The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-03 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-ROUSE.
THE FALLEN HOUSEi IN FLEET-STREET.—Sete al gen-
tlemen cf he "quest of St. Bride's uatish wi_i'ed on tie
Lord 11layor with the fellowiog eresebt,nent :--‘• We, the
Inquest of the Pariah of St. Bride, do present to your
Lordship that a e have carefully examined the ruins of the
tiro houses on the north side of Fleet-street, lately (cal-
_ _

pied by Mr. Bundy and Mr. Dobson, which fell down on
Saturday night, and as to which a presentment was yester-
day sra,le by the Foreman of the Inquest t) your Lorriship,
and that the ruins in the back parts of the premier are in
imminent drrger of falling down, and there is every ground
to bel'eie that if they weie to fall, they would drag part of
the adjoining premises, lately occur; red by Mr. Simms,
vvi h them, and great loss of life would probably ensue;
and we make this pie:eatinent to your Lordship, under
conviction that the public safety will not admit of the poll-
ing d)wn of the a. i i ruins being delayed until the meetMg
cf tne t.ext Court of Aldermen, but require your Lord-
ship's authority to be immediately exercised in ordering
them to be pulled do*n ; and we present to your Lord-
s: i,, Crat tie sail ruins are in danger r f falling, and pas-
sengers thereby are is danger of their I vres or limbs by
the Llis g thareof, or of the bricks., tiles, or timbers,
therefrom."

The preset tnient, which was signed by fifteen inquest-
men, Vtai handed to Mr. Montague, the City Surveyor, by
the Lord Nlayor.
The City Surveyor said that the Lord Mayor probably
was aware that there existed no authority under the Act of
Parliament for his Lordship's interference, except as re-
garded the conservancy of the public safety. The gen-
tlemen of the Lquest had acted with proper zeal and acti-
vity on the occasion, but they asked for what it would be
illegal on his Lordship to grant without the sanction of the
Court of Aldermen. The City Survey or certainly was
nut jut fled in interfering with Mr. Simms's pren.ises.
The gentlemen of the inquest said what they asked for
was not that Mr. Sicorns's premises should be interfered
with, but that the ruins which endangered the security of
these and ether premises should be pulled down.
Mr. MontPgue said that the owner of the ruins was
undt r an obit Lion to remove them.
The Gentlemen of tl.e Inquest said that a difficulty
sto. din the way. A fire had broken out, a short time ago
in the back past of Mr. Bundy's premises; and Mr. Dot-
son's pre.i i es, they believe 1, belonged to the' Bishop of Pe-
terbo: ough, and were in Chancery, so that the e.mfusion
wAs se.aculy possible to be overcome. Now the
runs of Dobson's house were the cause of the ex-

isting danger. They were most anxious that they
should not Le misapprehended in their object, particularly
as there seemed to be some vague reports that there were
bcdit s under the ruiliF. There existed a mural certainty
that such was nut the ease, but a report had got abroad,
and they were eager ra t only t) cour.teract any further
hazard, but to convince the public that thins was no
ground for the suspicion.
Ti e Loup MAYOR--4 `recollect liming seized the reins
of a horse on London Bridge to save a man whose 11!'e
ai pearLd to me to be in dang. r. I hazarded, and was
near teing knocked down for my interference. but I was
resolved to run the hazard in consideration of the good
it would produce. I should, if I was connected with the
parish, act upon my own responsibility and prevent danger
to the public, without lookin,, to thz. consequences to my-
self, which I should leave to the direction of a greater
posse,.
Hi 4 LORDSHIP then said, that he should order a Court of
Aldermen to to summoned for Thursday next at the Old
Ibiley, to su:t the accommodation of the mcmberF, who
should be obliged to be in attendance at, the Ccntral
C.iminal Court.

Mr. Wood, the publisher cf the Weekly Dispatch
N...wspaper, then mentionel that he had some observations
to make with respect to the conduct a the City Surveyor.
lie (Mr. Wood) was a Lep when the houses fell, and as
his office was next door to these house=, he consii, red that
Le owed Li. safety to the party-wall which had b.e.i built,
upon tl e advice. of Mr. Elmei, the Surveyor of the Port
of London. Having flt a natural anxiety upon the sub-
Joe, he applied to the City Surveyor, who, he Lelleved,
rt ceived a very large amount of pay fur the performance
of his official dute', to walk up-stairs and examine the
pr 4es:, to ascertain whither any danger was to le ap-
preLeaded. The answer he re,:eiverl, however, wa , that
if the City Surveyor were sent for officially to examine the
lnuse I e should te..tend, and he then askel fir a brush to
remove lie dust from his dither. Now, it would he very
desirable to be informed whe:her an officer of the City,
vvtio:e duty it was to look particularly after old buildings,
was ju,t;tied, under the circumstances will which every
body was acquainted, in refusing to satisfy the minds of
these who were employed in the very next premises ? He
did not hims&lf pretend to he acquaArted with the duties
of th! City Surveyor, but was convinced that the Lord-
Mayor would not consider it toe much in him to request to
be informed.
The LORD MAYOR having referred to Mr. Montague
for an answer,

The City Surveyor said he did not mean to deny any
part of the statement of Mr. Wood, but be wished it to be
ui.derstood that he did not hold any situation which obliged
him to go over premises under such circumstances. He
found, upon gni, g to the premiies, that they belonged to
Mr. Harmer, who had been an Alderman, and that another
surveyor had bi ea employed there. He could not think
therefore of doing as was requested.
Mr. Wood said thlt Mr. Montague was not only the
City Surveyor, far the performance of the dutie3 of which
he was paid to y largely, but he was also District Sur-
veyor of the ,ery portion of the City in which the two
hothes fell, a fact not calcul.ted to diminish the obligat:on
upon him to do as was required of him.
The Gentlemen of the Inquest said that they had ex-
arni•ted the Dispatch ptemises, and found not the slightest
c:aek in them.
Mr. Wood observed that he wanted the opinion of a
professional man, and not of an inquest, who, in all pro-
knew nothing at all about the matter. He re-
peated, that the subject was one of glen importtnee, and
that he wai not disposed to let it drop upon so unsatisfac-
tory a definition of the offiee as the City Surveyor himself
had gken.
Sir PETER LAURIE (vtho sat with the Lord Mayor dur-
ing the latter part of the discussion) said that if Mr.
Wood appPar.td at. the bar of the Court of Aldermen with
any comphint against th e City Surveyor, proper attention
should twit duly be paid to ii.
'Fite Court will be held at tlie Central Criminal Court,
subject,ato
t te l v furthe one
exclusion
eo'c:o
of allekon Tothhuerrssd. ay, upon the above

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