The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-01 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Oct. 31.

MANSION-HOUSE.—Mr. James L. O'Beirne, se-
cretary to the Steam Navigation Company, appeared
before the Lord Mayor upon a summons to answer the
complaint of a seaman, who had been engaged to go to
the Black Sea.

Mr. Parry appeared for the complainant, Mr. Hobler
for the defence.

James Welsh said—l am a seaman, residing at South-
ampton. On the 22d of May I shipped on board the
Cape of Good Hope, transport, at Southampton,
under a contract to go to the Black Sea, and to
return to a port in the United Kingdom. Al fort-
night ago we returned to Portsmouth, and landed our
cargo (a number of invalid troops) there. We then
washed the ship and cleared her out. The vessel was then
ordered to Deptford, but as I did not want to go to Lon-
don I asked the captain about my wages, and he said if
I came with the ship to Deptford he would pay me up
to the time; but if not, he would deduct from my
wages whatever it might be necessary to pay extra for
the employment of another man. The ship had been or-
dered to Deptford for repairs, and there were several of
the seamen who were under eircuTvte,nces of the same
kind as myself. All the men who belonged to London
came to Deptford in the ship and were duly paid off, but
as those who resided at Southampton would not go on
with tho vessel' as the expenses from London were not
to he paid, their wages were withhold.
Mr.tlflubler said the company had resolved to re-
sist upon principle, and in order to show that the men
who belonged to Southampton were not to set the law
at defiance, or to attempt to extort from the com-
pany a lager amount of wages than they were
entitled to, or to compel the company to employ ether
bands at a much increased expense. The facts were,
that the defendant and all the other men, who waited
and were interested in the deci4en of the Lord Mayor,
had signed articles in the presence of the shipping mas-
ter, for the term of 12 months, and, therefore, the time
of contract had not expired ; and they had, in reality,
deserted the ship, and were liable, under the terms cf
their contract, to b© imprisoned for any term not exceed-
ing 12 weeks, in addition to the penalty of the forfeiture
of th it wages. (Here the articles were produced, and
read by Mr. Goodman.) The company had, however,
directed Lies to act in no spirit of hostility to the men,
to exten-1 to then) the 1-ber3:ity ha Lee ex
hibited upon all former occasions. It was, however,
necessary to press the Lord Mayor for adjudication on

"Oct. 30, 1855.
" We, the undersigned, ratepayers of St. Pancras, this
evening at half-past 9 o'clock, visited the workhouse in
accordance with the public invitation of the board of
directors, and hereby testify that we found the state of
things as follows:
"In the female casual receiving ward we were in-
formed by the master that there were last evening 72
persons admitted, and that the number this evening was
somewhat less. There were upon the floor in the lower
room, stretched upon straw beds, 16 females ; their co-
vering was simply a rug ; some of the women were pre-
paring to lie down, one of whom, recently admitted,
showed her head, which was swarming with vermin.
We -found in the lavatory six other female, who, wi: h-
out any light, were endeavouring to dry their clothes by
the heat of the copper, the evening being exceedingly wet.
"We next visited the able men's ward, where we
found, on similar beds and with the like covering, 36 men
in a state of nudity. They 44 hung their shirts upon pegs
in the wail, to preserve them, es they said, from the
vermin which swarm,il in the beds. In one corner of
Viis room we found three men huddled together in a
bed about 3 feet 6 inches wide.

" We then went to the dormitory of the girls' school,
the lower room of which was in a sufficiently decent
state, exce,;t as regards ventilation, which was very de-
fective. In the upper room, however, the state of things
was highly unsatisfactory. In some of the beds there
wi-re seven children each, and in others sir. No extra
room had beer. provided in til the night before, and the
schoolmistress said, that during the last week, thei e
were as many as nine children in each of two beds, and
eight in several of the others.
" We then proceeeed to the male receiving ward,'
where we saw 14 men in and breathing an atmo-
sphere which the members of the medical profession
among us declared unfit to sustain human life. There
were seven more below stairs, some of whom were also
to sleep in the upper room.
" We have to add, that in all cases we found the
space much too narrow, and the ventilation most defec-
tive. In the last room visited the stench was so over-
powering that those who entered it were obliged to re-
tire from it almost immediately.
" This minute was drawn up in the board-room of the
workhouse, immediately after the inspection, and ap-
proved and signed by all present as a faithful record of
what we had witnessed."

(Here follow the signatures of 25 ratepayers, with their
addresses.)
Mr. Hudrell, the master of the workhouse, afforded
every facility in his power to the visitors, and in reply
to various questions, said that he did the best he could
with the material at his command. With respect to
the children's school, he was strongly of opinion that
the sooner they were removed to a distance from
the workhouse the better, He also stated that
the board bad that day recommended two paid
nurses to be employed ; but he felt that to be of
any service there should be at least one in each ward.
The number in the workhouse is 1,560, and he (Mr.
Hudrell) felt that there would not be fewer than 1800
in the winter. The unanimous expression of the gentle-
men who visited the workhouse was one of disgust and
horror, especially on beholding the filthy state of the
casual wards, and the unwholesome and crowded con-
dition of the infant dormitory.
The subject was brought before the vestry yesterday
by Mr. Streeten, who recapitulated what he had seen ;
Mr. Farrer, churchwarden, in the chair. The vestry
thought some of its members attempted to attribute mo-
tives to the gentlemen who paid the visit to the work-
house ; but not one of them ventured to deny the main
facts, that the receiving wards were filthy and over-
crowded, and that in the infant dormitory seven and eight
children slept in one bed ; and that as many as 25 bad
breakfasted, dined, and supped in the same room on the
day referred to.
The vestry r-.Aolved, after the effects of public opinion
had been brought to bear, that a committee of vestry-
men should inquire into the alleged neglect.