The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-21 00:00:00

EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1862.

COI-111'7'Y OF MIDDLESEX.

The ordinary theeting of the magistrates of Alid-
dlesex for the transaction of the business of the
county was held yesterday at Clerkenwell. Mr.
Pownall presided, and there was a very full attend-
ance of justices, there being over 50 present.
The reports of the visiting justices of the prisons
were presented, and considered. In Coldbath-fields
House of Correction there were 1,655 prisoners :
Felons, 918; misdemeanants, 543 vagrants, 185;
military offenders, 9; there were 120 boys under 17
years of age. There were 9 prisoners in the infir-
mary, and 101 under medical treatment. One death
had beurrel from typhoid fever. Although the
Conduct of the prisoners generally had been good,
the committee reported that since the last court
day they had been under the necessity of ordering
corporal punishment on three prisoners for distinct
cases of violent Emeriti viz., on two of the warders
and on the instructor in the Mat room, and they
sentenced them to receive respectively One dozen,
two dozen, and four dozen lashes with the cibt-o'-
nine-tails. In the House of Correction at Westmin-
ster there were 553 prisoners, all females. The
committee reported that they had found it necessary
to suspend from further duty the chief wardress,
Frances Pigram, who had been 17 years in the ser-
vice of the county. For some time past the justices
had suspected her of intercourse with prisoners and
their friends out of the prison, and finding that ar-
ticles were privately introduced into the prison, but
by whom the keeper could not detect, they directed
that vigilant attention should be paid to the conduct
of the officers when off duty. They soon had reason
to believe that the chief wardress Pigram, was in the
habit of frequenting a most notorious house, well
known to the police as being frequented by thieves
and other bad characters, which, after much equi-
vccation, the officer reluctantly admitted. The jus
tices therefore recommend that she be dismissed.
Agreed to. The salary of the keeper was recom-
mended to be increased £250 to £3OO a year.
In the House of Detention there were 248 pri-
soners. The resignations of three officers were ac-
cepted, two females and one male. The two former
were recommended for superannuation allowances
on the usual scale, according to their length of ser-
vice. The committee had directed the governor not
to allow for the future solicitors or their clerks to
visit prisoners on Sundays, as they had found that
such a practice, which had been allowed at this pri-
son, was not allowed at Newgate, or the county
gaols of Surrey, Kent, and Essex. The report stated
—" A complaint having been made at the sessions
before the Assistant-Judge that a clerk to one of
the judges had been refused admission to this pri-
son, the visiting justices deem it right to lay before
the Court the circumstances which gave rise to the
statement referred to. On Saturday, the Ist inst.,
a solicitor's clerk, accompanied by a gentleman, ap-
plied to see two prisoners. They were passed into
the prison by the gate-warder, and upon being asked
by the warder inside, whose duty it was to receive
them, for their authority, the gentleman declared
he had no authority, but the solicitor's clerk pro-
duced his, and said the gentleman had come with
him. The warder then said that before he
could admit the latter without an authority he must
ask the instructions of the governor, who was at that
time in the male prison. On the warder's return
to the waiting-room to say that the governor was
coming thither, the gentleman informed him that
he was a judge's clerk, whose authority he had re-
ceived to administer an oath to the prisoner. Be-
fore the warder could again return from communi-
cating this information to the governor, the gentle-
man had left the prison. The warder assured the
visiting justices that the period occupied for this
inquiry was considerably under five minutes. The
visiting j astices are quite satisfied with the conduct
of the warder on this occasion, who did his duty
by referring to the governor for instructions,
when a circumstance hitherto novel, such as the
official visit of a judge's clerk to the prison,
came before him. The governor having requested
instructions for his future guidance, the justices
have directed him to admit persons authorised to
administer oaths to, or receive declarations from
prisoners, who shall satisfy him of their authority
:0 do so."

The report of the Committee for Accounts and
General Purposes recommended the payment to
111 r. Wakley, the coroner, of £450 65., for disburse-
ments on 190 inquests, held from the Ist of January
to the 13th instant; to Mr. Humphreys, £361 125.,
for 195 inquests, held in the same period; end to
Mr. Bedford, £6B 18s. 6d., for 33 inquests, the like.
On the consideration of the report of a committee
laid before the Court on the last county day, as to
the propriety of petitioning her Majesty in Council,
under the statute 7th and Bth Vic., c. 92, relating
to coroners, to divide the Western division of this
county into two districts, whenever a vacancy shall
occur, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. KEM-
SHEAD, that such petition be presented.
Letters from clerks of the peace of Birmingham
and other places, respecting the inadequacy of the
scale of allowances to prosecutors and witnesses,
were laid before the Court, and replies ordered,
Mr. P. NORTHALL LAURIE moved that it be re-
ferred to the Committee of Justices of the House of
Correction to consider and report upon the expe-
diency of obtaining a Bible woman for that prison.
It was agreed to after a short discussion. The
Court granted the sum of £3O a year for the use of
the vestry-hall at Kensington, for the holding of
the petty sessions of that division. It was com-
plained by several magistrates that the county
ought not to have to pay for the use of local vestry
halls, where they had to attend to parish, and not
to county business, and that applications for the
hire of such places out of the county purse were
shabby, coming from large, populous, and rich divi-
sions which had the gratuitous services of the jus-
tices. It was urged, on the other hand, that a
suitable place for divisional business should be pro-
vided for the justices, instead of their being com-
pelled to hold their meetings at public-houses.
Agreed to.
The report from the asylums at Hanwell and
Colney Hatch, presented to the Court on the last
county day, were brought up for consideration.
Some discussion took place upon them, in which
M9jor Lyon made some very strong remarks upon
some entries made by the Commissioners in Lunacy
in the visiting book of the asylum. Having gone
into the details of a very voluminous report, which
showed that the establishment contained 514 men
and 886 women, the gallant major said the magi-
strates themselves were by law alone responsible
for the condition, management of the asylum, and
the care of the patients, and the commissioners had
acted in a domineering manner in a matter in which
they were as but schoolboys. He protested against
the interference with the proper functions of the Com-
mittee of Visitors of the Asylum upon matters they
did not understand, as was exemplified in the case
of the county of Kent, in the matter of ventilation
to begin with, and he trusted the Court would
pass a resolution approving the course the
committee had pursued, and expressing confidence
in their management of one of the most important of
the county establishments, which by law was en-
trusted to their sole care. The case of the patient
Geoghan, who was assaulted and subsequently died,
was referred to.
Sir A. Y. SPEARMAN, chairman of the committee,
made a few remarks, in which be said there was
nothing to justify any charge of laxity against the
medical staff, although the appointment of an addi-
tional medical officer was recommended to be made.
In one case, however, he admitted that there had
not been a sufficiently careful examination of the
patient on his admission, or it would have been
found that his ribs were then fractured ; but the re-
marks in the report were not intended as a condem-
nation of the medical officers.
The resolution was adopted.
The report from Coln ey Hatch was then proceeded
with, and a long discussion ensued upon incurable
patients being sent to the asylum instead of recent
cases. It was strongly urged that it should be im-
pressed upon parochial authorities that the asylums
were erected for the care and cure of the pauper
lunatics, and not receive patients to die and be
buried at the asylum. The report was adopted.
Mr. ANTROBUS moved for a grant of £350 for the
purpose of increasing the domestic accommodation
of the chaplain of the industrial school at Feltham,