The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-01 00:00:00

METROPOLIS LOCAL MANAGEMENT

ACT.

ST. GEORGE'S IN THE EAST.

Mr. A. Pulling, one of the commissioners appointed
to set out the wards and apportion the vestrymen in the
various parishes, held an adjourned meeting, at the ves-
try room attached to the Church, on Friday.
Among those present were the rector of the parish,
the Rev. Ryan King; the churchwardens, Messrs. Wil-
son and Fairclough ; Mr. Howell, the vestry clerk ;
Mr. Stone, clerk to the trustee ; and a large number of
the principal inhabitants of the parish.
The COMMISSIONER, in opening the proceedings, ob-
served that on the last occasion it had become necessary
to adjourn the meeting, in order that the question of
whether the compounders were, under the local and.
general acts of Parliament, to be considered rated house-
holders, and to ascertain the exact number, if possible,
in the parish. By the returns furnished him, he found
that 1,964 persons were rated to the poor-rate, but in
the moan time a question had arisen as to whether any
other rates existed which would bring the persons rated.
under them into the category of rated householders.
A long conversation then ensued, in the course of
which the Vestry Clerk stated that there were five
paving boards under the local act existing in the parish,
but wh(Tz, jurisdiction was extended over portions of
other parishes. The utmost number that he could make,
even supposing all the persons included in those paving
rates were rated householders, would be 2,008, or only
eight above the number required by the act, and there
was considerable doubt whether they could be deemed
rated householders.

The COMMISSIONER said, he bad not a doubt that the
intention of the framer of the act of Parliament was that
the number of vestrymen should depend on the number
of inhabited houses, and that opinion was further con-
firmed by the sth clause, which enacted that if at any
time the number of " inhabited" houses by the census
returns be shown to have greatly increased in any par.
ticular ward, a re-distribution of the vestrymen might
take place on the petition of the vestry or inhabitants of
the ward to the Metropolitan Board of Works.
The VESTRY CLERK said, he had no means of giving
an accurate return respecting the rating under the
different paving boards.
The COMMISSIONER remarked that it appeared from
the Registrar-General's returns that there was over 6,000
houses, and he was bound to assume, unless the contrary
was shown, that the number of rated householders were
far greater than 2,000. If he was unable to inspect the
books he was bound to take the best information he
could get.

The VESTRY CLERK said that, unless he could ascer-
tain the exact amount from the books of the paving
boards, he should not feel inclined to certify that the re-
turn was an accurate one.

Mr. STONE called attention to the 16th clause, which
provided that persons should be rated to the poor 12
months, and contended that, unless they were on the
poor rate-book they could not be deemed rated house-
holders.

The COMMISSIONER said that that might be good as
against persons claiming to vote, but could Rot affect
them being treated for this purpose as rated house•
holders.

After a lengthened discussion upon the construction
of the act with respect to this particular point,
The COMMISSIONER observed that as there were 1,964
persons returned as rated householders by the Vestry
Clerk, without taking into account persons rated under
the different paving boards, and who, in his opinion,
were equally entitled to be treated as rated householders,
be had no kind of doubt that the number of rated house-
holders in the whole parish would greatly exceed 2,000,
and that, therefore, it was his duty to divide the parish
into wards.

The Vestry CLERK reminded the Commissioner that
the whole number of rated householders he could make
out, including the persons who paid rates to the paving
boards, were only 2,003, and that 30 or 40 houses had
been pulled down for the railway since the time when
those returns were made.

Mr. Herbert remarked that most of those houses were
farmed property, and he did not think it could have been
the intention of Sir D. Hall or of Parliament, that in a
parish possessing so many as 6,000 houses, so many of
them should be unrepresented, and that the number of
vestrymen should be so contracted.
A very long discussion then ensued, when
The COMMISSIONER observed that, acting on the dater
which had been furnished to him, he should certainly
divide the parish into wards, as he could not conceive
any other than that it contained a much larger number
than was required by the act. It was quite true that
he had no power to summon witnesses, or even to in-
spect the parish books, which was a great deficiency in
the act, but he had no doubt that the five paving boards
would have no objection to furnish him, on application,
with the actual number of the persons rated by them,
and it must be remembered that if he did not divide it
when it ought to have been divided, the proceedings
would be equally as illegal as if it were improperly
divided. It would be absolutely necessary to adjourn
the present meeting to get the actual statistics of the
parish, as well as the number of persons rated under
the poor-rate assessment.

Various questions were asked as to the qualification
and other matters, which

The CO3IMISSIONER declined to answer at present,
but he said, would be settled by the case which bad
been submitted to the law officers of the Crown, with
whom ho was to consult.

The meeting was again adjourned.

MILE-END OLD TOWN.

Mr. A. PULLING, after concluding his proceedings at
St. George's-in-the-East on Friday, proceeded to Mile--
end Old Town, where he completed the assignment of
vestrymen for that parish.
Amongst those present were Mr. Southwell, Vestry
Clerk ; Messrs. Patten and Stephenson, Churchwardens;
Messrs. Moody, Lemon, and South, Overseers ; Messrs.
Badderley, Newton, Jenkins, Francis Hollingsworth,
Beetton, &c.

The COMMISSIONER, in opening the proceedings, ob-
served that since the last meeting he had examined the
map and the returns, and he was of opinion that the
wards, as agreed to be altered at the last meeting, were
the most suitable which could be devised for the pur-
pose.
In reply to a gneetion from Mr, Newton,

The COMMISSIONER said he was bound to treat those
only as rated whose names appeared on the rate-book.
Mr. HOLLINGSWORTEI asked whether the persons
rated for pipes, &c., were included ?
The COMMISSIONER replied that they were set out in
the proper column as companies rated.
Mr. JENKINS inquired whether those who claimed
under Sir W. Clay's act were entitled to be considered
as rated hou=eholders ?

The COMMISSIONER said that he was bound to include
not only those who were rated to the poor-rate, but to
any other parochial rate, and include them as rated
householders accordingly.
After some further conversation,

The COMMISSIONER, having made the necessary cal-
culations, declared the number of vestrymen in each
ward as follows :

Ward No. 1, or Central Ward
Ward No. 2, or North Ward l5
Ward No. 3, or East Ward l2
Ward No. 4, or East Ward
Ward No. 5, or South \Yard

Total number of vestrymen ' S 4
The corrected returns for the various wards were as
follows :

Ward No. I.—Rated householders, 1,463; persons
rated, 1,731 ; rateable value, 39,0081.
'Ward No. 2.—Rated householders, 1,463; rated per-
sons, 1,199 ; rateable value, 29,3531.
Ward No. 3.—Rated householders,
705 ; persons
rated to the relief of the poor, 777
22,285/.
Ward No. 4, or West Ward.—Rated householders,
1,472 ; persons rated, 1,597 ; rateable value, 33,3301.
Ward No. 5, or South Ward.—Rated householders,
1,486 ? persons rated, 1,656 ; rateable value, 34,8591.
The COMMISSIONER then announced that the whole of
the business which had to do with the parish, relating
to the division and appointment of the wards for the
parish, was completed. His award would be made by
the 10th of October, and be furnished to the Vestry
Clerk.
In reply to a suggestion from the Vestry Clerk,
The CommissioNEß thought that the possession of a
map, with the boundaries of the new wards laid out,
would be extremely
i valuable, and he thought the ex-
pense of procuring t lithographed might be very well
defrayed under the 158th sectior. He must say that the
map shown to him was an admirable map.
some discussion then took place respecting the various
questions raised in the course of the Commissioner's in-
quiry, to which the same answer was returned as at for-
mer meetings ; and, a vote of thanks having been ten-
dered to Mr Pulling for his very able conduct in dividing
the parish,
The COMMISSIONER, in reply, observed that be was
glad to find that the act had given so much satisfaction
in the different parishes in which he had presided. In
his opinion, it supplied a great desideratum, as it intro-
duced a perfect system of local self-government in the
metropolis, which had hitherto presented a remarkable
anomaly to other towns in the kingdom in that respect,
it having up to the present time been a complete chaos.
He thought Sir B. Hall had conferred a great boon ore
the metropolis by the introduction of this measure, and
hoped that all interested would do their utmost to carry
it out.
The meeting then adjourned, and the proceedings, $lll
far as this parish is concerned, were concluded.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—ONE SHILLINGDAY, FRIDAY,
SEPT. 23.—Admissions on payment) 6,052 ; ditto by
season tickets, 544.—T0ta1, 6,596. Corresponding day
last year, 6,975.
RAILWAY TRAFFICI.—The trafic returns of railways
in the United Kingdom for the week ending September
22 amounted to 435,3671., and for the corresponding
perio • d of last year to 383,527/., stowing an increase of
43,140/.
Among the late arrivals at Dumfries were the Earl of
Dlkeiwho proceeded to Drumlanrig Castle to join
the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch • the Earl and
Countess of Stair, accompanied by the Ladies Dal-
rymple, ca route for Edinburgh ; and Lady Maxwell, of
Monreith, for the south.
DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF MR. TIIDWAY, M.P.—The
hon. member for Wells is, we are sorry to say, lying in
an almost hopeless condition at his family seat. Dor*
Budd and Symonds, of Bristol, and Dr. Boyd, of sr,
asylum, are in constant attendance upon him, beuLli?v,
hope is entertained of him. . His complaint, .vrfr°,,x„
the
I
an inflammation of the bronchial tubes or '"
-Boat Herald.