitchen, with a silk handkerchief tied
round his neck. He was cut down at once, but was
quite dead. The deceased had been drinking very much
for some time past, and it is supposed he hung himself
whilst in a state of insanity.
LIVERPOOL DISPENSARIES.—cw. cases received
advice and medicine at the institution : North, 251;
South, 158 ; total, 409. New cases visited at their own
houses and supplied with medicine : North, 79 ; South,
45 ; total, 124. Rev. Recto! Campbell, A.M., Pre-
sident ; Major Bourne, Vice-President of North
Dispensary; Mr. R. A. Payne, Vice-President of South
Dispensary ; Mr. Francis Mill, Treasurer ; Mr. F.
Langley, secretary,