The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-20 00:00:00

PADDINGTON.

Mr. Arthur John Wood, one of the assessors appointed
by G;vernment to discharge the duty of setting out the
ards and apportioning the number of vestrymen, under
the recent act for the local management of the metro-
polis, held a sitting yesterday in the Vestry-hall, Pad-
dington, for the purpose of apportioning the number of
vestrymen to be elected for that parish. The present is
a select vestry, of which the Bishop of London, 18 mem-
bers of Parliament, and several magistrates, are ex officio
members. The local parochial authorities who met the
learned assessor were Mr. Southwood, churchwarden ;
Mr. Hunt, overseer; Mr. F. Aveling, vestry clerk.;
Capt. Liveing, Mr. H. M. Kemshead, J.P., Mr. R. L.
Jones, Mr. E. Bayli., Mr. Hayworth, Mr. Martelli, and
Mr. Gulch, members of the vestry; Mr. Robins, a rate-
payer ; and the collectors of the differect districts.

In reply to a question whether the Great Western
Railway was to be computed,
The ASSESSOR said we intend to exclude from our
computation all water companies, gas companies, rail-
s:ay and other companies, whose pipes or lines run
through several wards in the parish. If the railway is in
one ward we must include it, but if it runs through seve-
ral we cannot apportion it.
Thu VESTRY CLERK replied that it ran through several
wards.

The returns of the four wards into which the parish
has been divided, made up from the collectors' book?,
were then banded in.

The return of the persons rated in each ward, including
non-resident landlords, was as follows :—Ward No.l,
number of persons rated, 1,271 ; Ward No. 2, 1,431 •
Ward No. 3, 1,394; and Ward No. 4, 2,105.
The next return showed the rateable value of the wards
to be :—Ward No. 1,
52,872/. ; Ward No. 2, 78,852/. ;
Ward No. 3, 103,248/. ; Ward No. 4, 203,418/.
The acreage of the various wards is :—Ward No. 1,
170; Ward No. 2, 615 ; Ward No. 3, 290 ; Ward No. 4,
160.
Total number of persons rated in the parish, 6,201 ;
total rateable value, 443,3901. ; total acreage, 1,235.
The ASSESSOR, having looked at the returns, said they
were very creditably made up, and he had to thank the
collectors for having attended so carefully to his instruc-
tions. The learned gentleman then proceeded with his
calculation on the returns furnished by the coNectors,
and in the explanations which ensued be ascertained
that they had personal knowledge that certain persons
were not occupiers though they were entered in the rate
books as such. Proceeding. on that information, the
number of vestrymen who could be elected for the parish
was 72.

The ASSESSOR said that would be the number of ves-
trymen if he acted on the personal knowledge of the col-
lectors, which he had no doubt was perfectly correct,
that some of the persons were not occupiers although
they so appeared in the occupiers' column. But it was
a question whether a person entered in the occupiers'
column was or was not a resident householder t He would
not 3 et decide whether he could take parole evidence that
a person was not an occupier, or whether the rate-boobs
were the evidence by which he was to be guided. It had
been held that, if the name of a person appeared on the
rate-books, he was sufficiently rated, and they bad no
right to ask the overseer on what ground he had been
rated. Now, it was a question for him which he would
wish more maturely to consider, whether he was not
bound to take the rate-books as evidence. It appeared
to him at present that it was sufficient to find the names
in the rate-books, and that he should not take parole
evidence as to whether persons were resident or not.
He would, therefore, require from the collectors further
returns, giving, in addition to the number of persons
returned, those which they had excluded, on the ground
that they knew them to be non-resident.

The calculation of theninnber-ofVesTrymen to be ap-
portioned to each ward, on the basis that the number of
rated householders, exclusive of non-residents, would
allow 72 vestrymen for the entire parisb, was then made
by the learned gentleman ; but, as in the event of the
rate-books being the evidence by which be is to he
guided, the number would be increased to 84, the rela-
tive numbers to be returned by each ward cannot be
decided until the legal question is determined.
The business of the sitting having now concluded,
Mr. HAWORTH moved a vote of thanks to the learned
assessor, which was carried unanimously.

SERIOUS ACCIDENTwom AT THE GARRICK THEATRE,-o,i
Tuesday night a namedf Mary Sullivan, aged
43 years, while in the act descending the stone steps
leading to the pit saloon, to, sfotrie means lost her equi-
librium, and fell a. 15depth'ofywhereby she received
a most extensive laceration of the scalp and fracture of
the skull. She was removed to the
setat London Hospital,
where she now lies in a preeariou
SUPERSTITION IN CHESHIRE.—A few°. days a-
-
go, in a
vinage not mere than five miles from Tarporley, a wed-
ding p'trty was assembled, and, according to a
superstitious notion prevalent in that neighbturhoore
if
the bride bake a cake with her ring in it, the person Who
gets that part of the cake with the ring will be the next
to be married. Accordingly the bride baked a cake with
her ring placed in the inside ; a young man present tn,,k
the picee of cake without knowing the ring was in it,
tud ate both the cake and the rirz.—Ch,:ater Chronic!:.