The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-09 00:00:00

THE LATE MAJOR-GENERAL ADAMS.

In the name of the bar, and at its desire, Mr., Payne,
the senior member present, wrote to the learned Assist-
ant-Judge a letter of condolence on the death of his
nephew, the late Major-General Adams, recorded last
week, which resulted from dysentery, and the effect-of a
bullet wound in the heel, received at the battle of Inker-
man. The learned Sergeant returned a brief and suit-
able reply, and announced that family business of a
pressing nature, consequent upon the sad event, would
render it impossible for him to sit to-morrow (Tuesday).

(Before Mr. Witham.)
Walter Phillips, 28, painter, was indicted for feloni-
ously assaulting Sarah Edwards, on the public highway,
and robbing her of a bundle of linen, the property of her
husband.

The prisoner was a u ticket-of-leave convict." He was
sentenced at the Old Bailey to ten years' transportation,
but was liberated under the new system.
Mr. Witham sentenced him to be transported for 15
years.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.--Jan. 8;

BOW-STREET.—John Styles, .a letter carrier in the
Roston district of the London Post•office, was charged
with " detaining" a great number of letters which had
been entrusted to him for delivery.
Repeated complaints of the non-delivery of letters in
the neighbourhood of New North-road, Horton, in-
duced Mr. Sculthorpe, president in the Inland Depart-
ment of the General Post-office, to adopt a means of
testing the honesty of the letter carriers. He posted a
number of circulars, addressed to different residents, and
having discovered that about 40 of them, which had
been given to the prisoner, were never delivered, he
caused the matt to be taken into custody at once. It
was then ascertained that as many as 108 letters, some
of them of great importance, were lying about the pri-
soner's lodgings, most of them having the post-mark of
the 2d of January, or thereabouts. It was stated that
the prisoner must have destroyed a great many letters
from time to time after keeping them for a long time,
apparently became too indolent to deliver them.
The prisoner's solicitor asked the witnesses if there
had e% er been any previous complaints against his
client, and was informed in reply that he had been re-
peatedly admonished for his dilatory or negligent con-
duct. He was one of the idlest young men in the
office. _ _ _ -

The prisoner's solicitor said he should not struggle
with the evidence. . _

Mr. Hall committed him for trial.

CLERKENWELL.—Last week the case of a dis-
tressed family named Garford was reported as brought
by Mr. Hilton, the news agent, of Penton-street, Isling-
ton, under the notice of Mr. Tyrwhitt, who ordered that
a sovereign should be given from the poor-box for the
immediate use of the family. The report in the papers
caused a benevolent individual under the signature of
0. A. M. to send ss. for their further use. When the
poor man presented himself to receive the donation, Mr.
Mould, the chief clerk, stated to the magistrate that the
case of Garford was one of more than ordinary distress.
The applicant, a prize swimmer, and by trade a shoe-
pular, was reduced yir9ugli yarioud oirourastancos to a

very low state of distress. His wife was then near
her confinement, and a child ill with hooping-cough.
When his wife was confined he went to the Clerken-
well Workhouse to seek the necessary relief in the
case. After waiting half•an-hour he was introduced
into the presence of a person named Bennett, who is
employed as relieving officer by the parish authori-
ties, and who, on hearing the story of the great state
of destitution in which the applicant was, harshly
replied, "Why do you have children ? The poor have
no right to have children." And he was sent away
almost empty-handed. When he returned home he
found his wife sinking under a hemorrhage brought on
through the absence of the necessary medical attendance.
These facts having come to the knowledge of Mr.
Tucker, the overseer of the parish, he with much promp-
titude inquired into the matter, and ordered meat, wine,
arrowroot, and other requisites, as well as a bed, to be
sent to the poor family, and he bas since continued his
kind offices on their behalf. The poor wife, however,
sunk under, the loss of blood, and was buried on Sunday
last, at the expense of a few benevolent persons, aided
by the poor-box of the court. Mr. Mould had ascer-
tained that Garford was an honest and industrious young
man until misfortune overtook him.

Mr. Tyr hitt—And I suppose at this season swimming
is at a discount.

Gayford—Yes, sir.

Mr. Mould—Ares, and I must say that this is not the
first case in which application has been made to the court
with reference to the harsh ill-treatment and neglect of
the poor by Mr. Bennett.
Mr. Tyrwhitt (with much warmth)—Certainly. More
harsh treatment I scarcely ever heard ; and I do not
envy the feelings of the person who could make such re-
marks as those alleged to have been made to a poor
man whose family were in distress. Such conduct is
most disgraceful, and the party guilty of it is not fit to
hold such a situation, and I am surprised he is allowed
to do so.

The poor man,.with tears, thanked his worship for his
sympathy and kindness, and left the court, after re-
ceiving a further sum of ss. to enable him to purchase
some leather, &c., and some coals and meat to allow of
his commencing work to support his two children, the
infant at present being ill of the measles.
The Drapers' Company have sent a cheque for ten
guineas as a donation to the poor-box.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—Mary Cowdry, an old
woman, well known for years to the Mendicity Society,
was charged with begging.
On Saturday afternoon the prisoner was seen to stag-
ger about and apparently to fall into a fit in St.
James's-square, close to a carriage, in which was the
Duchess of Argyll. Her grace instantly sent a foot-
man to say that she would defray the expense of send-
ing the apparently afflicted creature home in a cab.
The prisoner was made sensible of the offer, but she
declined it. ,Her grace then sent again to say that
she would provide medical assistance, but this was also
refused, and as a constable was just coming up the pri-
soner contrived to hobble away. Shortly after this
the' prisoner was attacked with a similar fit at the
door of the residence of the Marquis of Bristol. Po-
lice Constable West, who knew her to be one of the
mdst inveterate begging imposters in London, took
her into custody, and lodged her in the station-
house.

Mr. Bingham said the case was a very bad one,
and he should send the prisoner instantly for fourteen
days to the House of Correction.

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

Yesterday a Court was held for the purpose of re-
ceiving the presentments from the several wards of their
proceedings on St. Thomas's-day.

UNNECESSARY AND VEXATIOUS DUTIES.
The foreman of the inquest of Portsoken ward pre-
sented the following resolution appended to their present-
ment, which was of the ordinary character :
"That it is the opinion of the Court of Ward Inquest
that the election and summoning of certain inhabitants of
the ward to act as inquestmen is unnecessary and ought to
be abolished, inasmuch as the duties they are sworn to
perform are effectually carried out by duly appointed offi-
cers, while that portion which is observed—namely, per-
ambulating the ward for the purpose of collecting money
for charity is both inconvenient and objectionable, and in
no way connected with the preservation of the privileges of
the citizens; and they therefororespectfully ask the Court
of Aldermen to use their exertions for the carrying out of
the views of the Court."

The LORD MAYOR informed the inquest their applies.
tions should be referred to the Court of Aldermen.

THE INCONVENIENCES OF THE BUILDING ACT.

Mr. CONOLLY, the foreman of the inquest of the ward
of Cheap, begged to call the attention of the Court to the
serious obstruction which had for a considerable length
of time presented itself in the large hoarding before a
ruinous building in Cheapside, which was calculated to
inflict great public and private injury and annoyance.
The LORD MAYOR said the inquest would receive some
information from Alderman Wilson or Alderman
Cubitt, who had, as a deputation, waited upon the Go-
vernment authorities on the subject. _ _ _

i • Alderman WILSON said he was very glad the subject
had been mentioned by the foreman of the inquest
in so prominent a manner, as it would supply him
with the opportunity of explaining that, so long
as the corporation of London had been left in pos-
session of their ancient powers of self-government,
complaints of the description just represented were
unnecessary, as, upon the presencznerxt of the inquest,
the Court of Aldermen, and, in cases of sudden emer-
gency, the Lord Mayor, ordered all ruinous and danger-
ous buildings to be hoarded in, and, if not immediately
secured by the owners, the buildings were pulled down
and the hoarding removed by the directions of the
Court, under the sanction of immemorial custom. But,
since the passing of the New Building Act, some years
ago, ruinous and dangerous buildings had been placed
under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Works
and Buildings, and officers appointed by them and the
Secretary of State. Now, the Building Act had under-
gone such a variety of alterations, and what were called
amendments, that it had become a mass of confusion,
and was the means of e3tablishing a sort of permanent
oppression. It was a specimen of modern legislation
not by any means adapted to the expectations of society,
and was, in fact, so wholly unintelligible that the official
referees and their registrar interpreted in an opposite
sense the claus-es affecting ruinous buildings in the city.
Under the law it was necessary first to obtain the certi-
ficate of the district surveyor ; next that of the official
referee, which must then be submitted to the registrar,
who must sign it previously to the act being put in
force. Everything that could be done in the present
case to which the foreman had so forcibly and properly
alluded, should be done. The inquest bad presented the
architect's report, the official referees had given their
certificate, but the registrar had refused to sign it or to
return the certificate, so that no action could be taken
either to pull down the houses in Cheapside or to remove
the hoards, although the district surveyor and the official
referees had pronounced them actually dangerous to the
passengers, because the registrar declined to affix his seal
to their award. A deputation, of which he was the chair-
man, had waited upon Sir Win. Molesworth, the Chief
Commissioner of Works, attended by the City Solicitor,
;the City Itemembrancer, and the City Architect, and
made a strong representation of the facti to the right
hon. baronet, who told them that he had no power
over the registrar, whose appointment did not rest
with him ; that if the deputation had any com-
plaint to make against that officer, application must
be made to Lord Palmerston, with whom the authority
to interfere rested • and that he was quite aware of the
difficulties and the deficiences of the act, and was
preparing to amend it, with the view to do which
the more satisfactorily, he would gladly receive
_any
suggestion that the deputation might think proper to
favour him with. It was agreed that such course should
be. pursued. He had represented to Sir W. Molesworth
the possible terrible contingency •of the fall of the walls
while they were waiting for a decision, and he alluded
to the catastrophe in the Strand, in order that it might
not be said if any fatal accident should occur, that any
blame was attributable to the Court of Aldermen, and
he considered it to be especially his duty to urge the im-
portance of the statement as the dangerous nuisance had
continued for so long a time in the principal thorough-
fares of the city. The Alderman concluded by expres-
sing his anxious hope that the circumstances he had
stated would meet the eyes of the public and of the
Government through the usual rapid means of com-
munication.

The Inquest said, they were much gratified at the
statement of facts made by Alderman Wilson.
The Court, after the constables, &c., were sworn in,
adjourned.