The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-17 00:00:00

Meeting of Middlesex Magistrates,

A general meeting of the magistrates of the county of
Middlesex was held on Thursday at the Sessions-house,
Clerkenwell-green—Mr.ll. Pownall, chairman of the court,
presided.
THE PROPOSED NEW DIETARY FOR THE HOUSE OF "R.

ItECTION, COLDBATTI-FIELDS.
It will ba remembered that at the meeting of the ma-
gistrates held in July last an amended scale of dietary for
the use of the House of Correction, Coldbath-fields, was
agreed to by the magistrates, such dietary being a consider-
ablereduction in the quantity of food allowed to prisoners.
This new scale was subsequently submitted to the Home
Secretary, Sir G. Grey, for his approval, before it could be
adopted, and the following letters in answer thereto have
been received :

g e y
" Sir,—Having laid before Secretary Sir
Geor
" Whitehall, Sept. 14,863.
1
your letter of the 6th ult., 'submitting for his consideration
an amended form of diet table for male Prisoners in the
Middlesex House of Correction, I am now directed to trans-
Gre
mit to you, for the purpose of being laid before the Court of
Quarter Sessions for any observations which the Court may
have to offer thereon, the endorsed copy of a report which
has been received from Mr. Perry, inspector of prisons for
the southern district, upon the subject.—l am, 86e"
" H. WADDINGTON.
1, G. D. Baldwin, Esq., Deputy Clerk of the Peace,
Sessions House, Clerken well."
" Westbourne-street, Sept. 2, 1863.
" Sir.—l beg-to acknowledge the receipt of your letter,
dated the 12th ult., transmitting by direction of Secretary
Sir George Grey for my report thereon, a letter from the
deputy clerk of the peace for Middlesex, enclosing an altered
form of diet table for the approval of Sir George Grey.
" The deputy clerk of the peace encloses a letter from the
visiting magistrates of the House of Correction, Clerkenwell,
in which it is stated that the resolution of quarter sessions,
relative to the second class dietary was erroneously stated in
the schedule before submitted, and that it was the intention
that a marked difference should be made between the first
and second classes, by giving to the latter only half the
quantity of meat supplied to the former.
" In reply, I beg to observe, that the disproportion is not
only in the quantity of meat; since the first class would re-
ceive cocoa for breakfast, and nearly four times the quantity
of potatoes, besides an additional pint of soup, and that as
many of the prisoners in class 2, who are not sentenced to
hard labour, or who are unable to perform it, are imprisoned
for the longest terms, some even for two years, while those
employed at hard labour have the higher dietary, if their
sentences exceed three months, no sufficient reason appears
for so great a disproportion.
" It is not, however, in its relation to the highest dietary
that I object to the insufficiency of the second, but because I
am quite persuaded that the latter is absolutely inadequate
to maintain health in prisoners confined for long terms. I
would beg leave to recal to the meaiory of Sir George Grey
that the dietary of a large prison in the North of England
was lowered in September of last year, in accordance with
the views of the visising justices, and that in the following
May it was found necessary to return to a higher scale, in
consequence of the increase of sickness and mortality which
attended the change ; but the reduced dietary of that prison
was considerably more nutritious than that which the Mid-
dlesex justices now propose to give to prisoners confined on
the same terms. I venture to predict, as a circumstance
highly probable, that if the dietary now proposed for the
second class were to be enforced, the large prison in which it
is proposed to adopt it would be the scene of an unprecedented
amount of low fever, scurvy, and other diseases arising from
defective nutrition, with a corresponding increase of mor-
tality, unless indeed the surgeons should prevent these re-
sults by giving to all long-sentenced prisoners of this class
a thesp established an increase of food equivalent to that which they would re-
ceive under a better appointed dietary.
Some persons think
it is not material whether a sufficient amount be provided
by
setaialbloirsdheerdidn eachiet ry,esosretbhye
thdeeficsiurengceyon ; but I would
made up by
by
beg to submit that the practice of ordering extra diet is one
which should be avoided as much as possible on account of
the malingering and feigned illness to which it gives rise,
and of the insubordination, insult, and even assaults upon
the surgeon,
committed by prisoners who think that others
are more favoured by him than themselves.
"It appears to me that much of the difficulty in this case
arises from the same dietary being prescribed for all pri-
soners not at hard labour whose sentences range from 14
days to two years and upwards ; because the amount of food
required by the larger sentenced men is in excess of that
which would support the shorter sentenced. I would there-
fore suggest that the dietary now called ' second class' be
confined to all prisoners whose sentences exceed 14 days
and do not exceed three months, and that another scale be
introduced, intermediate between those now called first'
and second,' for prisoners not employed at hard labour
whose sentences exceed three months, and that this class
should have the second dietary, with the addition of four
ounces of meat and eight ounces of potatoes on Thursdays.
—I am, &c.,
(Signed) " JOHN G. PERRY. Inspector of Prisons.

" H. Waddington, Esq."
An Hon. MAGISTRATE said he deemed this communication
of so much important 3 that he hoped it would be referred
to the Committee of Justices of the House of Correction,
Coldbath-fields, and that they should report on it the next
county day.

The motion was put and agreed to.
EI,ECTION OF INSPECTOR OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

An election of inspector of weights and measures took
place for No. 2 district, comprising Finsbury, Clerkenwell,
and the surrounding neighbourhood, the vacancy being
caused by the death of Mr. Thomas Reynolds, of the Tower
Hamlets, or No. 1 district, to which Mr. John Wright was
appointed, thereby rendering his former district vacant. Mr.
Morrison was offered the choice of No. 2 district, but he pre-
ferred to retain No. 3, Bloomsbury, St. Giles, &c. It then
remained for Mr. James Gregg to consider whether he
would take No. 2, ho being the inspector of No. 4 district,
Brentford, Uxbridge, &J., but he preferred retaining his
old district, and therefore the election to-day was for No.
2 district. There were six candidates selected from a large
number of applicants, and the names submitted by the com-
mittee to the Court were—Mr. James Coward, Mr, David
Faulkner, Mr. F. B. Gingell, Mr. W. Hamilton, Mr. Thos.
Taylor, and Mr. Edward Walker,
After the voi.es had been taken Mr. Griffiths and Mr.
Dixon,
the scrutineers, reported to the Court that the elec-
tion had fallen upon Mr. David Faulkner, who had 35
votes given to him, Mr. Taylor having 18, Mr. Jas. Coward
1, and the other three none.
The CISAIRMAN then declared Mr.
inspector Faulkner duly ap-
pointed as of weights andfor N 2 dis-
trict, and said that as he had been fors measures
sin the office
of Mr. C. Wright, the clerk to the committee of justices,
the magistrates had had an opportunity judgingn of the
value of his service!, and he trusted jat in his new situa-
tion he would by his conduct prove to them that they had
selected the person who was hest fitted for the office. It was
a situation Of great reEponsibility, and mein which he would