The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-13 00:00:00

(Stamped, hi. Additional.) (TWOPENCE.

PAALIAMICNTARY COMMITTALS.

POOR RELIEF IN THE METROPOLL,.
The select committee appointed by the House of
Commons to inquire into the working of the poor laws in the
metropolis and throughout the uouutry generally resumed
their investigation yestrrday ; the }light Hon. C. P. Villiers,
President of the Poor law Board, in the chair. The other
members preisuut were Lord 11. Cecil, Lord S y, Mir W.
Jollitle, Mr. Lyall, Mr. Kekewich, Lord ward, Mr.
Barley, Sir J. Acton, Mr. Moeckteu &theme
Iletoeurt, Mr. Lowe, Lord Yermoy, 8tr454. er, mad
Mr. Alderman Sidney.
The Rev. Mr. Carr, chaplain of the Union, and
incumbent of St. John's, Limehome, we lust whams
celled. la reply to the chairman, he that great
distrees prevailed in Liroehouse dunng the Arst fortnight or
three weeks of the month ceJ weary, and Mikes private beiea
relator bad set in, there 'meld have bees *great deal of star.
ration. It was impossible fur the distress to be met by the
machinery which existed in connexionsnth the board draw
dims, and but for private charity many pincer would here
gape without relief altogether. The mums of the distrem
were serious. In the first instance there wee a general
slackeese of employment doting the sommer, and when the
whiter cune the poor found themselves whited mauves te
fall beck upon. The consequence was that there was
• rush upon the parish authorities for relief, sad
se many Es could get into the work!~ were revered
until • late hour in the eveniug. It mis impossible, hew
ever, for the aged and feeble to COMMA, the able.
bodied, and may, did set kepi', et all, ail who did
apply were refused. According to Malta retana
the population of St. John's, Limehouse, was 8,000. Ss
far sa be waa aware no extra arrangements win made for
distributing relief. Many persons were in attasidanoe Iron
11 o'clock le the morning until 8 o'clock at might, walking
about the cold yard with nothing to eat.
The Chairman—What was the sort of relief afforded?

/LIB.

.... _.....-. -..-.--.
Witness—Bread and meat, to be consumed at the beam
of the applicants. Being the clisplaio of the workhouse, I
law the relief going on ; and I made inquiries of thermoses'
who were in attendance. The greater part of tie appli-
cants were able-bodied, stroog Irishmen, usually employed
in landing and unloading the vessels at the waterside.
Sometimes theparish authorities offered relief in the work-
house, butit was refused, as the applicants were diaincliued
to break up their homes for the purpose of going to the
workhouse.

The Chairman—Then that would not be the mee of a re-
fusal of relief, but the offering of a kind of relief whisk
the applicants did not choose to take?
Witnems--It required too greet a eacriftre from them, and
they world rather 'Woe than accept it en seek conditions.
Is some ewes I have reason to believe that it was uttered
with • perfect knowledge that it would be refused.
The Mainnia--Do you know of say cues in which relief
was *dually refined?
Witome—Yes. I know the case of a man named Brown
coloured man, and his wife. They were in deep dist/son,
and applied for relief, and they told me they were refused.
They had lived in the neighbourhood for upwards el 90
yeare, and were very deserving people. Ido not know that
an imbsequeutly interfered in their behalf. I did not
with the guardian au that 0031111100, bet
I have on ethers. From observations which I have per-
sonally made, I em inclined to believe that the gee/diens al
the Stepney Unto. act more as iris:diens of the rely
payees them of the poor. I was actively ereploysdduring
the crisis in distributing private charity, sod dung the
whole of the time I was so engaged I never heard of any
estra exertions being made by the earthen. I believe
the relieving °Some did their utmost under the circum-
stances, but their ruff was altogether inadequate to give
relief to all who required it. The clergy were most active
is their efforts to alleviate the distress, and they received
lerger contributions from private sources this year than oe
any former °manes. The whole of the clergy of the
district, with twelve scripture readers, were engaged ia
taking down the names of those who applied for relief and
is investigating the various cases. In January we expended
260 i. principally in food. le one week we expended 841. in
lased and crisis.

The Chairroan—Then you are of opinion that bet for
your exertion a large number of pawns would have goal
vowebeved?

Withera:-I believe that if it bad not bees for what we
did many would have starved. Indeed, ons poor woman
met me the other day, sod said, "Oh sir, you saved the
lives of my children.* Many persons duffel that inclement
season were without fueL I used to write frequently to
the guardian complaining of their not giving relief.
The Chairman—Did they pay any attention to your ems-
musioatioes ?
Wither—Sometimes they did, but oftener limy did 60i.
The Chairman- Did they relieve the cuss to which you
drew their attention' • v
Witeem—Not always.
The Chairman—Thee, do you attribute their refusal to
relieve those persons to a desire to keep down the rates?
Witness—lt is evident that the view they took of the
various cams is different from mine, or, at any rate, they
would have afforded partial relief.
By Lord B. Got?—Many perorate ware kept waiting for
relief for hours, and I know of one CYO In which a Mall who
applied for relief at 11 o'clock in the morning did not get
relieved until eight at night. The doors of the yard were
closed et 12 o'clock. and the women were obliged to eland is
' the crowd in the open air during that bitter weather.
Many came away, unable to stand the preseure of the
erowil aad the severe cold. There were two or three
policemen in the yard to keep order, and they formed the
people into gangs, to be admitted aa their turn arrived. U
a person goes into the workhouse be is obliged to break up
his hoes', and that is the rowan he will Milt, any pier
lieu in preference. I think it most undesirable that out-
door relief should not be afforded to persons of good cha-
racter who have unfortunately become distressed in their
eircurestasom. I believe there are beds for destitute per-
sons who apply for relief late at night. and tempoory as-
sistance is given to them in tim morning.
By Sir W. Jolliffe—My evidence le coedited to R. John's
district. The last poor•rate for the quarter was Is. Id. in
the pound, but the average for the year is about U. is the
pound. I believe a higher rate is paid in St. Cleoupe's-le-
the Esst. During the distress the relieving officer and the
master of the workhouse devoted themselves most unremit-
tingly to the relief of the poor. There is always difficulty
in obtaining relief from the board of guardians, and when,
obtained it is altogether inadequate for the wants of those
who require it, As • remedy for the evil I would rake away
from the board of guardians the exclusive power of grant-
ing relief. They say, as an excuse for sot giving more relief,
that they are bound to protect the interests of the rate-
payees. I believe that to a considerable extent the value of
• relieving officer is estimated by the hosed of guardians ac-
cording to the smaller. of the amount of relief he distri-
butos-

Lovd R. Cecil —Do I understood you to say that the old
ileiars tad in the workhouse of the Stepney unless I
toess— ' 'sly. 1 believe there is no provision what.
ever for married people in the workhouse.
Yr. 8. ratcourt—l wish the point to be made perfectly
clear. Do I understand you to say that at present there are
in the Stepney Workhouse married persona above the age of
65 who am not allowed to live as man and wife, but are

ascell :_cerway.
Mr. John Chan iugton, chairman of the Stepney board of
guardians, was then called, and in answer to Mr. Lowe,
mid—l have heard the evidence of the last witness, and
bays certainly leaned a great deal since I entered the room.
I think, however, that I shall be able to give Mr. Carr •
good deal of information upon matters respecting which he '
5 to be igoerant.
llr Lowe—Perhaps you can give us some information in
referees* to the separation of married couples in your union.
Witasse—The Stepvey Union is at prevent in a transition
state. We are about to build a new house, and have already
purchased the land arid prepared the plans. The union se
composed of four parishes and bee three workhouses—two
for adults and one for children. The houses for adults,
which are small, ars allotted, one for women solely and the
other chiefly for men. Married couples are not necessarily
separated, but I should think it very likely that they are in
fact ; but I have known the union since 1843, and during
that time I oinnot remember any applicatioa from any old
couple to enjoy the privileges which the law allows them.
On the other hand, I have beard it stated by guardians of
other union, where such privileges have been allowed, •
my improper use has been made of them.
Mr. Lowe—Then, in fact, they are *operated?
Wither—They are ; but in the uew house provision wM
be made for them. I am much surprised to bear—
indeed I cannot believe it possible—that in any ease
• person has been refused relief became his settle-
ment bad not been ascertained. With regard to
the late arias, it was q, when it arose. that
meetings of the board should be held more frequently than
ordinarily. Re met twice a week, and also bed various
committee meetings. The object of our meeting mere fre-
quently we to meet any crisis which might arise in cow-
=of tbe distresswhich prevailed among the working
Upon several warriors& we sent for the renames
officers and asked them what was the state of things, and
they invariably told us they were meeting the distress sow
in a much IEO7III satisfactory manner than they bad most
mime of • imam character ia previous years. A good deal
of additional relief was given in kind, but none in money,
sad no applicator' was made to the board in consequence.
I have the pleasure of Mr. Carr's acquaintance as chaplain of
Batcliffe-houne, and have frequently received letters from
him in retinae' to the state of the parish, but until this
week I was not at all aware of Mr. Carts feeling in the
nrAtter. I do not remember receiving a letter from him
daring the whole of the crisis, and I was not aware until a
day or two ago that he was about to give evidence before
this calamities. I feel quite certain, from the character of
oar relieving oaken from the character of the board gene-
rally, and from the Orders which have been given from time
to time, that the poor-laws are as satisfactorily administered
in the Stepney Union as in any other. Outdoor relief is
not given to able.bodied men, but it is given to able-bodied
women with four or fire children. la the ease of the
6 coloured man, Brown, he had received provisional relief

from the board. During the aids the relieving offiosr •
brought hint before the board, ending that be WAS in •
sadly destitute emidition, and the opinion of the board was
that he would be ter better a in the Louse than in the way
in which he was then living. We accordingly offered hint
the house, which he refused to acoept. Ido not admit that
es a system the relief we give is not adequate to the wants
of the who apply for it. If the persons relieved wholly
de *dupes it, it wouldbe inadequate, but that is not the
e. Ido not think oar relief should be small because
ours is a poor parish. On the contrary, I take it that the
spirit of the poor-law is this—that the amount of relief
should be the Name in • poor parish as in a rich one, and
should have nothing to do with the amount of the rate.
Lord Robert Cecil—Then you repudiate the motives
attributed by the last witness, that you kept the relief
down in order to save the rates?
Witaises—Most undoubtedly.
The Chairman—Are you aware of the law in reference to
married couples? Do you know that married persons,
above sixty years of age, shall be received into the work-
house, and shall not be compelled to live separate and
apart'
Witness—Yes, but we hate unfortunatelyp been deprived
of a third house which we formerly poseaaed. At one time
the young women were aoeommodated at Wapping, the
younger men at Mile-end, and the old couples at Ratcliffe,
though they did not sleep together. The Mile-end house
has now bees taken away frees an, and we are unable to
carry out the provisions required by the law.
The Chairman—You are aware that you are bound to let
the ole simples
Wilasee—l am. live together if they choose?

By Mr. Alderman Sidney—Dr/tag the crisis we did not
hare a lisle addgieral spoliation for relief brought before
the tossed. The redierfwg sawn were adeqeste to deal with
all tie suss, sad se esompistals were made to us.
The econoadttes that adjosemst.

LYDIAN FAMINE lUMIZI FUND.

The general committee for the Indian Relief
Feed mat yesterday at the Mansion-house, the Lord Mayor
presiding. It was reported that the whole amount sent out
to Bombay, through the Lord Mayor, In aid of the pre-
veiling distress in Upper India, was 36,0001. It was agreed
that a farther sum should be sent out by the next mail,
which leaves on the 18th of May, and that in future the
gewerel isommittes should sit on the Ist Friday In every
month. The sum received up to last evening amounted
to above 42,0001. Among the principal subscriptions re-
ceived yesterday were : —The Drapers' Company, 2101. ;
wagers' Owereay, 1061. ; Salters' Company, 101. ; and J.
Dichwescs and Ow, MX. The list of donations will appear
la the advertisement.

Yesterday afternoon a public meeting, oonvened
by the Mayor of Portsmouth, wu held at the Guildhall, fat ,
the purpose of devising moans to raise subscriptions is
mid of the sufferers from the famine, extending over nearly '
till whole of the north-west provinces of India. A soft-
nittee was appointed to make collections sad receive tab.
wirlptiona It was also resolved to ask the Wallets of the -
various eineress and chapel. within the borough to se.
operate with the 001110litige, by making coaarepatignal aol.
latices or otherwise, as they might deem desirable. 4
considershie sum was subscribed in the room.
A meeting convened by the Mayor was held at
Oambridgeyesterday in rapport of the fund. Mis worshiping'
prevented by ea accident from attending the meeting and '
was presided over by his deputy, Mr. Elliot Smith. It wee
resolved that a nbeeriptioe be armed in the university
and town, and a onsreittee was appointed to carry the
object of the meeting imo effect. A liberal sobecription,
to head the list, was entered into at the close of the pro-
ceedings. _ _ _

The amount received in Liverpool up to yester-
day was about 7,4001. The sum of 5,0001. wee remitted by
the Mayor by the last teal.

HELP !OR THE PALLEY.
The promoters proiaoters of the midnight meeting move-
Milk in their persevering, attempts to rescue the fallen
said outcast women in the metropolis, resolved to eoove.ne a
sew of probably the lowest due of these degraded ones.
II ieg been sledded that the poor women of Ratcliffe.
highway and Sbadwell should share in the privileges which
this movement is now conferring on their sisters in other
prb of London—that of being assembled, and after ro-
t, bevies an opportunity of hearing the good news
of salvation—Thursday night, the 11th instant, was fixed
for this gathering, in the Sailors' Institute, blemersatmet,
flhadwelh
On the previous Sunday evening, a member of the com-
mittee visited the neighbourhood, and distributed 900 cards
of invitation in the streets earl public-houses, and through
the kindness of Sergeant Con, and a private, of the police
who accompanied him, this member was enabled to visit a
Jeep number of the lowest houses in the neighbourhood.
A largo distribution of cards was also made by several
sailors, and miesicaaries working in connexion with the
British and Foreign Sailors' Society, on the night of
Wednesday the 10th instant, whilst a large baud
went forth at 9 o'clock on the night of the meeting, into
the neighbourhood to pomade the poor women to oome in.
Before eleven o'clock upwards of 400 had ar
:VAthe invitation, and were seated comfort-
at the various tables partaking of the
which bad bees provided for them. It was a
Mg seem to behold so large a number of these pooaTilograded
ones, who are daily associated with the lowest scenes of
infamy, separated for a brief while from sinful sanociatirms,
and holding sonversation with the triode who presided at
he mime *lke. _ _

The re t being ended, the singular congregation were
saan.s. by Miss Sheerman, a holy who him similarly
oilleinted in Liverpool and eltewhere, Mrs. Ford, Mr.
rieldwick, secretary of the Sedum' Society, and another
gentleman.
The greatest theorem prevailed dining the whole of the
time of the meeting, and ninny listened with the deepest
strosettims while the speakers, in kind end persinuove lan.
page, set before them all the miseries of their sinful state,
and pointed to a way al escape.

Warman, Anat. 12.—The Queen has been
rtito Dominate the Rev. Morton Drummond, 8.A., to
perpetual curacy of Fancier, in the counties of Somer-
set and Devon, and diocese of Bath and Wells, the same
Deis( void by the resigeatios of the Rev. William Henry
Thornton. The Quakes has she been pleased to_present the
Rev. John M`Greeor to the church of Elate& Luieltert, is
the parish of Coatis, in the presbytery of Dingwall, and
shire of Ross, vacant by the transportation of the Rev.
Evan Mackenzie Mammon to the church and perish of Dull,
in the presbytery of Worm—Gazette.
REPRESENTATION or MAILTLEBONR. —Three fresh
candidates have come forward for the honour of re-
=Ling the borough in parliament, viz.. Mr. Wingrove
Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, and Mr. John Harvey
Lewis. The latter gentleman addressed a meeting of the
electors last night, at the Victoria Tavern, Morningtoe-rosid,
sad having recapitulated the points contained in his
and replied to mayoral questions, a resolutionaw was
pledging the meeting to give him their support.
13TUDZNT INTERPRErERS IN CHINA AND JAPAN,
—OXFORD, APRIL 12. —The Vice-Chancellor bas received
tress the Right Hon. the Earl of Derby, chancellor
of the llarreraity, addressed to his lordship by
the Right Hon. I..md John Russell, her Majesty's
prise-Mal Secretary of State for Foreign Affik a
Inter sividlez ia effect to that published under the head of
Cambridge a few days since. Members of the University
desirous of being recommended to the offices to which the
letter Wan are requested to send in their names and testi-
emosials to the vim-chancellor on or before Saturday, the
27th of April.
A Raw TRANSLATOR OF BYRON. —Mr. Bnmanjee
&Panes erehmitin Bombay, has had the temerity
to p°6l= in
sFremeb translation of Byrne. He modestly explains
in a letter to the Bombay Ga:elle that be owes his know.
ledge of French entirely to self-tuition ; in fact. be never
looked carefully I*to any French work ewept " Holland's
Grammar." sad that only for a mouth. He frankly admits
that be has not "paid attention to its masculine and ferni-
Rise genders—edjeatives--some of which are put before
moune—elnirms and contractions which are by far too dif-
ficult to keep in mind, particularly for a merchant whoes
' attention I. invariably directed to his books and business."
Among the passengers who went out in the India
packet Ellora front Southampton yemtenlav, were two go-
vernment naturalists, Meson. Oldham and'lllyth, on their
way to Japan, to discover rare plants and useful timber
trees in that country.
th.Achitilewnwnt tioref
sbdisrobtriecotuotf aßfuaeLdnaiv.osiaair atvl iRaws,
tli
...pt.. of Ave houses, the whole of the quarter MU-
the
taw by the Jews was destroyed. About 513 homilies, see-
posed of 1,70 D persoss, are thus lea not only without Mist-
ter, but deprived of all means of einetesoe.
[Advertieement+—HonowaVis Pan AND OLIIT•
RIM —The Friends of the Allielsd.—ror VIM then a marker
of a century have these medicament' beau before the pahUc, by
which their merits have bees eadvermally recognised sad com-
mended. In all ailramsta they prove maul. In debilitated coo.
dilations they act as preventives to disease, and where maladies
have manifested themselves the allicted can resort to no reme-
dies at one* so efficient and humless as Holloway's. They keep
the blood =and preserve the stomach In a stoned state. They
cool and the whole m. These tnedmainents should
he powered by all they will confine good health, and prove
mesiseabis finder any infirmity which ran afflict =skied.
Mks ffreelloas accompany each Box of Pills and Pot of Oust-
' issist.