The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-28 00:00:00

76

lettion /Intelligente.

OXFORD CITTVERSFTY.-Dr. Twigs has declined to
become a candidate, and it is almost certain that Sir
W. Heathcote will be returned without opposition.

BRECON.—Our fears have been painfully realised
by the death of Mr. Morgan, at the early age of 25.
On receipt of the intelligence Colonel Lloyd Vaughan
Watkins announced his intention of contesting the
vacant seat. The Conservative party will not an-
nounce any candidate until after the funeral of their
late member.
SOUTH StaoP.—The lamented decease of Mr. Clive
causes a vacancy in the representation of this strictly
agricultural constituency. It is expected that Mr.
Robert Clive, M.P., will be brought forward to fill
his father's seat. Should this course not be adopted,
either Sir Baldwin Leighton, Bart., or the Right Hon.
Colonel Cecil Forester, M.P., are looked upon as the
candidate.

L►.-nLow.—ln the event of Mr. Clive standing for
South Salop, a contest is anticipated for this borough
between Mr. Boffield and Colonel Salwey.
Sours DEVON.—The death of Sir Ralph Lopes
has left a ♦acancy in the representation of the
southern division of Devonshire. No candidate has
yet been named, with any degree of certainty.

STROUD.—Rumours (on what authority we know
not) are afloat here of a vacancy on the meeting of
Parliament by the resignation of Mr. Horsmau. 11l
health is assigned as the cause by some; the accep-
tance of the lordship of the Treasury vacated by Mr.
Sadleir the reason attributed by others. We consider
the report to be devoid of foundation. In anticipa-
tion, however, of the event, the friends of Mr. J. C.
Symons are bestirring themselves ; but we hope,
after the example set in the eastern division, the Con-
servatives of Stroud will, at all events, fight for a
share in the representation.

Sourn Srirrolu).—Both parties are closely occu-
pied with their canvass.

TIIE PREPARATIONS FOR THE NATAL ESTIMATES
for the financial year 1854-5 are now in an advanced
state, and it is expected there will be considerable
alterations in the items for which votes will have to
be taken. In reference to the increase in one branch
of the service, the steam fleet, it appears that, while a
few years since we possessed only about 14,000 horse-
power, the British navy on the Ist inst. included no
less than 202 steam-vessels of all descriptions, with
a nominal power of steam machinery representing
no less than 55,300 horses.

A NEW PATENT SUBSTITUTE FOR GUANO, consisting
of decomposed and concentrated seaweed, is about to
be introduced by Mr. Long-maid, with the view of
claiming the prize of 1,000/. offered by the Royal
Agricultural Society. The material is reduced to a
powder, and is rendered suitable to be applied by
the drill. Many experiments with regard to its fer-
tilising powers are said to have besn made during the
past year. The process is stated to be simple, the
price is estimated at 51. per ton or under, and it is
contemplated to establish manufactories at various
stations on the coast. An analysis by Professor Way
has resulted in showing that this product contains in
every 100 parts 65.62 of organic matter, 13.65 of
soda, and about 16. of soluble salts. Nitrogen is
present in the proportion of 3.23, equivalent to about
4• of ammonia.

NEW CHURCH AT READING, IN BERKS.—In the cen-
tre of the Castle-hill estate, fronting the Bath road,
in Reading, a plot of ground had been apportioned by
the original proprietor of the property for a square,
which was surrounded by a very handsome iron pali-
sading with large gates at each corner. The land
having been recently purchased for the Conservative
Land Society, the executive committee have decided
that the ground in the centre of the square shall be
given for the erection of a new church, the increasing
population of Reading rendering this gift very useful
and beneficial to the locality. This is the second
grant of land for the building of a church by the
Conservative Land Society.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH has been made the
foundation of a furious farce at the Palais Royal
Theatre. The whole plot consists of blunders and
mystifications conveyed by the electric wires, and
nearly all the characters are supposed employes of
the telegraphic-offices in Paris and Lyons.
. _

AN ORIGINAL PIECE by a Belgian author has been
produced at Brussels, where the theatres for many
a year have been accustomed to subsist upon dramas
borrowed from Paris. This phenomenon is called
Le Cornett a Bruxelles.

Tat ASPECT OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS has produced almost
a panic in the Lyons silk-market, lately so prosperous.
The daily amount of the silk conditioned in that city is
now less than half the average quantity in December.

TIIE PRESS.

THE CITY POLICE.


AT Tuesday's sitting of the City Corporation Inquiry
Commissioners, Mr. D. W. Harvey was examined,
and gave the following statement respecting the civic
police force under his command, and which he was,
of course, most reluctant to see amalgamated with
the general body of metropolitan police. He said :
" The suggestion has been made that the police should
be incorporated into one general metropolitan system.
Upon that point I would say that, in the event of such a
system being determined on, its real heart and centre
ought to be in the City, and not in Scotland-yard. Where
there is one detective case brought before the metro-
politan police there are ten such cases brought before the
City police ; and I believe that great injury and insecurity
to the City would arise from merging the smaller juris-
diction with the larger, and combining, for instance,
Cheapside with Whitechapel, and Bishopsgate with Shore-
ditch, without reference to the peculiarities of each
district. The City police consists of 579 men and the
metropolitan force of 5,492. Last year the cost of the
City police amounted to 44,3411., or 741. 17s. lid. per
man, and the cost of the metropolitan police was 391,8251.,
or 711. Os. 111. per man ; making the City police cost
3/. 10s. 20. per man more than the metropolitan police.
I do not speak under corporate influence, but I consider
that the City ought to have an adequate number of police,
and that it should have a coequal authority with the
Metropolitan Commissioners, because to expect the
merchants and bankers of the City, absorbed in business
as they are, to go, if they want advice and assistance, all the
way to Whitehall-place is as much as to say that they must
do without the service of the police altogether. I have
upwards of 100 persons coming to my office every day
upon various subjects connected with the police, and
those persons are not content with seeing my superin-
tendents, but will see and consult with the highest autho-
rity. The City police is regarded as a sort of ' parental
police.' A great proportion of them are required for
special services. A certain number are necessary to
keep order in the police courts. From 25 to 80 have
cases to attend to ; 18 have the charge of Smithfield on
Mondays and Fridays ; and about 30 have to attend
at Guildhall on Saturdays, when the omnibus and
cab cases are being heard. It frequently happens that
from 70 to 80 men are dranghted off in this manner.
I am clearly of opinion that the City ought not to be
swamped in the general system of metropolitan police,
because it should be remembered that, although the
actual residents in the City number only 128,851, the
number of persons who go into the City daily for business
purposes is 316,000, giving a total of 448,8,51. The
number of persons passing through Cheapside daily in
14,000 cabs, omnibuses, and other vehicles, is 52,10 J, and
the number of pedestrians is 67,500, making the total
number 119,600. Another reason why the City requires
a greater number of police than the remainder of the
metropolis arises from the fact that a vast number of
warehouses and places of business, containing large
quantities of valuable property, are deserted by the
persons engaged in them during the day. The efficiency
of the City police may be judged of from the following
statistics. In the ten years from 1842 to 1852 they brought
before the City magistrates 51,867 persons ; and the
metropolitan police within the same period took 660,764
persons before the stipendiary magistrates, Of the total
number there were discharged in the City 20,346, or about
39 per cent. ; and in the metropolitan districts there were
discharged 333,960, or upwards of 50 per cent. In the City
there were summarily convicted 27,268, or 52 per cent. ;
while in the metropolitan districts the number was
278A48, or 42 per cent. The committals for trial within
the City were 4,113, or 8 per cent.; and in the metropolitan
districts 48,456, or 7 per cent. The number tried and con-
victed in the City was 2,426, or 84 per cent. of those com-
mitted; while in the metropolitan district it was 37,480,
or about 77 per cent. The number tried and acquitted
was, in the City, 687, or Iti per cent., and in the metropo-
litan districts 10,976, or 23 per cent. The number of
robberies committed in the City during the same ten years
was 15,415, while in the metropolitan districts it amounted
to 123,761, or about Bto I. These last figures are appa-
rently in favour of the metropolitan districts, but the
record of robberies committed is not kept so completely
in the other districts as in the City. The value of the
property stolen in the City was 117,8181., of which
66,t771., or 56 per cent., was reoffered, while in the
metropolitan districts the value of the property stolen was
377,8001., the proportion recovered being 86,7701., or only
23 per cent. Every case of robbery committed within the
City, from the person or otherwise, is thoroughly investi-
gated when reported ; and, notwithstanding the great
number of persons who come into the City daily, having
about them large sums of money, I should be perfectly
ready to guarantee that the loss does not on an average
amount to more than 30/. a day ; and this I think is some
proof of the efficiency of the City police. I now come
to the cost of maintaining the City police. The Govern-
ment pays one-fourth of the expense of the metropolitan
police out of the Consolidated Fund ; and a similar contri-
bution towards the City police is paid out of the City's cash
by the Corporation. On the occasion of the Duke of
Wellington's funeral the Corporation paid out of their own
funds as much as 2,0001. for extra constables ; and they
never hesitate to pay considerable sums on occasions of
that nature from their own resources. The police-rate in the
City amounts to 7d. in the pound, and that of the metropo-
lis to fid. ; bat the City rate is a net rate, and the metro-
politan is a gross one. The cost of collection has to be
added to the metropolitan rate, which brings it up, in point
of fact, to an amount quite equal to that of the City. In
the parish of Marylebone the inhabitants pay as much to-
wards the police as the citizens do ; but Marylebone has only
300 men to the square mile, while the City has 587, with
the additional advantage of the entire control over its own