Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-11 00:00:00

deny -it, 'but-%e-would state that Mrs. Drake -paid the
money to the surrogate himself. Mans of the matters
stated in the schedule of- charges were erroneous ; and
as to the receipt of the fees after ,the remonstrance in
September, that would be explained, and he might say
that they had been received by Mr. Claringbold without
any motive of disrespect to the incumbent. lie con-
tended that Mr. Claringbold had aot been' guilty of any
moral misconduct, and felt that it was a great pity that
that matter had been brought forwardafter Mr. Glaring-
• bold had resigned.
The Archdeacon having ascertained that Mr. Claring-
bold had only given a month's notice, said that he was
still bona fide clerk, and therefore subject to his authority,
which he would not, be otherwise.

Mr. Claringbold was then called, and said he -rebetn-'
bered the marriage of Mrs. Drake. He did not receive
the money for the license. Sfie did not pay £3 ss: for
thg, marriage, but only £2, and the woman laid the
surrogate herself.. Mary Bingham -did not come with
Mrs. -Drake to his housei nor did she accompany.: them
to the surrogate's__- He charged 17s. for the marriage
-fee as was usual with a- licensed marriage, and 2s. 6d.
for the certificate: - _ _ _

The Archdeacon said that this was a denial of the
statements- of the ether witnesses, and thoUght :Mr.
Deightori should have confronted Mr. Claringbold with
them When they made the statement. Now their had
gone away, and"could not be got again without
difficulty.
Mr. Deighton said he was adopting the course usually
adopted in the courts of justice.
ThegArchdeacon- said he had no idea that their testi-

money would be impugned. They had given their evi.
dence in the dearest possible manner, and Were allowed
to go away in good faith.
Mr. Deighton said that Mr. Claringbold denied it,
acid that was all he could do.
The Archdeacon would not allow that now that the
witnesses, had ,gone away, and thought Mr. Deighton
should have expressed his intention. This irregularity,
he thought, arose from his having departed- from his
resolution to conduct the whole inquiry himself. Hig
sole object was to ascertain the truth, and he had been
deterred very much in that intention. If he had gone
on without any legal adviser he would have endeavoured
to do justice between the parties, and when the two
witnesses had given their evidence, he should
have confronted them with Mr. Claringbold; but Mr.
Claringbold had consulted two gentlemen, and now the
witnesses were gone, Mr. Claringbold denied their
testimony. That might be'very pro Per in a court of
justice, and very properly se, but it did not suit his
purpose of ascertaining as quickly- as he could the whole
truth of this matter, and in
.doing this, he had been
much thwarted. , • -

Mr. Deighton denied that he -had bad any intention
of thwarting him, and in the absence of any pltimation
to the contrary, had expected that, the proceedlngs of
that investigation would have taken place in the same;
way as in a cauriof justice. , His only ;object was to
clear 'the character of his client. He wished to make
no legal objections, but to have the case decided upon
the merits.

The Archdeacon said he was responsible for what he
did there only to his conscience and to GOd, and his only
object was to ascertain the truth. That was not a en-
Minal court, or a court of common law ; it was specially
provided, in order to put an end to such unseemly things,
that the archdeacon should make the • best inquiry he
could. If Mr. Deighton had any witnesses to corrobo-
rate his client's evidence, he might substantiate the truth
of what he had said.

Mr. Deighton replied that Mr. Stafford, the surrogate,
had been reqUested to attend.
Mr. Thomas said he had spoken a few days ago to
Mr. Stafford, who had no recollection of the marriage of
the Drakes.
Mr. Stafford- was then sent for and soon afterwards
entered the room:
Mr. Dunkerley, the curate, was called, and stated that
he understood, through Mr. Claringbold, that Mi.
Thomas had expressed a wish that be should ask for
gratuities for the clerk, but he,had at all times-
sons that whatever they gaVe was voluntary. He told
them that they were not compelled to, pay for the- cer-
tiflcate, but might have said that the legal charge would
be half-a-crown.
The Archdeacon deprecated the request for gratuities,'-
and thought it loWered'the nity,of the Church, and
the curate had, becn accessog,in getting more money
from those persons than they would have given. His
conduetin some 'measure was an:apology for the clerk,,
and it could not be an apology for the clerk without
,being a refl, ction upon the curate. , -
Mr. Dunkerley said hafelt it to
-be no reflection at all.
The Archdeacon had no doUht that whaChe did was
from good and pure motives ; but he had made. a mis-
take, and he was sorry for it. The 'parties timid• the
money, and thought they had been done.• out of
the half-crown. He considered it to be an improper
payment; and the
.persons who had paid it, not under;
standing for it was voluntary, had to some extent been
defrauded. It was worse for theM to persist in demand-
ing the money after they received an intimation from the
incumbent that they had no right to do so. Mr Claring-
bold was, at any rate, a disobedient clerk. ..He was
surprised that the clerk should accept half a crown-
under these circumstances.

Mr. Stafford having stated that he had never issued a
license at all for the marriage of the Drakes,

The Archdeacon proposed to adjourn the enquiry for
further evidence ; but as. Mr. Deighton requested tbai
he would decide the case then, .

The Archdeacon said that Mr. Claringbold must have
knoln. that he was 'doing wrong in demanding 2s. 6d. -
for the marriage certificate. The incumbent had ob-
jected to the payment, and yet he persisted in demanding
it, and this he (the archdeacon) considered a high crime
and misdemeanour. This was no longer a private
matter—it was known to the town, and he must mark
his strong sense of the impropriety of such proceedings.
If clerks behaved improperly they ought to be dismissed,
and he hoped such a thing as this would never
occur. again; if it . did -.he should bring it to
immediate investigation. On the present occasion
he was sorry under all the circumstances for Mr. Clar-
ingbold. He would not impute to him any fraudulent
intentions; but .he had transgressed the inc'umbent's
directions; ander these circumstances he had no hesita-.
don in depriving him of his office at St. James's Church;
and, he hoped, it would be a lesson to all clerks that
they must obey those under'whom they are placed.
Mr. Deighton said he was instructed to give notice of
appeal, and the proceedings terminated.