The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-16 00:00:00

never applied to me to accept of bail. I certainly said
nothing at all about bail to him, for I looked upon
the case as a very bad one, but if he had produced
bail,' I would of course have accepted it. I was
present when the father of the lady appeared, and I
never witnessed more bitter misery, and I did not
think it incumbent upon me to make any communica-
ticn calculated to diminish whatever the defendant
might be suffering.

Amongst the pipers found upon the person of the
defendant, were some blank cheques of the London
and Westminster Bank, and some letters which plainly
indicated that Mr. Kavanagh had large pecuniary
resources.

Mr. Goodman, the chief clerk at the Mansion-
house, went to the London and Westminster Bank, to
request to be informed whether Mr. William Henry
Kavanagh kept an account, or was known there.
A clerk of the London and 'Westminster Bank im-
mediately attended, and identified the defendant as a
person who had for years kept an account with that
establishment.

The LORD MAYOR—rias he an account now with
your establishment ? Witness—Yes ; he has a very
large balance, but I do not consider myself at liberty
to say how much it is.

The LORD MAYOR (to the complainant)—Can you
say that the defendant took away your daughter against
her will The complainant—l cannot say so, my
Lord ; but the case is most atrocious. It has ruined
the happiness of my family.
The LORD MAYOR—What is the age of your
daughter ? The complainant—She was nineteen in
July.

The Loan Mayors—The charge of abduction falls
to the ground, for she is above sixteen years of age,
and you cannot say there was any compulsion used.
Defendant, I cannot detain you in custody. I am
prevented, by the state of the law in this case, from
doing as I should wish. I cannot look upon your
conduct in the light of a robbery. Although I con-
sider your intention to be base from the commence-
ment, I do not consider it to be felonious.
Mr. Kavanagh was then discharged.
Mr:Graham, a merchant, called at the Mansion-
house to inform the Lord Mayor that the fellow who
had attempted to impose upon Mr. Walter, M.P. for
Nottinghom, through the means of the forged letter
and petition, had contrived, by his ingenuity, to
plunder him of a sovereign.
The LORD MAYOR —lie is now at hard labour in
Bridewell, and will be there for three months, and
you can come here when his time will be out and
make your representation.
Mr. Graham—lie certainly deserves three months
more.

WORSHIP-STREET.
An athletic young fellow, named Jason Rowe, was
charged before Mr. Arnold with having committed a
wanton and violent assault upon a young woman
named Ellen Lebeau.

The complainant stated that she accompanied a
married sister of. hers to the house of a friend in the
Wenlock-road, City-road, on the preceding evening,
where they met the prisoner, who, in the course of
conversation, used such insulting language towards
her sister that they immediately left the place. They
had only proceeded a few yards, however, when the
prisoner, who had apparently been lying in wait for
them, rushed out of an adjoining gateway, and, with-
out the slightest provocation, struck her sister a violent
blow in the face, and on witness interposing for her
protection, he knocked her down with a tremendous
blow upon the side of the head, which he fol-
lowed up with repeated blows about the face and head,
as she lay upon the ground, until the arrival of a
policeman, who had been attracted by her screams to
the spot.—(The complainant directed the magistrate's
attention to her face, which appeared to Joe swollen to
more than twice its natural size, and extensively dis-
coloured.)
The sister of the complainant corroborated her evi-
dence.

In answer to the charge the prisoner said that he
was first attacked by the complainant and her sister,
who slapped his face.

Mr. ARNOLD said that it was a most cowardly out-
rage, and he should order the prisoner to pay a pe-
nalty of 51, or be committed for two months to the
house of Correction ; and, in addition to that, he
must find bail for his peaceable behaviour for the
succeeding three months.

SUNDAY TRADIN G IN THE
METROPOLIS.
Report of the Commons' Select Committee, (just
printed and delivered) appointed to inquire into the
prevalence of Sunday Trading in the Metropolis, &c.
Your Committee have examined many witnesses, of
a great variety of opinions, who nearly all agree that
Sunday trading is carried on to a great extent in the
metropolis, and that in many parts it has been on the
increase for several years past. Evidence has also
been given which goes to prove that it is not confined
to articles of a perishable nature, or of necessity, but
extends to many things that may be purchased on
any other day of the week ; as boots and shoes, hats,
clothes, drapery, toys, furniture, crockery, ironmon-
gery, and grocery, &c.
The districts in which Sunday trading is most ex-
tensively carried on are principally inhabited by the
poor, and it is chiefly the poor who resort to the shops
open on a Sunday
Yet, your Committee find, however, that shops are
also kept open for the convenience of the rich, owing
to which a considerable number of men and boys are
employed in carrying out various articles during the
greater part of the Sunday.
A considerable differenee exists in different pa-
rishes in the mode of carrying on trade on Sunday.
In some an appearance of decency is observed, the
shutters of the shops, being wholly, or at least par-
tially closed ; whereas, in others the most open mar-
keting prevails, goods being exposed to sale not only
in the shops and warehouses, but also pn the pave-
ment and roads, which are partially obstructed during
a part of the day.
Considerable difference of opinion has existed
amongst the witnesses as to the cause of the continued
existence and increase of Sunday trading; one party
maintaining that it is unavoidable, in consequence of
the labourer being paid at a very late hour on Satur-
day night, or even in some instances on Sunday
morning, while the other declares that though this
may be the case in some instances, the more frequent
cause is the fact that the workman, knowing that he
can purchase his provisions upon the Sunday morning
neglects the Saturday evening; his wife, consequently,
does not receive the money devoted to domestic pur-
poses till the Sunday morning, and is obliged to
make her purchases upon that day.
Your Committee cannot but remark, that whichever
of the assigned causes be the true one, injustice is done
to one or other of the two classes engaged in Sunday
trading. If the labourer does not receive his wages
in proper time on the Saturday, to allow him Sunday
as a day of rest or recreation, he is manifestly injured
of that portion of time which it has been the design
of laws both human and divine to secure to him. If,
on the other hand, he receives his wages in sufficient
time to enable him to make his purchases on the Sa-
turday evening, he is committing an injustice on the
shopkeeper, by causing him to sacrifice his day of rest,
by delaying his purchases to the Sunday.
Your Committee have no hesitation in expressing
their conviction of the injurious effects of Sunday
trading. They have reason to believe that more than
5,000 tradesmen in the metropolis, with probably three
times that number of journeymen and boys, are almost
entirely deprived of the benefits derivable from one
day of rest out of the seven days of the week.
It is in evidence before your Committee, that in
some places from 10 to 20 per cent. more is charged
on Sunday than on any other day, and where this is
not done the article sold is generally of an inferior
quality.
Your Committee find that the majority of the
traders who carry on Sunday trading earnestlycle-
sire to discontinue the practice, but all their attempts
to do so by voluntary agreement have proved abortive
in consequence of a minority of their fellow-trades-
men refusing to close their shops. On the other
hand, those traders who observe the law themselves
feel aggrieved by the illegal practice of their com-
petitors who carry oq,their business on Sunday.
It is not possible, under the present law, to give
that protection to the tradesmen observing it which
they require.
The fine at present imposed, 55., can only be levied
for one offence ; and the courts of law have held that
those things can only appear in evidence as showed
forth for sale which the witness can prove to have
been actually sold. By this decision the keeping open
of a shop for the purpose of sale is no offence against
the statute. The magistrates have also refused to
grant warrants except as against the identical article
actually sold ; and, consequently, when this has been
the case, attempts which have been made to enforce
the law have been rendered abortive.

Your Committee would have been glad to have
found reason to expect that the defects in the effi-
ciency of the present law were likely to be supplied
by moral means, and an improved feeling amongst
the parties engaged iu the practice of Sunday trading.
But hitherto, though your Committee ar3 ready to
believe public opinion amongst the body, is more
sensibly alive to the iujuriousness of the system than
formerly, the spirit of competit;on is too strong to
render it effective. Notwithstanding the delivery of
lvtures on the subject, the distribution of tracts, and
the attempts of the traders themselves to procure sig-
natures to bind one another by voluntary agreement,
the system continues to spread, and threatens an in-
crease rather than a diminution of the evil.

Though your Committee do not consider that the
penalties of the law can be properly applied.. to the'
strict and complete observance of the Sunday, yet
they feel called upon to recommend the introducti
of a measure for effectually prohibiting public mar-
keting, and the open exposure and sale of goods on
Sundays; the penalties to be enacted not being appli-
cable to the sale of necessary articles of food for a cer-