The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-06 00:00:00

A SSES 31-ENT OF GOVERNMENT
ESTABLISHMENTS AT WOOLWICH.

The rating of the property occupied by the mili-
tary and naval establishments at Woolwich having
been the subject of discussion between the War
Department and the local Board of Health since
the year 1853, it has at length been settled by a
formal concession on the part of Government, inso-
much that the sum of about £40,000 per annum has
been granted to the parish of Woolwich as an equi-
valent for the taxation of their establishments,
thereby relieving the burden of the ratepayers to
the amount of about 35 per cent., Government pro-
perty (in their own occupation) having been hitherto
totally exempt from taxation. In fulfilment of the
arrangement two maps of the Government property
will be provided, one of which will be kept by the
Board, and one by the Government, on which the
outlines of the property will be carefully defined,
and any small increase or decrease will not inter-
fere with the agreement, but any large alteration
will be met by an increase or decrease according to
the undermentioned scale, at which the rating of
the establishments in the parish has been fixed, as
payable according to an estimate rendered by Mr.
Hall, the Government Suryeyor :—Her Majesty's
Dockyard, £17,000; Royal Arsenal, £8,037 ; Royal
Marine Barracks, £2,000;. Royal Artillery Bar-
racks, £5,000; Royal Artillery Hospital, £1,030 ;
Royal Military Academy, £850; Royal Marine
Hospital, £l,OOO ; Clothing Establishment, £262 ;
Grand Depot, £450; Sappers' Barracks (Lower Ca-
dets' Academy), £220 ; Royal Engineer offices,
Mill-lane, £7O ; Dead-house, and the buildings and
lands in Mill-lane, £1,000.; Royal Military Repo-
sitory, £250 ; Mulgrave-pond, Artillery-place,
£10; land, £417 ; together with a few items un-
defined. Mr. Hudson, a member of the Board,
remarked in his official capacity at their late
meeting, in reply to some of his colleagues, who
were bickering for an augmentation, that if
the bill brought into Parliament last session fcr
rating the Government establishments had been
carried, they might have hesitated in accepting the
offer, but when the parish had no power of demand-
ing anything, and had no reason to expect any
increase in the amount offered, he thought it would
be wise to come to a settlement as early as possible,
instead of postponing it, and probably, by that
means, injuring the case. They might, by post-
poning the question, be able to arrive at the amount
which they considered the Government ought to
pay; but who was to decide the real value of the
Government property and the principle on which it
should be fairly assessed ? He believed that Mr.
Hall had acted as liberally as possible considering
the nature of his instructions; and, seeing that the
matter was of so much importance, and was now
before a full board, he hoped it would be settled at
once. The chairman of the Board, Mr. Morgan,
has been accordingly vested with the powers ne-
cessary to close the agreement. The discrepancy
between the assessment of the dockyard and the
arsenal is in consequence of a great proportion of
the latter establishment being situated in the
parish of Plumstead.

TTIE CLERICAL ELOPEMENT FROM

DUI? LUM.

There is now no necessity to withhold the name
of the clerical delinquent who has caused such an
excitement in religious circles in the north, by
absconding with a loose woman from the city of
Durham. The circumstances of the affair have
become notorious. A local paper gives the follow-
ing particulars concerning it. The paper says
" An extraordinary sensation has been produced in
Durham in consequence of certain disclosures re-
specting the conduct and character of the Rev.
William Prosser, late curate of St. Nicholas'
Church, who had achieved considerable popularity
as a preacher, and had hitherto been regarded as
a pattern of piety and a model of puiity. The
rev. gentleman, who is quite young, was married
little more than a year ago to an accomplished and
amiable young lady, and for some time they lived
veryhappily together. The respected incumbent of the
parish occupies the post of chaplain to the Durham
Penitentiary, an institution established by the be-
nevolence of the public for the reformation of
women who have departed from the paths of virtue.
In the course of his ministrations the young divine,
as assistant to the incumbent, made frequent visits
to this refuge of female frailty, and the inmates
were understood to derive much spiritual benefit
from his pious exhortations. So far from any
levity or impropriety being perceptible in his con-
duct, his demeanour was that of a sincere and pious
enthusiast, anxious to reclaim the lost sisterhood
from the depths of degradation and vice into which
they had fallen. Whether his zeal was simulated
or sincere, of course no man can determine ; but, as
is proved by subsequent events, one of these women
succeeded in establishing an influence over him
which has led him to abandon his wife and home,
and will undoubtedly ruin his prospects for life.
After the girl left the Penitentiary she was for a
short period in the service of Mr. Prosser, where it
would appear, from certain correspondence which
has since been discovered, an adulterous intercourse
first took place between them. Upon the rev, gen-
tleman's recommendation she was afterwards taken
into service at Croxdale Parsonage. Latterly Mr.
Prosser has.been in a highly nervous and excitable
state of mind, and being on terms of intimacy and
friendship with the Rev. H. Chaytor, of Croxdale,
he went over from Durham on a visit, ostensibly
for change of air and rest. It was while residing
these that his improper intimacy with the servant
was found out, and the discovery of the liaison
was, as a matter of course, speedily followed by
his prompt and ignominious dismissal from his
curacy. On Thursday the degraded curate and
his paramour went off together in a fly to Ferryhill
Station, and proceeded southward on the North-
Eastern Railway. As may be supposed, this dis-
graceful affair has excited the most intense
astonishment, and it is not easy to picture the in-
dignation which the discovery of such libertinism
has called forth. 'Mr. Prosser's supposed piety and
zeal had rendered him an especial favourite, and it
was only on the Saturday before Christmas-day
that the young ladies connected with the Bible
class presented him with a writing desk and ink-
stand as a mark of their respect and esteem. His
ardent admirers are filled more with sorrow than
with anger at the shuttering of their idol, and all
right•minded persons will be shocked to find how
the Church has been scandalised, and sincerely lament
the extent which the cause of religion and morality
must suffer by this sad revelation of clerical pro-
fligacy."