The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

Zhe elPreOli•

TA CORRESPONVENTS.
Advertisements Intended for " The Express," London Evening
Asper, must be at the Office, 10, Bouverle-street, by Tau
o'clock on the day of publication.

-
MI"BY LANE.
Ardle lessee and manager. Mr. F. B. Chatterton.
THIS livisnin, A DAY ASTRA TII WEDDING —To erns-
(ludo with the YiuMmulroe, Nt`MBEK NIP. Mesdames Lydln
Thompson, Hudspeth, Bodenham, Seymour, Cardonnl, and H
Vsndenhoft ; Messrs. Tom Matthews, Busby. Clifton, Master
Yercy !Warne. Bolen% Lturi, Cormack, Saville, Morris, MAUI..
Bolan, and Marlon.- -To commence at 7.

AYMARKET.
TRTS EVENING, A MERE CHILD Messrs. Howe, Gordon,
te, etc. : Mesdames Chippendale, Fltrwlllimn, Laws.
Powell, dtc.—A LESSON FOB, LIFE. Mr. Sothern --JENNY
11.hll AT LAST. Miss !suck.—And the &tura. Mdlle. Sophia.

rantcsars.
TEM worm, BARNABY straw. moms. S. adhsera,
7. Villiers, 7.G. Mom & Mr. G. Honer /Una A ugusta Thom-
90a and Katherina Rodgers, Mrs. 11. Ytnlng, and Mrs. C. Hors-
inan.--And TUE INVISIBLE PRINCE.

nits avintriri, THE TWO POLTS. Mr. Widdleomb And
BAUCHI Er NOIR. Means, Pechter, Emery, Evans, Morelnd,
Fitzpatrick. Dalton, Reynolds, Lomaa, Andrews, Anderson, ;
Mrs. L Murray, and Misses Remade, Grattan, and C. laq:tarot.

THIq Emtnio, NEIGHBOURS —Atter which will be produced
• Grand ISuricbque. GUY PAWICII3.—And BOOTS AT THE
SWAN.

HOLBORN.
Tnts Irtnnta, MY TURN NEXT. Mr. Belmore: Mimes
no
Foote and Cann:.—And FLYING Messrx
C. Hel
aiindeis,-
mets, Blake, Yollaire, dc. ; Mesdames F. Josephs, C.
Bade You* Adds; Lennox, Raymond, de.
—— -

BRITANNIA.
THIS ET =SING, THE PRINCESS Or THE PEARL ISLAND:
OR, THE THREE KINGDOMS OF PEARL, GOLD, AND
SILVER. Mrs lane.—Mew"Loui., Fredericks, Newham. thr
Martinettee, & Male. Steplian.—And THE SKELETON LEEW.

HIGH MATES AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TIM DAT —Moroing, Oh. etn Afternoon, sh. Vie.
TO-MOZZOW—Marning, Mt. 51m Afternoon, tau 1411‘

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26.

THE charge just brought against the autho-
rities of the Clerkenwell casual ward affords a
fair opportunity for inquiry into the work-
ing of the Houseless Poor Act in that
too notorious parish. The guardians having reso-
lutely closed their doors to independent witnesses,
it becomes the bounden duty of the Poor-law
Board to take the matter up, and to satisfy the
public that the common fund is not being im-
properly applied. A circumstantial statement is
authoritatively made, that destitute wanderers were
often refused shelter a few nights since, on the
ground of their applying " too late." If tins be true
Clerkenwell has no more claim to be reimbursed,
for the sums expended in casual relief, than for any
other item of parochial outlay. The law is, fortu-
nately, very clear on this point, nor is precedent
wanting fur the withdrawal of the necessary certifi-
cate from parishes neglecting to observe it. When
Mr. Arthur Kinnaird and a representative of this
journal discovered that the lodging-house used for
casuals by the Lambeth authorities was so dis-
gracefully overcrowded as to have lost its register,
the publicity given to the fact was followed by
prompt action from Whitehall. The then metro-
politan inspector at once cancelled his certificate,
and Lambeth had, it is to be presumed, to bear
the coat of its own casual relief. The essence of
the Houseless Pour Act is, that London generally
shall bear the charge of the destitute wanderers
found here; and that such parishes as choose to
avail themselves of its provisions shall be reim-
bursed out of a fund raised equally from all. Its
results have been to clear our streets of the
wretched creatures who formerly swarmed there
throughout the bitter winter nights, and to relieve
us of a stigma which refuges, public subscriptions,
and private benevolence had failed to grapple with.
In spite of laws which were imperative, and
official representations which were sufficiently
explicit, the temptation to throw the
burden of relieving tramps and mendicants
upon neighbouring parishes was too strong to be
resisted by the parochial mind ; and refusals to
admit were the rule at nearly every workhouse in
London. The enormous stride taken, when it was
decided to remove this temptation by making
admittance the claim for reimbursement can only
be realised by those who have made the subject
their study, and who remember the condition of our
thoroughfares when the Houseless Poor Act was first
passed, and before its provisions were understood.
But though in some parishes—notably that of St.
Marylebone—it is beginning to be understood that
providing food and shelter, while rigidly enforcing
a task of work in exchange, is the true way of deal-
ing with the hard, sad problem of vagrancy, the
dispositionof other boards of guardians is unaltered,
and there is little doubt that but for the roused
humanity of the general public and the watchfulness'
of the press, the Ilouseless Poor Act would be as
quietly ignored as "the consolidated orders," or any
other of the regulations which the costly establish-
ment at Whitehall has neglected, or been unable to
enforce.
The Clee.tenwell authorities are, it most be re-
membered, celebrities in their way. They were
the most obstinate in their defiance of the law, the
most audacious in their practical expressions of
contempt for it, and the most tardy in yielding to
the calls of ,lecency and humanity. It is but
natural, therefore, now that they are formally
charged with partial resumption of the evil habits
they persisted in so long, that the public should
demand an authoritative answer from its officers
as to whether the alleged offence has been com-
mitted.
Our readers will remember that refusals to admit
at this workhouse became so notorious as to be
several times the subject of comment in Parliament;
that the accommodation provided was so shame-
fully inadequate that naked men and boys were
packed together night after night like the
negroes in the hold of a slave-ship ; and
that the callous answer to all remonstrances
was, that the guardians were unable to hire a suit-
able building for casual wards. Elected for life,
and profoundly indifferent to the opi Mon both of the
general public and their own constituents, the rate-
payers, these worthies doggedly held out in de-
fiance of repeated exposure. At length, after
having made themselves notorious throughout
Great Britain, they succumbed, prepared wards,
and, having obtained the Poor-law Board's certifi-
cate, professed an intention to obey the law. In
pursuance of this resolution they took two steps
which have some significance now. First, they ap_
pointed to their casual wards a man who had been
degraded from parochial employment in another

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