Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-08 00:00:00

SELECT VESTRY.

The fortnightly meeting of this body' was. held: yester-
day morning at the parish offices, Brownlow-hill. The
chair was occupied by the Rev. Rector • Campbell ; and
there were also present Messrs.. Cropper, Scott, Bair-
'stow, Cooke, Denton, Critchley, Peck, A. Byford,
Hand, B. Byford, -Jones, Williams, Turner, Whitby,
Syred, Satehell, Smith, and James Whitty.
• From the minutes of the Workhouse Comiaittee it
appeared' that a letter had been "received from the
.Poor-
law Board stating that they -did. not at present see reason
.to ask Mr. Leather, non-resident surgeon of the work-
-house, to resign his position,--but- the Board offered, if
requested. by the Vestry, to investigate the charges made
against him. • • _
Mr. CROPPER said the Board seemed to decline to
accede to the request, but offered to have an investiga-
tion before an inspector, And the Workhouse Committee
felt that it was too important a subject for them to
decide upon, preferring thk the Vestry should discuss
and settle what steps should be taken. It was exceed=
ingly strange if a number of gentlemen knew the busi-
ness of the- Vestry better than they did themselves, who
met there week after week.- The Vestry had, he
thought, only two courses open to them, either to sus-
pend him, and throw upon the Board the responsibility
of reinstating him,, or to suspend him, and continue to
pay his salary out of the poor-rate for doing nothing.
Mr. JONES thought that if they wanted to dismiss an
officer it was only proper that the Board should inquire
into the circumstances, and as far as his memory served
him, the -Board has come to the same conclusion as the
Vestry.

Mr PECK suggested that every member of the Vestry
should resign, and tall a special general meeting for
re-electing others. If the Poor-law Board placed them-
selves in antagonism to the Vestry, the sooner the Vestry
showed them that they had the confidence of the public
the better.

The CHAIRMAN said the power of the Board was
limited, and they could only dismiss ußon sufficient
grounds and not without a trial. It was for this meet-
ing to consider Whether they were in a position to prove
more than a total want of confidence. That they could
prove he thought very satisfactorily ; but as for rebelling
against the Poor-law Board, he believed they might as
well rebel against the law. The. Commissioners were
not domineering over them ; they were only saying how
their powers were limited.
Mr. BAIRSTOW thought that though they had lost all
confidence in Mr. Leather, all they could say was that
if the Poor-law Board would not remove him, they
were very sorry, and that if he transgressed for the
future they must take the proper course.
Mr. Cropper moved, and Mr. E. Byford seconded,
that the investigation be held; and a negative having been
moved. by Mr. Satchell, considerable discussion ensued;
but eventually it was determined by the votes of a
majority to request the attendance' of a Poor-law
Inspector to investigate the charges.

Mr. BAIRSTOW referred to a-letter which bad been
received from Messrs. Byer and Fenwick, solicitors,
Philpot-lane, Fenchurch-street, London, and explained
that a person applied to the Committee for, a servant from
the Workhouse and took her away to London. They
then sent her back; she became again chargeable to the
parish, and was sent to another situation. In this
situation it was discovered that this person, who ought
to be a gentleman, had corresponded with, the girl, and
had not the manliness to sign his name, but it was in
the same handwriting as the application which he had
made for the girl as a' servant. The letter was as
follows :

" London, Sept 3, 1859.
" Dear Sarak,—l was very glad to get your kind note this
morning. I did not _telegraph to you because you
say you cannot go out to-day, and it will be half-past ten
before I arrive in Liverpool this evening. Ido not leave here
before a quarter past five this afternoon. I hope you will not
let any person know thatVhave Written to you, or it would
get me into a pretty bother. It will be too late for me to call
and see you to-night, and I should_be_ glad to see you to-
morrow afternoon, at 3 o'clock, under the shed of the Lanaing-
'stage, at- St. George's Pier, where we used to land by the
steamer. I will wait there for an hodr for you. -If you cannot
come, please write to me at the address I enclose, and say
where I shall meet you on Monday afternoon. I shall leave
Liverpool on Tuesday morning, and Shall not•have an opportu-
nity of seeing you for a long time. lam very anxious to see
you, and hope you will try and come to-morrow.—l am; dear.
Sarah, 'yours affectionately, - 8./I
Why did he, if not for base and Unworthy purposes,
write in this way ,to the girl. (Hear, hear.) The
!committee wrote to him to ask him for an explanation
.of .his conduct, but he did not venture to give it, hand-
ing the letter .over to his solicitors, evidently thinking
that they were going to prosecute kiln for the offence, of
which he had no doubt been guilty—if not. seduction,
it. was a most gross attempt at it. The reply to the letter
was the following letter from Messrs.. Hillyer and
Fenwick .1

"Laudon, E.C., 2 and 3, Philpoi-lan• e,
Fenchurch-street. - Jan. 19th, 1860.
Sia,—Our client, Mr. Powell, .has directed,cts to acknow-
,ledge receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, and to inform
you that he denies sour right to ask for any explan dion on
the.subject of its contents. We have also to request that any
further communication which you have to make may be
through .us. We are, Sir, &c., llnLyna. & FENIVICK.
IL J. Bagger, Esq., Vestry Clerk, Liverpool.
Their right to question him was denied, but it hap-
pened that this correspondence was the means of getting
her sent from her situation,, and she again became
-chargeable to the parish. It became them, being
guardians of the children under their care, to expose
such conduct, that if the law could not get hold of him,
public opinion should.
Mr. CROPPER said they should be thankful to Mr.
Bairstow for the manly manner in which he had spoken,
and he hoped the man's name would go forth and disgrace
him in the society to which he belonged. 'He did not
deserve the name of gentleman, and if advantage-was
to be taken of the ease with which children could be
procured from their school, the sooner he was brought
under the lash of ,he law the better. (Hear, hear.)
The proceedings were, then confirmed.
The minutes of the Industrial Schools Committee
having been read,

Mr'.'JoNEs said there had been a meeting of the Roman
Catholic priests Fondondatit Week,, and -be 'Wei_ riot
aware whether the menabeis of the Tr eitry had seen a
report of that meeting..
Ntr. WHirry—What has this to do with the minutes
of the school committee ?

Mr. Jo NES—It has everything to do with the minutes.
Mr. WHITTY—I think not.

Mr. TONES—The object of the meeting was to peti-
tion for separate establishments for the Roman Catholics,
free of all control; and—
Mr. WIUTTY—Mr. Chairman, I wish to call to order.
If you say that Mr. Jones is perfectly right in intro-
ducing this matter without notice to any gentleman at
this Board, I shall then bow to your decision.
The CHAIRMAN—Is Mr. Jones going to make a mo-
tion ?

Mr. JONES—I think I am.
Mr. Wnirry—l don't want in any way to suppress
discussion;. but I think this comes irregularly and out
of place.

Mr. JONES—If it will be more consonant with the
feelings of Mr. Whitty, or what he conceives to be order
and regularity, I have no objections to let it lie by for
the present, and. bring it forward this day fortnight.
= The CHAInmAN thought it would be better; he un-
derstood that Mr. Jones was going to bring forward a
motion.

Mr. JONES had no objection Whatever if it was un-
derstood that he might be at liberty to bring up the
subject that day fortnight.
Mr. WHlrrv-:—There must be no understanding about
it.

On the motion of. Mr. Cropper, it was agreed to in-
crease the salary of the Governor from. £350,t0
and to increase the salary of Miss Fanny F. Wilson,
female surgical attendant, from £l2 10s. to £l5.
The remainder of the business was unimportant.

MARDOFGAL
THOMAS FUNERAL OF GENEILAL SIRIT
of this distinguished
The
BRISBANE, BART.—The filtlera
of twenty carriages, left
cortege, consisting of upwards,
t one, and reached the family
at half-pas
dof Largs, at two o'clock.
Brisbane-house ,
in,r-ground .
vault in the old bury ,
b Mr. Brisbane, Sir •George Dou-
The pall was borne y
wood-park, Captain Hamilton, Rev.'
glas Bart., of Spring
Rev. Mr. Tacker, of Edinburgh,
A 'bowie, of args, .
ir• lon., of the Brisbane Observatory. It may
and
be mMenntioned as a remarkable fact, that Sir Thomas
roomiinlostohpehsearmte"k placein which he was born
on Friday last.
Galignani says, the sale of Lord Henry Seymour's
cigars took place in presence of a very large assemblage 11
of lovers of the narcotian weed. The bidding was
spirited, no cigar being sold under ten sous, and in
several instances at fifty sous each, even when the lots were large. If James I. of England could revisit the
earth for a day he certainly would wish to withdraw
without delay in disgust at seeing his Counterblast to
BrisbaneBssoldier
ldi eryearsa nadg diedop. h
Tobaceo so completely disregarded, as that one indi-
vidual should have accumulated, like the deceased lord,
16,000 cigar and that other persons could be found to
pay 54 Soma a Opp: for many of t 49 cailecticC