The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-11 00:00:00

aforesaid, the voting shall take place in the manner coroners, which had been a matter of dispute between
prescribed in the " Companies Clauses Consolidation hem and the Court for some time.
Act, 1845," with reference to meetings of shareholders Thomas Wakley, Esq , one of the Coroners of this
thereiu referred to. i county, having, on the 2d ult., cerernitted a prisoner,
charged before him with murder, to this prison, to be
subsequently taken before an adjourned inquesA to be
held by him, and the visiting justices entertaining doubts
of the coroner's power to make such a commitment,
they caused a letter (of which they lay a copy before the
Gaut) to be addressed, n tl:e 10th ult., to the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, on the sub-
ject ; in reply whereto they have received from the
Home-office the accompanying letter, dated the 25th ult.
In consequence of the (Onion of the law officers of the
Crown, as conveyed in the last-mentioned letter, and con-
firmatory of the judgment they had previously ex-
pressed, the visiting justices have instructed the
governor of the prison not to receive into his custody
prisoners committed by a coroner, in any other manner
than to be " discharged by due course of law," and they
have also transmitted to Mr. Wakley a copy of their
letter of the 10th ultimo to the Secretary of State, and
of the reply thereto from the Home-office, and acquaint,. it
him with the direcsi ,ns they have gi e i to the governor
and they trust that this topic of long and irritating eon-
troversy will never be henceforth revived.
" Carlisle- street, Soho, 10th March, 1846.
" Sir,—l am directed by the visiting justices of the
House of Correction, at Westminster, to transmit you
the enclosed copy of a warrant i sued by Thomas
Wekley, Esq., one of the coroners for Middlesex, to the
governor of that prison, requiring him to receive, and
under which he accordingly received, the body of Mary
Ann Martha Hicks, charged with wilful murder, and to
keep her in his custody until the 9th instant, and then
to take her before the coroner and his adjourned inquest.
The visiting justices have been informed that the pri-
soner had been previously sent by the coroner to New-
gate. and there refused.
"To the visiting justices it appears to be doubtful
whether a coroner has, by law, the right of committing
a prisoner charged before him to custody, for the pur-
pose of securing his or her presence before him and his
inquest,' and that he has only the power, either as a
conservator of the peace without holding an inquest, or
as coroner after the verdict of an inquest, of commuting
a person charged before him, or against whom a verdict
may have been returned (as the case may be), to prison,
until discharged by due course of law), and
which opinion is confirmed by a pamphlet lately
published on the subject by David Jardine,
Esq., one of the metropolitan police magic'
traces. The visiting justices are anxious on
the one hand to protect the governor of their prison, and
on the other hand to take care that due obedience be
paid to the warrant of a coroner, and they are therefore
desirous of being favoured with your opinion, or With
that of the law officers of the Crown, as to the legality of
a commitment by a coroner of a prisoner for the pur-
pose of securing his or her presence at an adjournen
inquest. 'They are encouraged to make this request by
their knowledge that the subj,ct has been brought under
the consideration of your office, and by their conviction
that the law should not remain doubtful, but should be
settled either by a jut icial determination or a legislative
enactment. —I have the honour, &c.
(Signed) " C. P. ALLEN,
" Clerk to the Visiting Justices.
" The Right Hon. Sir J. Graham, Bart."
" Whitehall, March 25, 1846-
" Gentlemen,—l am directed by Secretary Sir Jones
Graham to acknowledge the receipt of your clerk's letter,
dated the 10th inst., enclosing a copy of a warrant of Ilfr'
Wakley, one of the coroners for Middlesex, for the conl,;
mittal of a person charged before him with murder, an.s,"
requesting that the warrant might be laid before the 15"
officers of the Crown, and their opinion asked as to the
power of the coroner to require the gaoler to receive int°
his custody, and bring before him at an adjourned in'
quest, the person so charged. And lam to inform Y(34'
the law officers are of opinion that such committal car
not legally be for safe custody for the purpose of bring:
ing the party before the inquest, but only until the
party shall be discharged by due course of law ; 1 ti
further to suggest that it may be proper to give not"';
to the coroner before you act upon the information here
communicated to you. I have, &c.,
" S. M. PHILLIPPS.
"To the visiting Justices of the House
of Correction, Westminster."
The report was received.
JUVENILE OFFENDERS. .51
The CHAIRMAN laid before the Court a merno I
from the committee of the Philanthropic Society 10;
the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders. [This docultiept
has already appeared in our columns.] He said tha,
the subject was one of infinite magnitude, and no tae,
which they could command would be lost, if
voted to the consideration of this important bref),s,
of criminal jurisprudence.—(Hear, hear.) It was dia
cult beyond conception to take up the subject, and B`'o,
more difficult to suggest a practicable plan for the atts'A.
ment of the object they had all so much at bell,
The justices of that county had, however, overcornea
fficulties in respect to prison discipline, and the treatinfle
of the insane, which at first sight appeared insupertiuel:
and that induced him strongly to desire that ,_
would take up this yet more important subject in silo.,
amplitude. As had been done in another titillr,
he sugg(sted that that Court should also do—natnels
appoint a commi tee to inquire into the whole subjeet'm
would not stultify the Court, and they would have
gibe
tlemen, of the combined experience and wisdom of gro
tlemen, many of whom had devoted their lives t° 0,
amelioration of the condition of their fellow'c'tbs
tures.—(Hear. hear, and cheers.) In his opinion ,0
present system of dealing with offending children 7Cet
a most expensive way of bringing them up in /: or
and he had an ardent hope that the philanthroNso
the age would yet succeed in devising an alnelioron.
system of treatment for these poor children. }if e
eluded by moving that the memorial be referred -tog
committee to inquire and report to the Court respeeta o *
ve,
the best mode of checking the growth of juvenile co
and promoting the reformation of juvenile offenders lis
Mr. WILES seconded the motion, but thought tfoll
was a matter in which Government alone could eifiete
interfere.

MEETING of MIDDLESEX MAGIS-

TRATES.

A meeting of justices of the county of Middlesex was
held on Thursday at Hicks's Hall, Clerkenwell-green,for
the transaction of business. Mr. Pownall in the chair.
The minutes of the preceding Court were read and
confirmed.

COUNTY RATE.
The report of the committee on the county treasurer's
accounts was brought up, upon which
Mr. BENJAMIN HALL moved that a rate of three-
farthings in the pound be granted, which was agreed to.
THE LUNATIC ASYLUM AT HANWELL,
The report of the committee of visitors of the County
Lunatic Asylum was brought up and read.
Mr. TULK (chairman of the committee) directed espe-
cial attention to the following paragraph in the report,
containing the official report of the present state of the
asylum, by the Commissioners in Lunacy, appointed
under the new statute Bth an," 9th Vic., c. 126.
"It is gratifying to the committee of visitors that
upon this, as upon muny former occasions, they can
speak of the condition of the asylum in terms of cordial
approval. The ward attendants are observant of the
humane reg❑lations adopted at Hanwell; and, on the
part of the officers, there is no relaxation of effort in
their several departments to obviate every difficulty
against which it is possible in such an institution to
guard. It is due to the officers that this testimony be
borne to their continued exertions and zeal; and the

more so, as the Commissioners in Lunacy, whose office it
is to watch over the condition of such asylums, have, at a
recent visit, recorded their opinion of our establishment,

notwithstanding its magnitude, in the following terms:—
" Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, March 17, 1846.
" We have spent this day and yesterday in officially
visiting and inspecting this asylum. We have gone
through the various yards, wards, workshops, and out-
buildings, and have seen all the patients now in the in-
stitution. We have also examined into the quality. and

allowance of the food supplied to the patients, and have
made the other inquiries relative to the patients and the
management of the asylum and the general condition of
the establishment which are directed by the Act of
Parliament.
" The fare of the patients appeared to us to be of ex-
cellent quality, and the allowance to be liberal. The
clothing and bedding were clean, comfortable, and good.
The galleries, day-rooms, dormitories, and single bed-
rooms were clean and well ventilated, and with some
slight exceptions, free from any offensive smell.
" The patients are at present 981 in number, of whom
413 are males, and 568 females. None of them at the
time of our visit were under any mechanical coercion.
Two of the females were under seclusion.
" Generally speaking, they were in a quiet and com-
fortable state.
Signed, "J. W. MYLNE,
J. R. HUME, Commissioners
B. W. PROCTER, in Lunacy."
J. C. PRICHARD,
Upon the rnoticn that the report be received,
Mr. LAURIE wished to ask a question in reference to a
subject which had ogitated the county so long ; he
alluded to the proposed extension of the buildings at
Hanwell, so strongly objected to by a large portion of
the inhabitants of Middlesex. Had the Committee re
ceived any communication from the Commissioners in
Lunacy or the Secretary of State respecting that sug-
gested increase of the establishment?
Mr. Tura( said that the Committee had had a commu-
nication from the Commissioners in Lunacy, and were
preparing a reply.
Mr. LAURIE begged to know the effect of the Com-
missioners' report? It was highly important that the
public should know.
Mr. TuLx replied, that their opinion was unfavour-
, able to the increase of the buildings now at Hanwell.
They had given their reasons, which in his opinion were
futile and inconclusive.
Some further conversation took place, and it was
elicited is the course of the day that Sir James Graham
was al,o hostile to the further augmentation of the pre-
sent establishment.
The report was received.
THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

The report of the visiting justices of the House of
Correction was read. The number of prisoners was larger
than usual, amounting to 1,023, of whom 757 were male,
266 females, and 10 children. Appended to the report
was an extract from the 10th report of the prison in-
spectors, paying a high compliment to the magistracy and
officers for the state of admirable order in which they
found every part of the gaol, and the degree of com-
parative comfort enjoyed by its inmates.
Mr, LAURIE objected to the printing of this extract
unaccompanied by some partial strictures contained in
another part of the Commissioners' observations.
Mr. WILKS, chairman of the visiting justices, said
that if that was a fitting opportunity he would be
glad to enter into a discussion of the whole sub-
ject of prison discipline, especally those parts
in which they might be found at issue with the
inspectors, if there should be any material difference
of opinion between them, which he was happy to say
was not likely to be the case, from the seneral commen-
dation the home inspectors had bestowed upon the
county gaols, which were unparalleled for the excelleney-
of their arrangements.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILSON animadverted upon the conduct of the
prison inspectors. He thought that before twelve months
had passed these gentlemen would be shown up to the
world. He alluded, he said, to the shameful misrepre-
sentations respecting Bridewell Hospital.—(Order.)
Mr. ROTCII said that the very object of the appoint-
ment of prison inspectors was to point out defects, and
their office would melt into nothing were they to pander
to the prejudices of the magistrates. Their reports had
been productive of great good, and tended strongly to
keep the magistrates to their duty.—(Hear, hear).
Mr. Laurie's amendment for the omission of the extract
or the reference of the report, was lost by a majority of
14 to 11. The report was then received and ordered to
be printed.

The motion was then agreed to nem. con.
A numerous committee was then named. 05b
The Court, after transacting some further routine
pess, adjourned.