The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-16 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

A court of aldermen was held yesterday at the
Guildhall ; the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor pre-
sided. The minutes of the last court were, as
usual, read and confirmed.

J. EVANS, Esq., then introduced T. Dakin, Esq.,
the newly elected alderman for the ward of Candle-
wick, in the plaee of the late Sir G. Carroll, and
that gentleman took the oaths, and was then intro-
duced, with the usual formalities by Mr. Sewell,
the sword-bearer, to his brother aldermen, and took
his seat among them.
Upon the motion of Mr. Alderman COPELAND,
seconded by Mr. Alderman WILSON, a resolution
of condolence to the widow of the late lamented
Alderman Sir G. Carroll, upon the loss she had
sustained, was unanimously carried, as was also
a motion that the resolution should be adver-
tised in the usual newspapers, and that a copy
should be sent to the widow of the deceased gentle-
man.

The next subject that was brought before the
Court was one of a very important character, not
only in reference to the interests of the corpora-
tion, but generally to the mercantile community of
the City of London.
It may lie recollected that at a recent Court a
petition was presented by certain influential mer-
chants of the City, complaining of the conduct of
one of the City brokers, named George Henry
Darby Lawrence, in the performance of his duties.
The usual course on such oecasious is to give notice
to the party complained of, of the nature of the
complaint made against him, and to call upon him
to give an answer in writing and to appear before
the Court and give any explanation he may think
necessary, and the matter then stands over until
the next Court. This was done, and upon the next
occasion Mr. Sewell, a responsible officer of the
corporation, to whom these matters are usually en-
trusted, reported to the Court that he had used
every practicable exertion in his power to serve
the party complained of with the notice or summons
of the court, but had been unable to do so. He
stated that he found he had left the offices he had
heretofore occupied, and all that was known of him
was that he was supposed to have gone to the con-
tinent, but no one appeared to be able to give any
definite information about him. Upon this state-
ment being made the next proceeding to be taken,
according to the forms of the Court, was to give
notice to the sureties of the party complained of
of the application that had been made, and to call
upon them to produce their principal, or in default
of doing so to appear and answer for him; and
' this course was adopted, and the usual formal no-
tices were placed in the hands of Mr. Sewell to
be served upon the parties, and the matter now
again came before the Court.
The TOWN CLERK having read the notice upon
the paper of business, the Court proceeded to dis-
pose of it.
The RECORDER inquired of Mr. Sewell whether
he had served the notice upon the sureties of the
party complained of, requiring them to attend.
Mr. Sewell replied that he had not. This state-
ment evidently excited some surprise in the court,
but he went on to explain that he endeavoured to
the best of his power to serve them, but he found
that one had been dead a considerable time; and
with regard to the other, upon his going to the
place where he had resided, he found that his house
was pulled down, and no one knew anything about
him, and persons of whom he made inquiry with
regard to the supposed " surety" had never heard
of such a person. (A laugh.)
The Recorder inquired whether any of the peti-
tioners were present ?
Mr. Sewell said they were not, but they were
aware of the circumstances.

The Recorder observed that as this was so, they
no doubt thought it was unnecessary to be present.
The only course that now could be taken in the
matter was to adjourn the consideration of the
petition sine die.
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS accordingly put that
motion to the court, and it was seconded by Mr.
Alderman W. LAWRENCE, and carried.

This question of " suretyship" is one of consider-
able importance, not only to the corporation of
London but to those interested in the large amount
of charitable funds which they have at their dis-
posal. Only a short time ago a case occurred in
which it appeared that £3OO had been advanced by
one of the City charities upon the security of three
persons, and in the result, the borrower went into
the Insolvent Court, two of his sureties were bank-
rupt, or men of straw, the third left the country,
and the whole of the money was lost.
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS, in the absence of Mr.
Alderman Sidney, brought before the court the
subject of the crowded state of some of the streets
in Billingsgate ward from the great amount of
traffic, and he moved that the matter should be
referred to the General Purposes Committee.
Mr. Alderman ROSE seconded the motion.
Alderman FINNIs said he believed that any alte-
rations, so far as buildings were concerned would
be attended with enormous expense, and that all
the difficulty would be overcome by the appoint-
ment of extra constables.
A few additional men
had been employed occasionally, and it had had the
traffic.,
effect of completely relieving the
The LORD MAYOR said . PP'
that a ication had been
made to the Police Commissioner upon the subject,
and his reply was that he could not find men enough
to perform the duty.
Alderman FINNIS observed that plenty of men
could be found, if they would only lower the stan-
dard height half an inch.
The motion was then put and carried.
Mr. Alderman
CHALLIS then moved that the
thanks of the court be presented to the Rev. James
Cohen, M.A., late chaplain to the City Prison, Hol-
loway, together with the sum of filly guineas, as a
testimonial of their appreciation of his faithful
ministry during the seventeen years he performed
the duties of chaplain.
The motion was carried, and the court shortly
afterwards adjourned.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, GRAY'S INN-ROAD.-
The number of patients relieved at this hospital during the
week ending Jan. 12, was 2,522, of which 692 were new
eases.