Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-11 00:00:00

TO TUB MIST DER BY BOARD OF GUARDIANS.

Gentlemen,—! beg to ackn Awledge your resolution, passed last
Wednesday, alluding to a letter of condemnation from the Poor Law
Board, and calling upon me t o make an ample apology or resign my
o slco.

I beg to acquaint the guardians that I have received no commtrni-
cation from the Poor Law Bo and on the subject of the letter to which
you allude, and that lam in I iessossion f its contents simply from the
public newspapers, the Poor Law Board having apparently thought
it unnecessary to inform ma that "without reference to the truth or
otherwise of my charges acre rist the guar,iians " it has decided to
inflict upon me the utmost penalty in its power.
With reference to your demand for an apology, I mast rem'nd you
that the charge which I brought a:,,ainst the board was that it ha
neglecter! its duty to the sick in the workhouse this winter, by reusing
the medical attendance which was necessary, and which the visiting
committeermommended. Some of the newly elected guardims may
not be aware that the visiting committee, on several occasions, recom-
mended the employment of a properly qualified medical man as my
assistant, in consequence of the great increase of sickness In the
workhouse, and that the board refased to allow it. I was, there-
fore, left entirely without help of any kind, and with nearly two
huadred and-fifty sick patients in the house. The case was so urgent
that I engaged the assistance at my own expense, and for several
months I have been paying for the medical attendance which is still
Mecemexy, with nearly two hundred and twenty sick still in the
workhouse.

5) long, then, as the board neglects to attend to the recommendat!on
st* its own visiting committee, and leaves me to pay for the necessary
assistance out of my own pocket, it la impoaible for me to retract the
charge, for the board la s:111 neg:e;:ting its duty to the sick who are
under its care in the workhouse.

There is, however, another charge which I willingly take this
opportunity of again contradicting. It has begin imputed to me that
I have charged the guardians with the murder, or manslaughter, at
the least, of seven inmates of the workhorse,—a charge which I never
made, or ever even hinted at. In my circular to the county map's.
trates I said, " The number and severity of the cases maybe estimated
from the fact that the deaths have for some time been at the rate of
250 in the year, and last week seven dead bodies were lying in the
dead-house at the same time." This is all that I ever said ; but as I
found that it had been much misunderstood, I made the fo,lowing
statement before the inspector, at the inquiry in April last It is
right that i should say that this statement has reeeived a construction
which I t ever put upon it, and which I never intended it to bear. I
adduced it as an illustration of the amount of sickness, and never
intended, nor do I now intend, to impute those deaths to the board.
I do not think that the expressions I have used convey that imputa-
tion: if they do, I can only say that I am sincerely sorry for it, for I
did not intend it to be the case." Th's statement was published at
the time, and I read it then as voluntarily as I now repeat it. Your
resolnUon," however, calls upon me to make an ample apology, or
resign my office." On the occasion to which I have already alluded,
I made use of the following expressions :—" If, in the heat of the
contest, we have fallen into the common error of combatants in aim-
ing rather to wound our opponents than to make good
our owa defences, I trust that the kind feelings of
old times will now return on both sides. * • * And if my own
conduct or language has been such as to excite deserved disapproba-
tion on the part of a single guardian, I tender him my apology as
frankly as I trust and feel assured hejwil accept it." This was spokm
freely and heartily, with a sincere desire that it might allay any
bitterness which might have been roused, and promote a return to the
old kind feelings between ns ; and if the gentlemen who carried the
resolution last Wednesday think to extort from me by fear what
simple good feeling would not prompt me to utter, they have mistaken
the cha- actor of their medical officer. Apologise further I shall not—
resign I will not—with that resolution upon your books; for, if I
adopted either eourse, my conduct would be attributed to fear—a
sentiment with which I have yet to become acquainted. If, however,
the board decides upon dismissing me from my office, they will relieve
me thereby from a duty which is at present too heavy for any ono
man to discharge properly, and for which the salary paid by the board
is no adequate remuneration, even If I were not forced to sacrifice so
large a portion of it in procuring the assistance which the guardians
themselves ought to provide.

I shall carry with me the recollection of many kindnesses from
members of the board whose personal acquient,nce I have had the
pleasure of making, and the consciousness that so long as I have been
your medical officer I have discharged the duties of my office with
faithfulness to the b,ard, and with an earnest zeal for the 'snefit of
the sick.—l am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
J. BIM/BECK NEVINS.

25, Oxford-street, Liverrool,
June 8, 1857.

I,lr ISAAC EDWARDS : There is one passage in the article
—"rattle Ins Lonou nver the stones"—which I, as a
guardian, can never forget. In that article he said that
the board wished to appoint a young and unexperienced
man in his place, that the sick poor might the more easily
slip through their fingers. Thus making it appear that
it would be a saving to the ratepayers. I can't forget
that. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Anaansus : We have had many long disenssions on
this subject, and I do hops that the board will now say
that the letter that has been read is an ample apology for
all that has passe. We have a right to forget and forgive.
There is a deal of unpleasantness about it, and -I do think
that the letter should be received as an ample apology for
all that has passed, and that we should let by-goner be
by-goner, and that we shall never hear of any more un-
pleasantness between the medical officer and the board.

Mr. SHAW : I rise to perform a most unpleasant duty,
but it is no less a duty that I owe to this board, and a duty
I owe to myself, after what has occurred. (Hear, hear.)
This (holding up Dr. Nevin's letter) is no apology, and I
will just go through some parts of it,. for the purpose of
showing it as such. First he states taut, "lam in Fs-
session of its contents (the report from the poor law board)
simply from the public newspapers, &c, That report was
read this day for:night, and I then proposed that a copy
of it should be furnished to Dr. Nevins, and I did so
because I thought it was a duty that we owed to Dr.
Nevins, but Mr. Henry Edwards said it was of no use, as
Dr. Nevins had it, and knew its contents, for he had told
him so himself. So if there was any blame, it rests with
Mr. Edwards, Dr. Nevins's friend, and not with the board.
That is an answer to that part of it. He next speaks of
havince, paid for assistance out of his own pocket, but it
must be recollected that he had had 30s. per week allowed
him as long as he liked to accept of it. So that statement is
not correct; and then there was the statement about the
numbers, I moved that thirty of the sick should be
drafted to the hospital, but at that time Dr. Nevins said
that there were not more than he could attend to himself.
Then again, with regard to there being 'seven dead bodies
in the house at one time. —Why, I would ask did not Dr.
Nevins state that these deaths had taken place in five
dsys, and not in one, as he attempted to make the public
believe, for he knew the facts as he had to give the certifi-
cates, and knew the diseases that caused their deaths. Bat
no, he stated that the deaths were 250 in two years, and
that on one day there were seven, making it
appear that there wore seven in one d ty. Neither myself
or the board ever said one word against Dr. Nevins.
Now, with regard to the cause of the article that was
written in the NORTHERN TIMES, I will not say that the
board was right in refusing him the assistance, nor will I
say that they were wrong. Sufficient for my argament is
—that it was refused. I &k the board—" Do you consider
it justifiable for an officer, the first time he is refused any-
thing he may ask for— for he stated before the Inspector
that it was the first time—do you consider that he was
justified in writing such an article as this in the NORTHERN
TIMES " (Hear, hear.) I should say that no person can
justify such contact. Mr. Shaw having next detailed the
steps that had been taken in the matter by the board, and
by Dr. Nevins, since the publication of the article, then
proceeded to read the following extract from the report of
the Poor Law Board, which was as follows :