The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-18 00:00:00

MEETING OF MIDDLESEX 211-AGIS.
TkATES.

The ordinary meeting of the magistrates of Mid-
dlesex was held yesterday at Clerkenwell, for the
consideration of the business of the county. Mr.
Po wnall presided, and there was a full attendance
of justices.
On the report of the Committee of Accounts and
General Purposes being presented, the Court ordered
the payment of bills, salaries, and demands upon
the county for the quarter to the amount of £14,655
148. 7d., and an ordinary county rate of id. in the
pound, and -Id. in the pound under the Lunatic
Asylums Act were ordered. The items of expendi-
ture were—House of Correction, £4,740 7s. Ildr;
Rouse of Detention, £BOB 14s. 9d.; surgeon and
clerk to those prisons, £ll2 10s. ; House of Correc-
tion, Westminster, £1,839 7s. 10d. ; Industrial
School, £2,156 17s. 7d. ; Sessions-house, Clerken-
well, £229155. 7d.; ditto,Westminster, £61155. 6d.;
miscellaneous, £1,060 18s.; militia storehouses,
£585 Os. 4d. ; bridges„ £lll ss. 4d. ; coroners,
£l,BBO 13s. 3d. ; salaries, &c., and allowances,
£1,068 Bs. 6d.; total, £14,655 14s. 7d.
The usual reports from the prisons were presented.
They referred only to the internal arrangements of
the establishments, which were very satisfactory,
and the sanitary condition of each was well spoken
of.

THE HOUSE OF DETENTION.
_ _

On the report from this prison being presented,
Mr. Sergeant PAYNE called the attention of the
Court to the fact that there was no mention in the
report of the case of a man named Ryan, who had,
by order of the governor, been forcibly thrust into
a bath with his clothes on, and held under the
water. Had the matter been investigated by the
committee, and, if it had, why was it not mentioned
in the report of the committee ?
Mr. WYATT, chairman of the committee, said
legal proceedings had been threatened against the
Governor for the matter, and, though it had been
inquired into by the committee, they did not renort
upon it, as they thought it better to await the re-
sult of the action, if it was brought.
Mr. Sergeant PAYNE stated that he had been in-
formed, since he had been in court, that an offer of
V) had been made to the poor man Ryan to settle
the affair. He thought that if the matter had been
inquired into by the committee, the result of their
inquiry ought not to be withheld from the Court.
The Court had nothing to do with any action
arising out of the affair; what they had to deal
with was the question whether the Governor had or
had not done his duty properly. The Court had to
deal with their own officer, without considering any
legal consequences which might fall upon him
upon any charge made against him. Besides this,
there was a case of a prisoner being sent for trial
with a stone in his pocket, which he threw at the
prosecutor, and one of a warder named Morley,
who had been in the service of the county many
years, and had been a soldier 11 previously, who
committed suicide in Hornsey-fields in August last,
after having complained of the tyrannical and
severe conduct of the new Governor, Captain Codd.
The charge was one of undue severity and tyranny
against the Governor. Was it true or not ? If
it was true, it was a matter for a severe rebuke
and reprobation on the Governor; if it was not
true, the Governor ought to have received at
the hands of the committee an opportunity
of defending himself. Further, it appeared by
public accounts in the papers that the Governor had
refased permission to officers to see prisoners for the
purpose of identification to serve the ends of justice,
which had afterwards been granted by superior au-
thority.

Mr. WYATT said that refusal was by order of the
committee.