The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-15 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.
Yesterday a Court was held for the dispatch of public
business.

SCOTCH AND IRISH PAUPERS.
Alderman COPELAND in rising to call the attention of
the Court to the subject of the weekly payments made
in the City of London on account of Scotch and Irish
paupers, said his object was to check the rapidity with
which some officers of the unions proceeded to remove
the unfortunate paupers with whom the parishes
abounded, and which was the cause of great injustice to
those distressed objects, and of great and unwarrantable
expense to the rate-payers. The returns for which he
had moved showed that in the years 1842 and 1843 the
expense of the removal of the Scotch and Irish paupers
to their own countries had increased in comparison with
former years from hundreds to thousands.—(Hear.)
Sitting as a magistrate he had witnessed the injurious
effect of permitting any case of removal of the kind to
pass without strict examination. He was convinced
that if his colleague had not, in many instances where
they found that the claimants for relief were hard work-
ing persons, supplied them with the means of pur-
chasing tools, and thus given them with the means of
supporting themselves, the charges upon the inhabitants
would have been more heavy, and the pauperism more
intolerable. A week or two ago he had observed a
painful anxiety upon the part of an officer of one of the
unions to pass a poor woman who was not present
during the application. He felt bound to refuse the
order in her absence; and, upon seeing her afterwards
by accident, he ascertained that he was perfectly justi-
fied in the negative he had given, for, upon being
asked what assistance she had received from the re-
lieving-officer, she replied that, during five weeks, all
the help she had was two shillings and two loaves, and
that, for the last month, she had been with-
out the least relief, and merely dependent upon
the contingent humanity of those who saw her in this
destitute state. The relieving officer had, notwithstand-
ing this remarkable fact, the affidavits and everything
else ready for the magistrate's signature, and if due cau-
tion had not been exercised the removal would have cer-
tainly taken place in the teeth of the law. He called
upon his brother magistrates to exercise still greater
vigilance upon the subject than they were in the habit
of using, for he believed that if they relaxed in the per-
formance of the duty of vigilance the most unmerciful
injustice would be done to the poor. He believed that
parties were employed by the unions of the City of
London, who looked upon poverty as the worst of
crimes, and would have it punished to the extremity.—
(Hear, hear.) There were put On board steamers for
Ireland, poor people who had not for thirty or forty
years been once in the country, and who were without
relations or friends there, and must in consequence
perish of starvation in Cork or Limerick to which they
might be, as it were, transported.—(Hear, hear.) Ile
felt that ho had ready advocates in his brother
magistrates 'of any measure calculated to abate
so serious an evil. He called upon them to take into
consideration the heavy rates to which the inhabitants
of the City were subjected by the too great promptitude
to grant orders of removal. He believed that six or
seven years ago the whole cost of removals was annually
under 2001. In 1842, it amounted to 3,0001, ; and in
1843, it was 2,6661 General complaints had been of
late made by those who would, if immediate measures
were not adopted, call for a county rate. He (Alder-
man Copeland) wished the matter to be referred to a
Committee, in order that some plan might be devised to
remedy or, at least, to abate the evil, the existence of
which was palpable to all. The time had arrived for
trying the experiment, for the Poor-law Bill was about
to undergo some change ; and it was the duty of
that Court to suggest some means of preventing the
frauds which were, under the circumstances to which he
had called the attention of the Court, so frequently
played off upon the magistracy of the City.—(Hear,
hear.) Alderman Copeland concluded by moving that
the whole question be referred to a Committee.
Alderman WooD seconded the motion. Ile agreed in
the view which Alderman Copeland had taken of the
question, and he instanced, as two of the frauds which
had been committed upon the magistracy, the cases of an
Irishwoman and a Scotchwoman, who came to London
to visit their respectable friends, and adopted the econo-
mical way of returning home by applying for passes.—
(A laugh, and cries of " Hear, hear.") That was not
the manner in which the power of removing was to be
exercised. Another part of the system of imposition
was that which related to the well-known practice
amongst the lower order of the Irish, who came over in
summer to work, remitted all their earnings to their own
country, and then, without a farthing in their pockets,
applied to be passed home.—(Hear, hear.) It was most
essential that abuses of such a nature should not be per-
mitted to exist. Now multitudes who came over and
were passed back, came over again and again, and under-
went the same process as often as they visited London.
Conduct of that kind, however, was punishable by law,
and any person detected in such a violation of law, could
be sent to the House of Correction:—(Hear.)
Alderman KELLY confirmed by his evidence the accu-
racy of the statement made by Alderman Copeland, as
to the ill effects of the existing system.
The motion was then unanimously agreed to.
THE THROWING OPEN OF THE MAYOR'S COURT.
-_Alderman and Sheriff MUSGROVE presented a! memo-
rial to the Court from Mr. W. H. Ashurst, the ' Chair-
man.of the Secondaries' and the Officers and '`Clerks'
Committee, praying.that the Court would appoint a Sub-
Committee to confer with the Committees of which he
was Chairman, on the subject of the Mayor's Court,
with a view to some arrangement, likely to be ore be-
neficial to the public than that which existed under the
present constitution of that tribunal.
Mr. ASHURST, in supporting his memorial, stated that
from the County Courts Bill, which it was expected
would pass in the present session of Parliament, all
England, with the exception of the City of London
alone, would derive great advantage. It was, therefore,
necessary that the Corporation should immediately take
into consideration the necessity of making an attempt to
participate in an improvement from which inattqntion or
neglect might soon altogether exclude them.
Alderman MuscnovE moved that the pray,
memorialist be agreed to.
Sir I'. LAURIE seconded the motion. Thel matter
had, he said, assumed an entirely different shepe from
what it at first appeared to be. Upon the application
of certain attorneys to practise in the Mayors Court,
acting on the advice of the Recorder, than whom no man
was better qualified to judge, the Court had deblined to
admit the petitioners. Since that' refusal a nnindamus
had been applied for, and until that question was de-
cided the Court would not be justified in interfel 'rig. He
could not, however, see the least objection to a confe-
rence ; on the contrary, he was convinced that it would
lead to the ' complete protection of the intere s of the
i
Corporation. It appeared by Sir Francis I Igrave's
report, that when an attachment was mad in the
Mayor's Court, andjudgment went by default, e plain-
tiff's costs did not exceed 41, and when the action was
defended, the costs, including the expenses of execution,
did not exceed 151. ; and in ordinary suits, if the sum to
be recovered was above 501, the costs would be between
12/. and 13/. When he saw such anxiety for tie public
amongst the attorneys' he was put in mind of the
importunity with which the wolves asked le* to pro-
tect the sheep ; and he could not help eclaring
that •he looked upon the application of thegentlemen
icsl
who had appeared at the bar of the Court as a scheme
merely for their own advantage at the expe e of the
public. He considered that it would be most 4angerous
to allow every law attorney to use the extraordinary
powers of the Court. If such license were !given the
bankers in the city would very naturally make a move
'tient to the other side of Temple-bar.
The RECORDER strongly advised the Court to agree
to a conference, and stated that the Corporation ought
to avail itself of every opportunity of sharing in the
advantages intended to be bestowed upon the community
at large.
Alderman WOOD recommended that the prayer of
thelrnemorialist should be granted, and said lig could not
see what possible objection there could be to go to the
Legislature upon the subject.
The motion was then agreed to, and, after ;the trans-
action of some business of no public interest,:the Court
adjourned. I

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