The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-16 00:00:00

OUR SPORTING PREMIER.

The Premier at the Derby was a wonderful event;
Mr. Gladstone offering to bet is more wonderful still.
It is but a step, however. On June let the First
Lord of the Treasury formed one of the great
congregation on the turf ; on June 14, during
a debate (of all others) on the revision
of the authorised version of the Scripture the
Premier invites Mr. Buxton to a wager. Facilis
descensus Averni. If there should be any doubt on
the subject, witness this passage in the Premier's reply
to Mr. Buxton's motion on Tuesday night. "My hon.
friend supported his argument by saying that in the 17th
century £30,000 was the actual cost in money of
that version, and he said he thought it could not be
done for less now. It appears to me that that was
a very safe declaration; at least with this one qua-
lification—it will certainly not be done for less now,

if it be done by public authority, by means of funds
voted from year to year by this House. If my hon.
friend were disposed to bet, I think he might safely
bet that the figure of £30,000 would not be found
excessive in that view of the case."

THE CLERGY IN PRISONS.

Hitherto, as the public are no doubt well aware,
the appointment of prison ministers other than those
of the Established Church has been left to the dis-
cretion of the different prison authorities throughout
the country. The effects of this system have been
very dissatisfying, and differences of an exceedingly
painful character have been fostered, not only be-
tween the clergy of the different forms of religion
themselves, but also between the inmates of the gaols,
under their charge. Some time since a select com-
mittee was directed to inquire into the subject, and
it will be looked upon generally as a happy result
that they have now declared it highly impolitic that
inequality in the working of the religious system of
English prisons should be allowed to exist. Reli-
gious instruction, the Commissioners declare,
should, as far as possible, be the same for
Roman Catholic as for Protestant prisoners.
They further recommend, in this report, that the
authorities should be henceforth required by law to
appoint Roman Catholic chaplains to institutions in
which prisoners of their persuasion are confined.
This is so in Ireland, and the plan has been attended
with the best possible results. The mutual under-
standing between the ministers of both religions,
who look upon each other as kindred labourers in
the work of Christian reform,. and of propagating
Christian living, does not fail to bring its due lesson
home to the members of their respective flocks.

VARIETIES OF PAUPENSNI.

Superficial observers are in the habit of regarding
paupers as all one class, whereas a little examination
proves them to consist of a great many different
classes. Some recently-published statistics supply
us with instructive information on this
point, The classes relieved are seven-
teen in number, and it is worth notice
that in some unions men subject to fits or
other temporary attacks are classed as able-bodied,
though their ailments probably interfere with their
getting their livelihood out of doors. The percentage of
incapables in the Metropolitan workhouses is much
larger than in the rural districts. In some of the
former the number of able-bodied paupers is not
more than sufficient to do the work of the house.
By the return it appears that 31 per cent, of
j the total out-door poor labour under old
ago or permanent disability, 34 per cent.
are women and children destitute from
the death, absence, or desertion of husband or father,
34 per cent. are families, or single men
destitute from sickness or want of work, and 0.8 per
cent. are single women. The preponderance of pauper
children in the metropolis is as melancholy as it is
remarkable. It is attributed to the fact that there is
less demand for their labour in London than in manu-
facturing towns or in the country. The sick paupers
on the books of the metropolitan medical

officers usually attain a per-centage varying
from 32 to 48 per cent. of the total inmates
of the workhouses. The actual able-bodied adults
constitute, however, only 10 per cent., as the old
people number 37 per cent., the children 8 per cent.,
and the imbeciles 0 per cent. Besides all these there
are the children in district or separate schools, who
add largely to the proportion of helpless pauperism.

DEFAULTING COLLECTORS.

Every ratepayer grumbles, not unreasonably, at
the amount of poor rate which he is called upon to
pay, but to know that not unfrequently such pay-
ments are made, not for the relief of the poor, but
for the benefit of defaulting collectors, is certainly
an aggravation of the evil. Yet we learn from the
report of the Poor-law Board that several instances
of the kind have occurred during the year among col-
lectors and assistant overseers, and in one case which
occurred in Greenwich, where the rates are collected
under a local Act, these defalcations reached a very
serious amount. So large was the sum abstracted,
indeed, that the Poor-law Board, not usually too
active, was roused to inquire into the circumstances,
when it appeared that the local Act, under which
the collector had been appointed, did not provide
sufficient checks. The defaulter was, accordingly,
able, before the audit, to make up the deficiencies in
the rate due, by receipts in respect of other rates
which the auditor had no control over. It is at once
apparent that if there be not an efficient system of
checks and counter-checks, the collector has always
the opportunity in dealing with sums so irregularly
paid as the rates to balance one account against
another, and escape detection by manoeuvring. The
Poor Law report expresses a fear that until the col-
lection of all local rates is placed under the same
responsible authority, it will be found extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to prevent these frauds.
The experience of Greenwich would be sufficient,
we should imagine, to disenchant those districts
ambitious of preserving the dignity of local acts.