The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-09 00:00:00

Mr. J. Locke and his Constituents,

Last night Mr. I. Lease, M.P. for Southwark,
met his constituents at the Bridge House Hotel,
London-bridge, for the purpose of rendering an ac-
count of his stewardship during the last session.
The chair was occupied by Mr. J. Oast!er, of the
firm of Messrs. Hoselev, Palmer, and Co., leather
manufacturers, in the Borough.
Mr. LOCKE said that this was the seventh time
he had appeared More his constituents during the
Parliamentary recess, in order that they might
commune together upon the interees of the nation
at large, and those of the borough of Southwark in
particular, and it was extremely gratifying to him
to find thac the course he pursued always met with
their approval. Since he first came before them, his
opinions and those of the great bulk of the commu-
nity had coincided, and he believed that the great
benefits conferred upon this country, during the
time he had been their representative, were due
to that party in the House of Commons whom,
through him, they had supported. (Hear, hear.)
Since they had last met, they had lost several most
influential and active persons in the borough, and
among them Dr. Challice and Mr, Day, the latter of
'whom had done much to promote the movement for
the equalisation of the poor rates. (Hear, hear.) It
Was said that the late session of Parliament did
nothing. That was always said at the end of every
session, but he shoull like those who made the com-
plaint to sit in the House of Commons, as members
did, until 2 o'clock in the morning three days a
week, and see what was done. Daring the session
125 public and 250 private acts had been passed,
and therefore Parliament must have laboured to
some extent. (Hear, hear.) With regard to local
matters he expressed his regret that no site had
been found in Southwark for St. Thomas's Hospital.
Had the committee of the hospital done their duty,
they would have kept it within the borough,
and thus carried out the object of King Edward
Vl.'s charter. Difficulties had arisen, however,
in one quarter and another, and now, un-
less the parties peculiarly interested did
not exert themselves, there seemed to be every pros.
peat that the hospital would be rebuilt at Stangate.
That would certainly be better than the original
proposition to take the hospital five or six miles
out of town ; but he contended that the men of
Southwark had alone the right to possess that hos-
pital. (Cheers.) Another important local question
was the proposal to have a park for Southwark,
which was much discussed seven years ago. The
Metropolitan Board of Works, for whom they en-
tertained deep gratitude from a lively sense of
favours to come—(laughter)--had
a resolved that
there should be a park for Southwark ; and, if he
were rightly informed, they had given notice to pro-
ceed next session with
a bill on the subject contain-
ing powers for rating the whole metropolis for the
expense of forming the park. If the inhabitants of
Southwark were united, and did not quarrel among
themselves as to where exactly it should be, their
chance of getting
a park would be much improved.
A VOICE—The miserable dwellings of the poor
are of more importance. (Cheers.)
Mr. LOCKE said he had forgotten that subject, but
he thought that a park was intimately connected
with the dwellings of the poor. (Hear, hear.) With
those dwellings was also closely bound up the
equalisation of poor rates. Complaints were made
throughout the country, and especially in the agri-
cultural districts, that the houses of the labouring
classes were not only in a very bad state, bat too
far removed from the places where they performed
their work. One reason was that until last session
a man was not irremovable until after five years'
residence in a parish, but now that period was re-
duced to three years, The object of those inte-
rested in land in certain parishes was to prevent
working men residing within them, because, if they
fell into distress after a three years' residence, they
would be irremovable, and those parishes would
have to keep them. The present system of poor
law weighed heavily on the working classes in
the agricultural districts, because they 'were
obliged to crowd together in small parishes far
away from their work. But, fortunately, there
was at the head of the Poor-law Board one of the
most distinguished men of the country for philan-
thropy, intelligence and honesty, Mr. Charles Vil-
liers—(cheers)—the man whofirst agitated the repeal
of the corn laws, and therefore before either Mr. Cob-
den or Mr. Bright took up the question. (Cheers.)
He was untrammelled by the cobwebs which con-
glomerated round the minds of those who previously
occupied his position, looked straightforward, and
kept always in view the principle that the rich of a
community should be taxed for the support of the
pooe. (Cheers.) Under the present system in South-
wark the poor were compelled to support the poor.
(Hear, hear.) The dwellings of the labouring classes
in many- parts of the metropolis were pulled down
to make way for improvements, without others being
erected for their accommodation, and the result was
that those people all congregated together in poorer
districts of the town. Mr. Villiers succeeded last
session in extending the area for poor rates to unions
and rendering a man irremovable after three years'
residence. The first provision did not benefit South-
wark, as large parishes in themselves formed unions,
but it was a step in the right direction. (Hear, hear.)
They could not do everything at once. In commit-
tee he moved an amendment to the effect that for
thepurpose of the bill the whole metropolis should
" taken to be a union, and, though he never ex-
Noe(' to carry it, no one gainsaid the justice of the
principle that all who benefited by the labours of the
working easses, or possessed property, should con-
tribute their fair pc °portion to the relief of the poor
hers totta titblaiispesition among a large class of mem-
rise to onert:110 the iaw of settlement, which gave
espcci, in jial inconvenience and expense, and,
classes to the aoie ziantry, bound down the working
olhcr parishes. (laser,
prevented them going into
Trial:des Censerva.o r, hear.) With regard to the
, the lion, member said the
Government had
taken into consideration the
report of the committee
of last session on that sub-
ject, ,rd had given notice
of
a bill for next session,
making
the bosrd of commissionershe n, tlr
e more represen
r.-
tative and popular e Was the Thal'a
impor-
tant
questloa of the
Thames Embankment,
(Hear, hear.) It ryas.cytt.wh i rea'atkable that he
e sis
had never heard a word said by his
constituents
about the embankment arty a
of the Surrey aide. (" ilt s
indispensable.") In a former session a bill was
of the north •
passed for the embankment aide of the
Thames, and last session another was pasile,
Q for an
•
enbankment on the Surrey side from 'West
Intaater.
bridge to a point, he believed, beyond Ve,„,h
an.
bridge. If his constituents bestirred themselves it
was not too late yet to get that
embankment can
in a direction
tinued from Westminster-bridge
to wards London. bridge. (Hear, hear.) In the course
of the session some very important public measures
were passed. First, there was the bill founded on the
budget, taking off 2d. from the income tax and Od•
from the duty on tea—another advance in the
direction of free trade, which had been so bent
ficial
to the country at large. (cheers.) He need do no
more than simply refer to that subject, as there
was hardly a man in Southwark who was not a
stern and strong free-trader. (Hear.) (A Voice—
" What about the game laws PI An act was passed
last session called the Nuisance Removal Amend-
ment Act. (Laughter.) Everybody knew the disad-
vantage of eating bad meat. Formerly they could
sae ize diseased meat but not the animal which con-
tained within it disease, and the act in question rec-
tified omission, that
and increased the penalties.
Nothing ,
loir-
me , s so insidious and so dangerous as bad
a" It taken by human being, it not only
affected him a
at the moment, but ate into his whole
system, and causedi
innumerable diseases and com-
plaints which ended
no question on l'tailY• (Hear.) There was
which
countrythere was such a diversion of
opinion in this
Some were Confederates, as
the war in America.
and some neither. (Laughter.)
Federals,B some both,
forgotten that
last session an)act was passed giving
effect to a treaty entered into b
the United between this coun-
try
and , extending the
f both countriesktee f
powers 0 at' the suppression
of the slap© trade. (Cheers.) e TLiLLaw Revision
by the direction of the
Act, prepared Lord Chan-
ceilor, and introduced by the Attor neY-Gederal
would also have an extremely important and salu-
taryoff from the statute-book
effect. It struck