The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-04-01 00:00:00

POOR RATES.

A very numerous meeting of the parishioners of St. Dunstan's
in the West assembled on Tuesday, at the Inquest-room, Clifford'.
Inn passage, for the purpose of taking into consideration the Punt
Hates, and the accounts in relation thereto.
Mr. ‘Vst. 11 uuti Es was called, virtu& DAM (senior church.
warden', to the chair.
A warm discussion took place as to the prudence of admitting
our reporter to the inquest-room.
Messrs. FAR Low and Bnowxx strongly inculcated the necessity
of withholding nom the public the state of parties in St. Dun.
stan's pariah. 'l'hey uiodestly disclaimed all literary merits, and
the public, they humbly conceived, could find nothing peculiarly
delightful in the perusal of so uninteresting a diwussson as they
anticipated.
The CHAIRMAN observed, that " it was fOf those who loved
darkness rather than light" to shrink from public observation. On
the score of literary attainments no one had aecusrd the gentlemen.
The disclaimer was therefore unnecessary. The public, however,
narrowly watched their proceedings, and the detection and exposure
of jobbing in one parish had not unfrequently the effect of pre-
venting it in another. (Hear.) lie was of opinion that the subject
betbre them was important to the parish, and he saw no ream
f. r thinking that it should be withheld from the pitblic. (Hear}
Mr. Itastsitsw then addressed the Chair, contending that the
large demand made on the parish of St. Dunstan's teethe relief of
the poor required consideration. He wished to know why the ex-
penses of the parish woe greater than those of the pariah of
St Clements, which was much larger, and supported more poor.
1 he gentleman, after sonic other observations on the necessity of
inquiry, suggested that all books, papers, &c. connected with the
parish expenditure fur the last 20 years, should be strictly
' examined.

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MILES was then requested to read the balance-sheet, which
he did.

Mr. BROWN then rose, and rather loudly declared that Mr.
Mills wan guilty of piracy, for that he had copird that paper (the
balance.aheet) worn a similar one he had at his house.

A great confusion then arose, which lasted fur a considerable
time, during which period Mr. Brown's voice was pre-eminent.
Mr. Baow w proceeded, and said he would prove that no man
ever supported the poor of this parish cheaper or more to their as.
tistaction and comfort, than he did while he was overseer (a laugh);
he supported them for less than half the sum Mr. Warwick had
obtained, who was one of his predecessors.
A gentleman here exclaimed—" Yes, we know you ; you're a
charitable churchwarden, you killed a ram at Christmas, and gars
the horns to the poor." (Laughing.)
Mr. Baow )I—Am Ito be interrupted—ant I to be laughed at'
Have I left my shop to be made sport of by every discontented
parishioner ? Is Mr. liantshaw to be permitted to make charges,
and shall I not be heard in reply ? ((rtes of "Go on.") Mr.
Kamilla, had said that the demands of the parish were enormous.
I will tell him why they are enormous. The parish was involved
in debt by our late predecessors. Mr. Brown continued in the
same strain for some time, and concluded by lauding his conduct
and that of his colleagues.
Mr. l'ionsTox pointed out the alarming deficiencies in the col-
lection of the rates, and contended, that without a satisfactory es-
planstion of the parish accounts for sever 4 years, it would bs
impossible to come to any other conclusion than that there had been
serious frauds committed in the application of the funds. Ths
speaker, in a manly and forcible strain, called for inquiry ; and
concluded with moving fur the appointment of a committee to
examine into the expenditure of the parish for the last 20 years.
This motion was seconded; but, after some noisy speaking,
Mr. BENSLEY proposed, as an amendment, that the thanks of
the Meeting should be given to the overseers, who, for the last two
years, had so well discharged their duty.
Mr. 1-02670 W wished to reply, but he was not permitted to do
so, and the amendment was carried by a large majority, and the
motion for inquiry consequently lost.