The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-13 00:00:00

PETTY PLUNDER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
City-road Wharf, Regent's Canal.
March 11, 1840.
Sir,—Knowing tne nwst powerful, if not the
only corrector of abuses in public bodies is the
Press, I solicit your attention to the following :--
Yesterday I attended Worship street Police
Court, at the request of the officers of the G divi-
sion, who had in custody two boys; found with
coals in'; heir possession (751 b.), supposed to have
been stolen from our (my partner's and my) barge,
whilst passing up the canal. Mr. Broughton, who
heard the case, had no doubt of their being our pro-
perty, but I refused to prosecute, assigning, as my
reason, that I could not punish two boys of such
tender age (11 years), whilst the Committee of the
Regent's Canal Company permitted all their lock-
keepers on that canal to supply themselves with
coals from the barges as they passed the locks. Mr.
Broughton, very naturally, doubted the existence of
such a practice, but upon my producing extracts
from the minute-books he kindly permitted me to
read them, and observed that he could only regret
that the gentlemen appeared to him to have taken
a wrong view of the subject.
Mr. Broughton remarked also that I being a
shareholder, was,.by implication, a receiver of stolen
property, and that if such a practice was allowed in
respect of coals, groceries, or goods of any kind
conveyed by Pickford's, or other houses, might be
subjected to the same plunder, and excused in the
same way. Among the extracts was a letter of mine,
dated Jan. 9, addressed to the Committee, which
contained two requests, one for the Committee to
contribute to a fund for:the watching of this basin,
the other, to supply the various lock and tunnel
keepers (fourteen in number) with coal, and thereby
prevent the practice of their taking coals from the
barges in transit in that canal to supply their fires,
which are burning night and day. No notice was
taken of either of the requests, except one member
of the Committee telling me that he would under-
take to promise 2s. per week (trifling sum) to-
wards the first object, and expressed himself asto-
nished .and almost incredulous .that such a practice
as the above should exist, pledging himself that he
was sure the Committee would put a stop to it the
moment they became acquainted with it. How-
ever, without entering upon their minutes the re-
quests ,of my letter, they enter the cause of my
making the letter, and resolve to inquire if such
a practice exists, which they establish by the
mouths of their own officers, and by that of two
other coal merchants, and then deliberately resolve,
" That it is not worth the Committee's while to
interfere," as any Shareholder can see by referring
to the minutes of the meetings held January 15
and 29, and February 12 and 26.

If there is any truth in the proverb, " That ho-
nesty is the best policy," let the Shareholders (as
the Committee will not) set about obtaining the
abolition of this practice, or they may cease to
wonder why their dividends are reduced from 12s. to
7s. perhaps to nothing this year, or that they are
in debt, and the expenses for annual repairs have
increased since 1832 from 1,5171. ; 1833, 1,838/. ;
1834, 2,0371.; 1835, 5,552/. ; 1836, 5,909/. ;
1837, 5,839/. ; 1838, 9241.
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
E. GREEN.

[lt appears that on the Regent's Canal there are
fourteen locks, and that the lock-keepers are not
allowed coals by the Company. The consequence
is that they help themselves to coals from the
barges as they pass; and it is calculated that not
less than MO tons per year are feloniously ab-
stracted from the barges by the servants of the
Company, because the Company refuse to supply
them with coals. We think such practices pregnant
with evil, and that it is a disgrace to the Company
that it does not remove all pretext for and justifica-
tion of this practice, by supplying its servants with
fuel. One of the great recommendations of the
modern system of Docks, is that it prevents ex-
tensive depredations in detail, and so prevents men
being habituated to theft. The practice adopted on
the Regent's Canal, encourages habits of depreda-
tion. The public are made to pay for the coals
stolen, and for subsequent incarceration and punish-
ment of those who are thus taught to transgress the
eighth commandment. In our country, a solemn
and a religious regard for the right of property re-
quires to be inculcated both by precept and ex-
ample. The reverse is, however, the practice, and
plunder both by precept and example is sedulously
inculcated by the higher on the lower classes of
society, apparently that they may have the plea-
sure of punishing in others what they habitually
commit and encourage. If the Regent's Canal
Company wish to have their own property respected,
and the property of those who use their canal, they
ought to remove the temptation to this petty plun-
der,. which would probably cost them a great deal
less than the value of the coals thus filched. It is
probable, now that the case has been publicly
mentioned, that some steps will be taken to check
this sourceof public vice.]