Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

TELD, Stipend
of Live/

19th Ji

J. S M

Magistrate
pool.

The Head Constable has the honour to report, for the information
of the watch committee, that, on Saturday last, he received the
-nxed order from the stipendiary magistrate. In page 96 of the
Instructions," there is a clause taken from the Improve-
"tp. acting on which informations have been laid,
`,uses, for "permitting prostitutes to meet
ascertain Mr. Mansfield's views, the

Eind' remain ther

to be laid again

as good enough to accompany
ence with him, when he dis-

question, that infonnaiions were not
nerely permitting prostitutes to meet

ass there i-aiinclecenci,'felony,

Liverpool Constabulary Force, Central Police Office

letura of the numt
North towa div

It town d

_
Friday, 4th February, 1859.
brothels in the borough of Liverpool

being ar

cleared

>mpared with 1858 of 53 brothels, and these
?hbourhood of Lime-street and Copperas-

street, Da

anima (tormerly a most notorious place), has been
I the brothel-keepers and prostitutes formerly located
e into Albion-street, Skelhorne-street, Pellew-
reet, &c. In Peter-street and neighbourhood
amber has been diminished. A great num-
' in streets contigious to Lime-
J. J. Gasto, Head Constable.

bac
)f iwostit

Mr. J. A. Turner said, according to Mr. Anderson's own
g, he did not see anything wrong or immoral
amongst the women whom he saw at the houses that he
visited.

Mr. Anderson said, what he said was that he did not see
any sign of modesty amongst them. Their appearance,
their boldness, their breasts, and the like—which all pre-
sent would understand well enough—all were proofs of
InP did not see anything positively in-

immodesty

the judges,
parliament was quite clear on the point
3 -1-11-8 would b
were

nd said the act of
. He knew there
prostitution in all large
not to extend it by
Bear, hear.) . Nothing could
than anew prostitutes to congre-
te for improper purposes in such houses. It drew clerks,
servants, and others astray ; they might go there at first
to hear a song innocently enough, but then they were
drawn into it, to their own ruin. The magistrates had but
one duty to perform, and that was clearly to carry out the
act of parliament. There were imputations thrown out
against the police, and if these were found to be correct,
they certainly deserved to be punished. So far as his ob-
servation had gone, he never saw anything to warrant such
an accusation. He would vote for the motion, and was of
opinion, that Mr. Marateld should have taken the sense of
the magistrates on the order before he issued it.
Mr. Adam Hodgson thought Mr. Mansfield had committed
an error, when he sent out such an order without having
taken the opinion of the bench of magistrates on so serious
a point. No doubt there had been great difference of
opinion on the subject, and different decisions by the
magistrates, on similar evidence, hut the judges had decided
that the magistrates had the full power to convict in such
cases, and he would therefore ask, were the magistrates not
to use the power given them for the prevention of crime ?
Mr. Mansfield's order was to the effect, that the law as it
now stood was so exceedingly difficult to administer, that it
was to be taken out of the hatels of the magistrates and put into
the hands of the police, and he would object to that. There
was no doubt, a difference between the magistrates as to
decisions and convictions, but he thought the judges had
decided that point. He would vote for the motion, as he
thought Mr. Mansfield had no right to issue the order
without i'
Mr

supported the motion, and

referred to

Mansfield, after alluding to the subject of the
decision of the magistrates on the same sort of evidence,
and to the articles that appeared in the public press on the
subject, referred to the case of Madame Annie. This he
said, was a case for trial, but at the same time it was a
clear case to which she was entitled to bail, and because
he consented to take money bail for her, he was abused, and
all sorts of tricks were tried by that party to prevent him
He said, tb- -

erated, at

returns just read were, if not grossly exagg-
no it is official). When

police were

magistratE

plied by nu authOritv

of the watch committee ? No. By direction Of the magis-
trates? No. Is it by the direction of the head constable?
No. Then by whose authority? Oh, by no authority,
it is from our books. Why the same thing was in their
book twenty years ago, and yet until the starting of the
society for the suppression of °vice, they had not laid infor-
• . •

aautueb Louse nouses. there was something per-
nicious and foul in that sort of underhand work, and calcu-
lated to injure the character of justice. He was not by any
'irry for what he had done ; if they cancelled his
them do so, hut before they came to that resolu-
tion he would call their attention to the following return •

In 1856 there N

in 1857.

2,253; and in 1858,

2,680 prostitutes brought before him
2,113 ; so that from 1856
..ts a decrease of 22 per cent (Hear, hear.'
It was stated that brothels had increased—he believed thi

to 1858 there

report on that head was grossly exaggerated, if not a palpa-
ble falsehood. (Hear, hear.) He alluded to the emit of Romp

h he found the state 'of
'ntered on the office 'of