The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-31 00:00:00

COUNTY DEBT OF MIDDLESEX.

From documents recently laid before the Secretary of
State by a deputation from the vestry of St. George, Ha-
nover-square, it appears that of the very large sums of money
borrowed by the Middlesex Magistrates on mortgage of the
county-rates, for the purposes of purchasing the sites and
building the County Lunatic Asylum at Hanwell, and the
Westminster New Prison, there remained unpaid no less
than 239,2971. The money originally borrowed was near
400,0001., and was raised under powers conferred by two
Acts of Parliament ; the sum for building the Lunatic Asy-
lum being repayable by equal annual instalments within
fourteen years, while the repayment of the money lent for
building the New Westminster Prison is spread over a pe-
riod of forty years. The peculiar restrictions under which
the county thus entered the Money Market is still felt in
the very different rates of interest at which distinct portions
of the debt were contracted for from time to time, as the
progress of the buildings rendered it necessary to raise fur-
ther funds. For more than half the debt, notwithstanding the
abundance of money that has long continued, the utmost
rate of interest that the law allows was agreed to be paid.
Of the outstanding debt the amounts owing, and the rates
of interest, are as under :
At 41. per cent. remained unpaid £ 85,285
At 41. 7s. ditto l,BOO
At 41. los. ditto
At 41. 17s. 6d. ditto 9,125
At 5/. ditto

Total £239,297
The sums on which the larger rates are paying are those
borrowed, repayable in forty years. The Messrs. Craw-
shaw, the proprietors of the great iron works in Wales, are
the holders of nearly all these bonds. It has been suggested
that if the county magistrates were to transact their finance
business immediately through the Bank of England that
establishment might be willing to buy up all the bonds,
and accept a consolidated rate of interest more at par with
the existing value-of money in the market.
Besides the above debts, the county rate is at this pre-
sent time charged with an annual payment of 2,8501., for
principal money borrowed by way of tontine towards the
expense of enlarging the Coldbath-fields House of Correc-
tion between forty and fifty years ago. The history of this
tontine affords a striking proof of the impolicy of this mode
of raising a sum of money. The whole amount raised was
62,000/., and the borrowings took place at three different
periods, each loan being divided among three classes of pur-
chasers ; first class, those under twenty years of age : se-
cond, those above twenty and under forty years of age ; and
third class, those above forty. The principle of a tontine
is that the whole stipulated amount of interest shall con-
tinue to be paid, and be divisible among the class so long as
a single member of it exists. On the extinction of the class
all payment as far as such class is concerned ceases. The
first loan was made in 1790, the second in 1792, and the
third and last in 1795. Each of these loans was contracted
for among the three different classes before enumerated, and
it is a singular fact that no one of the nine classes created
by these borrowings has yet died off, and the county has to
pay to this day the same amount of interest as at first. For
62,000/. money borrowed, the payments already amount to
136,250/.

The following table, extracted from the parish of St.
George, Hanover-square, in a most striking manner exhi-
bits the vast increase that has been progressively making in
the burthen of the county rate during the last century.
Taking the average of ten years, the annual rate paid by
St. George, in 1748, was 421. 10s. 6d. ; in 1758,
221. 15s. 7d. ; in 1768 ; 291. 12s. 3d. ; in 1778, 111/. 14s. ;
in 1788, 2011. 4s. Bd. ; in 1796, 365/. Bs. ; in 1806,
2,6031. 15s. ; in 1816, 3,163/. ; in 1826, 3,924/. Bs. ; in
1836, 7,216/. 13s. The whole amount paid by the parish
for 58 years from 1739 to 1796, inclusive, was 7,0001. 35.,
being 2141. 19s. less than the payment for the last year alone.

RATTLIN TIIE REEFER; EDITED BY CAPTAIN
MAI-my/Yr, R. N.—" Rattlin the Reefer " commences his auto-
biography from the earliest moment of his existence. The
main feature of the tale is the mystery in which his birth is in-
v
point which is managed with considerable skill. The
readerol v e (1
is frequently frequently thrown off his scent in attempting to follow
out the traces of Rattlin's parentage ; and we have read few
more powerful passages than those which contain the denoue-
ment of his troubled history. Not less striking, however, arc
the humourous and ludicrous scenes which enliven the work ;
the author's drollery is broad, unctuous, and characteristic.
His sketches of sailor life are powerfully drawn, and with none
of the over-colouring or caricature by which such personages
are rondered monstrous and nauseating.—Edinburgh Evening
Post.

DELICATE INVESTIGATION.—TIIC Leamington
Chronicle says—" Our gossips have lately been much occu-
pied with the Commissioners sitting at the Lansdowne Hotel,
in reference to a matter of the utmost delicacy. The plain-
tiff in the ease is a lady remarkable for her beauty, and
nearly related to a noble Catholic family in the neighbour-
hood—the defendant is also w2ll known in our sporting circles.
As both individuals have been long residtut in our town. we
shall forbear saying more until the affair comes into court."