The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-03 00:00:00

accounts were kept. It was proper that the report of
that Committee should have been laid before the Vestry,
but, as he had not heard that there was an intention to
make the parishioners acquainted with the nature ofthat
report, by presenting it to the Vestry, he should un-
dertake to give them some information upon that
point. From the report it appeared, that up to
March, 1832, the amount in the poor rate books had
been kept ; but subsequent to that, from Michaelmas
1832, to Michaelmas 1837, the poor rate books had
not been cast tip. During that period in one year the
books had not been posted ; in another year they had
not been cast up, and the arrears had not been cast up.
In the year 1837 the arrears were not posted, while the •
books were cast up in pencil.—(Cries of " Shame.")
Nearly 2,000 columns of figures had nOt been east up.
—( Loud cries of " Shame.") [A voice exclaimed that
the statement was ex-parte.] He would be happy to
sec the explanation, but why was not the report pre-
sented ? In addition to this he had to state that the
collectors' books of the year 1835 had been destroyed.
(Hear) The books were altogether in such a confused
state that the Committee had been totally unable to
look intothe matter, and they called upon the parish for it.
support. But that was not all ; for from the report of
the trustees it appeared that on the 7th of March a
defalcation in one of their clerks, Mr. Ritchie, the
principal clerk, had been discovered to the amount of
1,3301., and for whom Mr. Oldersbaw, their late
vestry clerk, was responsible. Now, when he found
that it was the duty of the trustees to look into these
matters, and that they had neglected to do to, he asked
what confidence would they place in them. He then
compared the expenditure on account of the poor with
that of the parish of St. Luke, in reference to the sup-
port of their poor ; and shoe ed that for a less number
of poor the parish of Islington expended a much
larger sum than did the parish of St. Luke ; and he
further added, that he had compared the expenses of
the parish with several other parishes in the kingdom,
when he found that their expenses exceeded all.—
(Hear, hear.) He did intend to have moved a reso-
lution that they do not proceed to such election until
the Vestry had taken such steps „upon the present
occasion as they thought fit. But as the Chairman
had resolved not to allow him to take • such a course,
he would content himself with making the statement
he had.

Several Parishioners expressed their readiness to
support a resolution to the effect proposed by Mr.
Hodgkin.
Mr. RAmsnEl4, in explanation, denied that there was
any connivance on the part of the trustees either with
the late Vestry-Clerk, or Mr. Ritchie. The state-
ments of Mr. Hudgskin might be true or false as far
as he could say.
Mr. WooDwAral observed that both Mr. Older-
shaw and his clerk were their confidential servants.
When the hooks were presented to the trustees, they
always considered that the surplus money was placed
in the banker's hands. How could they, the trustees,
be able to detect their defalcation's when they, Mr.
Oldershaw end his clerk, were in collision with each
other. The trustees had the utmost confidence in their
integrity. They acted as fairly and disinterestedly
with the parishioners as much as it was possible for
men to do, and under the circumstances they had no
control over the deception that was being practised
on them.

Mr. HODGKIN wished to put his motion, but

The CHAIRMAN called to order, and commenced
putting the names from the two lists which he had in
his hand, a red list and a black list. A poll was de-
manded fur the trustees.