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

circumstances.

The complainant said he had been milled as to the
time stated in the articles.

The chief officer of the ship said it was impossible
that the complainant could have been misled, as it had
been emphatically mentioned to him and the other men
at the time that they were acting illegal y, and, in con-
sequence of their perseverance, he had been compelled
to enter them in the log-book as deserters.
Mr. Hoh!er said that upon the discharge of the cargo
the Admiralty had given immediate orders that the ves-
sel should be taken to Deptford to prepare for another
voyage to the Crimea, and all that had been required of
the complainant was to fulfil his contract, and assist
with the other men in navigating the vessel to and from
that station, but that, although they were paid very high
wages, they bad the effrontery, in consequence of the
difficulty which existed of obtaining sailors at Ports-
mouth, to act the dishonest part they had appeared in,
under the impression that they could succeed in com-
pelling the company to come to their terms of remune-
ration.
The Lcrd Mayor said it was quite clear that the com-
plainant had broken his own contract, and that he ['ad
been bound to assist in nav:.gatin4 the vessel to Dept-
ford. The summons must therefore be dismissed ; but,
as he thought the complainant and the other men, who
were waiting the decision, bad ac ed in ignorance of the
law, he trusted the company would not withhold the
pay which the persons employed in the way represented
had certainly forfeited.
It wa4 afterwards stated to the Lord Mayor that the
company had acted upon the suggestion, by paying the
men the wages due ; but that they were determined to
resist any future attempt, and that those who should
violate the laws in future must taks the serious conse-
quences.

STATE OF ST. PANCRAS WORKHOUSE.

INSPECTION BY THE RATEPAYERS.
In consequence of a placard issued by the board of
directors of St. Pancras, denying certain statements as
to the state of the receiving wards and infant dormitories
of the workhouse, and soliciting a public inspection, a
number of ratepayers agreed to accept the invitation,
and accordingly proceeded to the above workhouse and
inspected some of the departments of that establishment,
when it was found that the statements contained in the
report of the medical officer, Mr. Waldegrave, were fully
sustained, and that the workhouse was far from being
in that satisfactory state which the ratepayers had been
led to believe that it was, as will be seen from the fol-
lowing report :--

" 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 fluor 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 don n, one of whom, recently admitted,
showed her head, which was swarming with vermin.
We found in the lavatory six other females, who, wish-'
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 had hung their shirts upon pegs
in the wall, to preserve them, as they said, from the
vermin which swarmed in the beds. In one corner of
this 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, except 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
were seven children each, and in others six. No extra
room had been provided until the night before, and the
schoolmistress said, that during the last week, these
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 be 1, 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
j what we bad witnessed." _

(Here follow the signatures of 25 ratepayers, with their
addresses.)
Mr. Hudrell, the master of the workhouse, afforded
ovary 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, be was strongly of opinion that
the sooner they were removed to a distance from
the workhouse the better. He also stated that
the board had 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.
Hudreli) 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.
Th 9 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 nut one of then► 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 ou the
day referred to.
The vestry resolved, after the effects of public opinion
had been brought to beer, that a committee of vestry-
men should inquire into the alleged neglect.