The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-22 00:00:00

UNION BOOKS.

Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee,-
1. That the proper keeping and inspection of the various
books which the Commissioners have directed to be kept in
all unions, in order to give security both to the paupers and
the ratepayers for the due administration of the law, appear
to have been habitually neglected in the Andover Union ;
the abstract of application and report book, which ,tight to
be prepared for the chairman at every sitting of the board,
and filled up by him, and signed by him, as each care is de-
cided upon, the relieving officers' books, the workhouse ad-
mission and discharge books, the provision check book, and
the medical officer's books have be6n produced before this
Committee, and have all of them afforded the clearest proofs
of the negligent manner in which the business of the An-
dover Union has been conducted.

2. That the state of the union books and the abuses in
the workhouse prove that the Assistant Commissioner has
failed in the efficient performance of his duties of inspection
at Andover, and that, as regards the books, which needed
only a moment's glance on any one of his occasional attend-
ances at the board to show the discreditable manner in
which they were kept, the Committee can find no sufficient
excuse for his neglect, and can only account for it by the
supposition of an unlimited confidence in the board of guar-
dians, which no circumstances whatever can justify in a con-
trolling officer. _ _

3. That as regards the workhouse abuses which would
require a longer time to detect, and which have entirely
escaped detection by the visiting guardians, the Committee
feel bound to express their opinion that the, great extent of
Mr. Parker's district, the large number of unions comprised
in it, and the various heavy special calls made upon his time
by the Your-law Commissioners, have rendered it almost im
possible for him to pay visits to each of the unions under his
care numerous or long enough for effective inspection of the.
workhouses.

4. That the Committee have received evidence of Mr.
Parker's zeal and laboriousness, which render it impossible
for them to attribute this imperfect superintendence of the
Andover Union to idleness or intentional neglect.
5. That Mr. Parker was not appointed Assistant-Commis-
sioner for the Andover Union until May, 1842 ; that he has
had a much larger district to superintend than had either of
his predecessors : the number of assist an t-com missioners,w h ich
from 183— to 183— was 21, and from 183— to 1841, 17,
having been reduced to 12 in 1841, and then further reduced
to nine in January,lB42, while the number of unions have of
course increased; and the Committee find that the Poor-law
Commissioners, speaking of the number 12 in their seventh
annual report (1841), say, that the number of assistant-com-
missioners ought zwt to be further reduced, and that even
then •" some of the districts, from their area and the number
of their unions, almost exceed the powers of a single assist-
ant-commissioner."

6. net the Committee have been informed of a strong
representation made by Mr. Parker to the Poor-law Com-
missioners, shortly after he joined the district including
Andover, of the disgraceful state of the accounts and the
workhouses in many of the unions in the district, and of
special representations made by him as to the accounts in
the West Firle and Wycombe unions, which seem to have
received no attention whatever from the Poor-law Com-
missioners; and these are not the only circumstances dis-
closed in the evidence which have led the Committee to the
conviction that the Poor-law Commissioners have not given
that encouragement to their assistant• commissioners in the
detection and removal of abuses which would have been
the best security for the zealous services of their subordinate
officers.

MR. PARKER'S CASE.
Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee,-
1. That the Committee, in considering the circumstances
of the inquiries which took place at Andover, feel called upon
to express their opinion that the practice of entrusting public
and special investigations of complaints arising under the
Poor-law to the assistant-commissioner of the district in which
such complaints have been made, is an objectionable one,
which ought to be discontinued.
2. That the proposal made by the Poor-law Commissioners
to suspend the investigation on the 9th of September, and to
proceed against the master of the workhouse by indictment
upon one set of charges, and by information before justices
upon another, conditionally upon his suspension by the board
of guardians, and upon the willingness of silr. Westlake to
adopt the suggested modes of prosecuting the charges, was
ill-timed and inexpedient, for the following reasons :-
Ist. Because at that time a considerable portion of the case
bad been gone through, and the effect of suspending the
further progress of the inquiry, as proposed, until proceed-
ings by indictment could ne taken, would have been to pro-
long the uncertainty and excitement already existing upon
the subject.
2d. Because it made the mode of proceeding against the
master, and consequently the time and manner in which he
was to be heard in his defence, dependent upon an act of the
board of guardians, over which be had no control.
3d. Because it sought to throw a large proportion of the
expenses of prosecuting the inquiry upon Mr. Westlake,who
appears to have done no more than his duty in bringing be-
fore the board of guardians and the Commissioners instances
of misconduct in another officer of the union with which he
had become acquainted, and into which any inquiry should
have been instituted on public grounds, and at the public
expense ; and,
4th. Because it implied that the fitness of the master for
his office was the only subject of inquiry, whereas there were
strong grounds for an investigation into the alleged mis-
management of the workhouse, and the abuses stated to
have been practised within it, independently of any charges
which could have been made the subject of indictment or in-
formation.
3. That one unfortunate consequence of having made the
mode of prosecuting the inquiry dependent upon the condi-
tions above referred to, was, that on their failure, the inves-
tigivion was necessarily renewed in its original shape, and the
Commissioners were thus exposed to the charge of vacillation
and want of firmness in their policy.
4. That the overruling the adjournment for five days,
allowed by Mr. Parker, was, under the circumstances of
the case, unnecessary, and therefore injudicious, inasmuch as
it had the appearance of injustice towards Mr. M'Dougal,
who had claimed that time for preparing. his defence.
5. That the overruling by the Commissioners of the ad-
journment, and the previous suspension of the inquiry on the
9th of September, appear to have
_proceeded from a determi-
nation on the part of the Poor-law Commissioners to bring
the inquiry if possible• to a close, and so stop the public criti-
cism and excitement which it produced.
6. That in conducting the first inquiry—namely, that on
the subject of bone-crushing, Mr. Parker discharged the duty
confided to him with ability and promptitude, and that his
conduct therein received the approbation of the Poor-law
Commissioners.

7. That as respects the second investigation there is no-
thing in the objections stated by the Poor-law Commissioners
before this Committee to Mr. Parker's mode of conducting it,
which affords &justification of their conduct in calling upon
him to resign.
8. That Mr. Parker's recommendation of Mr. Price as a
temporary master of the workhouse, made in answer to a re-
quest addressed to him by the chairman and other guardians,
did not deserve the condemnation bestowed upon it by the
Poor-law Commissioners.

9. That while they think that Mr. Parker's insertion, in
his letter to Mr. Dodson, on the October, of a paragraph
implying a reflection on the Commissioners, was indiscreet
and inconsistent with his position, still it should be also
borne in mind that the difficult and annoying circumstances
in which be bad been placed might reasonably palliate a
temporary display of irritation.
10. That after a full consideration of the whole case, what-
ever opinion the Commissioners may have entertained with
regard to Mr. Parker's mode of conducting the Andover in-
quiry, or his defective superintendence of the Andover Union,
the time and the manner of Mr. Parker's removal from his
office were such as to give him just cause of complaint, and
were not consistent with a discreet exercise of that power of
dismissing their subordinate officers which the law has en-
trusted to the Commissioners.
MR. DAY'S CASE.
_

---- 1. That the Committee, after considering the statement
which has, been made to them by Mr. Day, and the corre-
spondence on the subject of his resignation, which he has
produced, and the explanations with reference to that corre-
spondence which have been given by theilPoor-law Com-
missioners, are of opinion that the Commissioners have alto-
gether failed to justify their removal of Mr. Day from his
office of Assistant- Commissioner.
2. That while they readily admit that the nature of the re-
lation between the principal and assistant Poor-law Commis-
sioners, the heavy responsibility attaching to the former for
the general administration of the law,f and the fact that
they are necessarily committed to a considerable extent, by
the acts and expressions of their subordinate officers, com-
bine to render it, essential that they shall_ possess and exer-
cise,. on -fit ncastuns; life'power of dismissal vested in them
by the Act of Parliament, the Committee think, at the same
time, that such power ohmic! not be ozervised witilOut warn'