The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-13 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE
MAIVSION-HOUSE.

MOVING PUBLIC-HOUSES.--A man named Smith,
the master of one of the halfpenny steamers which ply
between Dyers'-hall Pier-wharf and Westminster,
was summoned before the Lord Mayor and Alderman
Ilumphery for having, during the time at which
licensed victuallers are by law obliged to keep their
houses closed, viz., about twenty-five minutes past
eleven o'clock on Sunday, the 4th inst., unlawfully
sold exciseable liquor on board his vessel, whereby he
was subjected to a penalty not exceeding 51.
The defendant pleaded guilty ; but
The LORD MAYOR having been informed by
Inspector Mitchell that there were constant repetitions
of the offence with which the man was charged, and
that it had, 'in fact, become of late a scandal in the
neighbourhood, desired that evidence should be given
in order that the most vigorous measures might be
adopted for its suppression.
Inspector Mitchell said, that, in consequence of
directions issued by the late Lord Mayor, he and
one of his men had gone in coloured clothes on board
the steamer, in which they soon found that, during
church hours, gin, rum, brandy, beer, and tobacco
were sold to the passengers;- that the tap room
custom commenced soon after eleven o'clock, and was
kept up without intermission from that hour until the
public-houses on terra firma opened, and the interval
was so busily employed by the customers, that many
of them landed in a state of intoxication. The de-
fendant had, upon being remonstrated with on the
dangerous nature of the nuisance to which he had
given his sanction, promised that it should never be
repeated, and the inspector had reason to believe the
assurance would not be violated.
The LORD MAYOR asked whether the same latitude

which was granted to public-houses of inferior de-
scription was given in those steamer-places of amuse-
ment.

Inspector Mitchell said, precisely the same. From
the moment the guests entered they began to smoke
and drink ; and the game was kept up with many as
long as they had money in their pockets. They were
then put on shore, and several were to be seen stag-
gering along the streets when church-goers were
returning from places of worship, to the great scandal
of Thames-street and its neighbourhood. There were
difficulties in the way of the performance of their
duties by the police in cases of the kind, the Act
being susceptible of a construction favourable in the
opinion of some to those who authorised the practice ;
and he had been obliged to confine his evidence to
what he had seen while the vessel was still fastened
to her moorings.
The LORD MAYOR said the Act which exempted
steam-vessels from the penalties to which public-
houses were subjected for infringements of the law
could never have been intended to apply to the half-
penny and penny steamers which plied between the
bridges, but merely referred to the vessels which tra-
velled to such a distance as was calculated
to render the use of exciseable articles necessary.

He considered that the offence constituted a nui-
sance of the most dangerous as well as disgusting
character, and was injurious to the licensed vic-
tuallers, who were already so severely taxed for their
privileges, and he should certainly do all that the
chief magistrate could do to put an end to it.
Inspector Mitchell said his Lordship might form
some notion of the manner in which the trade was
carried on in the steamers on Sunday, from the fact
that a short time previously to the present occasion of
complaint, he, and one of his men, had gone in co-
loured clothes on board one of the halfpenny boats,
and the instant it was believed that officers were
present off the master ordered the vessel, although a
thick fog covered the river; very luckily it ran foul
of no other boat, but she passed very near a sister
steamer filled with customers of the same descrip-
tion, who were hallowing and singing, and smoking
and drinking.
Alterman HUMPHERY said some of the tap-room
boats alluded to had, in order to come within the
meaning of the Act, obtained licences for steaming to
Sheerness, but confined their business to limits be-
tween Dyers'-hall Pier and Westminster-bridge, and
realised considerable profits every Sunday. If such
an abuse were allowed, the Thames would be soon
covered with floating public-houses, and robberies and
offences of still greater magnitude would become
easy of perpetration. He thought the Lord Mayor
in such an emergency would do well to apply to the
chairman of the Commissioners of Excise, who were
empowered to grant licences, to interpose their au-
thority, as, no doubt, advantage was taken of the
latitude of construction alluded to. It was quite
evident that these floating tap-rooms could afford to
take their passengers all day, backward and forward,
for the profits on the sale of the spirits, beer, and
tobacco.
The LORD 'MAYOR said be certainly should take an
early opportunity to wait upon the chairman of the
Board of Excise, upon the subject of the giu and
beer steamers ; and requested that the inspectors
of police would in the meantime vigilantly
observe the conduct of the masters, and report the
result of their observation at the Mansion-house.
WESTMINSTER.