The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-17 00:00:00

COLNEY-HATCH ISYLIIM.

A special report of some importance was brought up
from the committee of this asylum wAh reference to the
opinions of eminent architects as to the giving way of the
fabric and its premature decay. The committee to some
extent adopted these Opinions, and it was proposed that
the matter should be deferred until the January quarter
scmsions, when an estimate would be prepared of the ex-
pense of the works required to put the building in a pro-
per condition. A letter from Mr. Daul•es, the architect
of the asylum, was read. That gentleman objected to
the data on which the opinions in question werd formed.
Alter same discus3ion the report, together with Mr.
Daukes's letter, was ordered to be printed, and to be
taken into consideration on a future day.
The usual reports from the prisons were presented.

THE NEW REGULATIONS AS TO SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.
Tlle report of the committee appointed on the 6th inst.
to frame rules by which applications should be made for
licences for slaughter-houses under the Smithfield Mar-
ket Act and the Metropolis Local Management Ac: was
brought up. The report was very voluminous, and set
forth the forms in which notices should be given to the
vestries and to the court, &c. It recommended that
applicanls should appear in person, or " otherwise," but,
un the motion of Mr. P. N. Laurie, the word " coun-
sel" was substituted fur " utherwi-e." _

The report was adopted, aod ordered to be advertised.
Mr. WOODWARD gave notice that at the nest Court
he should call attention to an alteration which had been
made u to the attendance of prosecutors and witnesses
at the Sessions. _ .

Mr. PAINE moved the following resoletione :

" That in the present state of society, with an in-
creas ed, and in many instances an unemployed popula-
tion—when numerous convicted offenders are at large
on tickets of leers without the means of procuring m-
cupation—when drunkenness is a prevailing vice, and
violence and demoralising language the result of intem-
perance— when religion and morality are too often dis-
regarded, and poison is insidiously working destruc-
tion to its innocent and unsuspecting victims—when
husbands are convicted of brutality towards their wives
and children, and are subject to severe though unpre-
ventive punshment-L. when mothers are charged with
the destruction of their own offspring, sometimes by the
most cruel neglect and sometimes by more open and
barbarousill-treatment—and when the outcasts of society
are annually increased by hundreds of the poorer classes,
especially young persons, being prosecuted for the most
trifling larcenies, and their future prospects in life ren-
dered utterly hopeless by their becoming convicted felons
—it is highly desirable that the magistrates throughout
the kingdom should be roused to a sense of their impor-
taut position in connection with the wellbeing of the
community ; that while, on the one hand, as the instru-
ments of punishment for grave offences, they are a ter-
ror to evildoers, so, on the other hand, they may, by
their wise and benevolent exertions, conduce to the pre-
vention of crime, the preservation of character, and the
protection and encouragement of the honest and deserv-
ing, and may thus be the honoured means of promoting
the safety of the Crown, the welfare of the State, and
the increased happiness and prosperity of all classes of
the people,

"That, with this view, a committee of magistrates be
appointed for this county, whose duty it shall be to take
notice of all matters in relation to criminal jurisprudence
within the county, and to suggest from time to time any
measures that they may deem desirable in connection
with so important a subject."
The hon. magistrate entered into an elaborate statement
in support of his motion, which was seconded by Mr.
Freer.
Mr. LAURIE said there could be no ohjection to
appointment of a committee if it could be shown
that it
would be of any use ; but such a committee
nwould be a
sort of roving commission for the improve!' t of the
human
nature in general. After doing ample
to
tives of the mover, he suggested that tee motion the
on should
ould
be withdrawn.
Alter some considerable di3nussit'n the
reportwaosf
agreed to be slightly modified, and tee committee was
appointed.
The. CIIAIRUAN called attention to a special
the. Committee of the Westminster lim..se o
Correction,
rel,ting to persons committed to prison for offences in
workhouses. Soma of those persons, unfuitunate and
he otherobjectsof pity and sympathy rather
t a
npn were
L i day a poor old woman, 84
friendless,e
years of aO, . was sent to prison for asking alms in the
street when she had been refused relief. Now, if the
parish would not give ber relief, whet was an aged
woman like that to do 1 She had lived iu Westminster
30 years, aud had never been charged with any crime
as iar as he cAuld learn. Last week a youth, 10 years of
age, was sent to prison as a felon for escaping from the
workhouse of St. George, Eare,,ver-square, in the work-
house clothing, and a coild nine years of a.,e was sent to
prison fur an assault, such assault being kicking and
sty eggling to get, away from a woman who said it had
lo.,ken a window while playing at shuttlecock. lie
hoped the members ef the bench would direct their ear-
nest attention to the state of the law relating to the poor,
particularly what was termed the vagrant ntw ; and he
thought persons were too frequently sent to the felons'
gaol who ought to be placed and kept in the workhouses.
The magistrates seemed to commit such persons with too
Much readiness to gaol, and it was most desirable that
too law should be altered.
The consideration of the report was postponed.
A considerable amount of formal business was gone
through, and the court adjourned.