The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-03 00:00:00

WELL CASUAL WARDS.

Yesterday Mr. Corbett, the London inspector of
the Poor-law Board, held an inquiry at the Clorkenwell
workhouse, respecting certain charges which have been
made against the officials of the casual wards of illegally
refusing relief to wayfarers and applicants for what is
known as casual relief. The inquiry arose out of state-
ments which hare appeared in the public prints, and
charges specifically made by the Poor-law Board. There
weree many guardians present during some parts of the
TT. sedteitor of the board watched the case for the
guardians and officials; and inspector Potter, of the G
of police, was present on behalf of the Police Coin-

William Taylor said he was the night porter at the
Clerkenwell casual ward. He twos on duty on the night
of the 22nd of December. About a quarter to one o'clock
on the morning of the 23rd two men asked him if he could
give them a night's lodging. On their going into the pas-
sage one of them staggered against the door, and when
they got near the gas he saw that both men were drunk.
He refused to give them • lodging, and they went into
the street. He locked the door, and proceeded down the
, but had not gone far when he heard • violent
passage
gat the door. He returned and opened it, and
found a third man with a hat on. The same two men
were still lounging against the wall. He asked the third
one if he meant to kick the hones down, to which he
replied that he wished to know if he refused the
men admittance. One of the men said, "We have been
knocking, and he said he could not give us • night's
lodging ; we don't see that you can do more for us than
we have done for ourselves." The gentleman said., "You
ought to take in all who apply ; I know the law well."
Witness replied, " I know a little of the law, too, and if
you kick at the door again in that way, in the state you're
in, I'll have you locked up." There was a policeman on
the pavement outside at the time. Witness previously
told the gentleman that he was drunk. Witness spoke to
the policeman, and said, " This is not the first time that•
this man (pointing to the gentleman in question) has come
to get drunken casuals in." After some further conversa-
tion the gentleman and the two men went away, and
witness saw no more of them that night. The
policeman did not ark him to admit the men,
nor did he express any opinion as to whether
they were sober, or ought to be admitted. He
suspected they were drunk from the fact of Fleeing them
lounging against the wall. He was quite sure that on the
night of the 23rd he did not refuse to admit any one on
the ground of its being too late, nor upon anyother ground.
Mr. White, the gentleman referred to by the porter,
asked the witness what his calling was before he became
porter at the Clerkenwell workhouse.
Several guardians protested against the question.
Mr. Corbett said he was the person to decide, and he
considered the question quite relevant.
The witness said be had been a police-constable.
Mr. White asked the reason of his leaving the force.
The guardians again entered their protest, but
Mr. Corbett directed the witness to reply to the question.
The witness replied he had been dismissed ; and in
answer to another question, said the cause of his dismissal
was the commission of an assault, for which he was tried
and convicted ; but he had been in the force eleven years,
srd no other complaint had been preferred against him.
The sole reason for his refusing to admit the men was
because he believed them to be drunk.

Richard Faithorn, police-constable 158 0, was next err
mined. He said be was on duty near Clerkenwell casual
ward on the night of the 22nd of December. At one o'clock
on the morning of the 23rd he heard a loud kicking at
the door of the casual ward, and on going there
found three persons, one of whom was admission
for the other two. The person who wrstifing admit-
tance appeared to be a gentleman, and was somewhat ex-
cited. When witness got to the door the gentleman said,
" Here policeman, I want you. Do you think I am drunk?"
Seeing him in an excited state he did not know what to say,
but he told him he did not seem to be perfectly sober. The
gentleman, whom he recognised as Mr. White, said his
sobriety would be proved, and then called him to witness
that the casuals were illegally refused admission. The
porter did not say in his presence why he had refused to
admit the men. He thought that from the appearance
of the men they had been drinking, and still
thought so, but he was now aware that Mr. White
was perfectly sober. Both of the men said they had
travelled all day, and had applied to other places for ad-
mission, and had been refund. Mr. White asked them
to name the other places, but they could not describe
them. The porter made a remark to the effect that Mr.
White had brought persons to the house before, and said
that if he persisted in making a disturbance he would lock
him up. That was after Mr. White had spoken to him.
Replying to Mr. White he said the two men were not
lounging whist the wall. He remembered Mr. White
appealing for admission for the men. The porter advanced
and told Mr. White to get out of the place, to which Mr.
White replied that he would not give him (the porter) the
chance of committing a breach of the peace, and then in-
vited the men to go away. Witness saw Mr. White give
the men some money. Witness did not say, " Why, you
are all three drunk." The morning was misty, and it
commenced to rain heavily about the time of the occur-
rence in question. It was the appearance of the two men
that induced him to think they were not sober, but they
were thoroughly capable of taking care of themselves.
Mr. John White was then examined. He said that on
the morning of the 23rd he was returning from • pro-
fessional duty, and on pealing the Clerkenwell casual
ward, • little before 1 o'clock, he saw two men huddling
themselves up, as it were, out of the rain which was then
coming down. He stood and looked at them a minute or
two, waiting to see the door opened, supposing they had
knocked. He then spoke to them and asked them if they
were waiting for • loing. One of them replied that
they wished to get • leng, but they would not be ad-
mitted. He then knocked with his fist, but as he got no
answer, after having waited about two minutes, he
knocked again louder than before, and wu ultimately
obliged to knock a third time still more loud. The porter
then appured, and on witness asking why he did not
admit the men, be replied, "What is that to you?"
Witness said, "Never mind that; do you know that it is
against the law to refuse them r He replied, "Don't you
come here making your drunken row.'' After detailing
other incidents, the witness said the porter advanced
towards him threateningly, and said, "You get out of
this." Witness's impression was that the man intended
violence, and, after ascending the steps, told him he would
not give him any opportunity to commit • breach of the
When witness had left the door the porter said, " I
know you ; you have brought people here before." Wit-
ness then told the men to go with him to • place where
they would be provided with • lodging, and at the same
time gave them sonic money. He pointed out to them the
road to another ward, and left them.
The witness, in answer to Mr. Corbett, said be did not
see the slightest appearance of drink about the men. They
gave coherent and straightforward answers to the ques-
tions which he put to them. Both of them seemed very
much fatigued.
In reply to Mr. Boulton (solicitor to the guardians) he
stated that nothing was said as to the men being drunk,
because if he had seen them intoxicated he would not have
persisted in his demand for their admission. Considering
the fact that he had been engaged in conversation with
the men. and that the policeman and porter had not been.
he thought he had • better opportunity of judging of the
state of the men than either of those persona.
Mr. Frederick Northfield. • tradesman living near the
wards, deposed to having seen Mr. White and the casuals
on the night in question, and testified that all three were
perfectly sober.
Inspector Potter, of the G division, said he had had
frequent complaints of the conduct pursued by the officials
of the Clerkenwell casual ward to persons applying for
relief, and he handed to Mr. Corbett reports from the dis-
trict station in proof of the fact.
Mr. Corbett said the guardians of the Clerkenwell
Union should caution the porter of the casual ward against
conduct such as that which appeared to have been
adopted towards Mr. White. He would also anggeet the
advisability of the guardians providing • book in which
the name of every applicant for admission should be re-
corded, and also, in case of refusal, the grounds for such
refusal. The evidence taken at the inquiry would be
submitted to the Poor-law Board, and the decision would
be forwarded to the guardians. He thought the guar-
dians ought to be very much obliged to Mr. White for
bringing the matter before them.
A vote of thanks to Mr. Corbett terminated the pro-
ceedinp.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF THE METROPOLIS.
—The Right Hon. S. H. Walpole, the Secretary of State
for the Home Department, has appointed Tuesday next,
the Bth inst., at 2 o'clock, to receive the deputation agreed
to at the recent public meeting at St. James's Hall, called
by the Metropolitan Munic.psl Association for Promoting
the better Local Government of the Metropolis. It is be-
lieved that Lord Ebury, the president of the association,
and the following vies-presidents, will form part of the
deputation :—Mr. Charles Buxton, M.P., the Hon. F.
Byng, Mr. R. W. Crawford, M.., Mr. Grant Duff,
M.P., Professor Fawcett, M.P., Sir W. Freer,
Bart., Mr. George Godwin, F.H.8., the Hon.
Captain Grosvenor, M.P., Mr. T. Hughes M.P.,
Mr. Layard, M.P., Mr. Alderman Lusk, Mr.
Wykehanialartin, M.P., Mr. J. 8. Mill, M.P., Lord
Robert Montagu, M.P., Mr. Hamden, M.P., Mr. G.
Tomlin., M.P., the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P., and
Mr. James White, M.P. Many other influential gentle-
men, members of the general council of the association,
will also be present. Sumo the meeting at St. James'.
Hall the list of members and friends of the association has
largely increased, and the listed additions include the
mums of Mr. Benjamin Scott (City Chamberlain), Mr. W.
Lawley, Mr. W. Phillips, Mr. R. Mazsdee, Mr. A. Marten,
Mr. G. Offor, Mr. Warburton Start, &c.
[Advsrlisement.] HOLLOWAY'S PaLs.—Those
celebrated Pills sre especially went in preventing the dl effects
of luxurious living. They purity the blood, cleanse the stomach,
gently stimulate the kidneys and act as mild aperients. With-
out some such corrective asHolloway's Pills the festivity of one
day atter debars us from all enjoyment for a week. • few dews
of this purifying medicine set the foulest stomach right, re-
strain biliousness, steady the circulation, give strength to the
muscles, and composure to the brain and nerves. The Pills are
incapable of doing mischief to the most delicate constitution.
When the system has been enervated by over indulgent" or ex-
hausted by mercurial preparations, these pills are excellent
restoestives ; they =pea all poison and earica the blood.