The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-17 00:00:00

THAMES POLICE.

Yesterday, Mr. Sharpe, proprietor of the North
Briton public-house, Stepney, appeared to answer the
charge of permitting riotous and disorderly conduct in
his house.

A woman of the town, whose name our reporter did not
catch, deposed that she was in the house when a scuffle
took place. A man named Miles insulted another named
Andrews very much, and then a scuffle ensued in front of
the bar. There were four rounds, after which some per-
son asked was not that enough ? to which Miles
answered, " No." They then set to again, when Miles
fell and cut his head. The landlord was inside the bar.
Some persons, and among others the witness, tried to go
inside the bar, but the landlord pushed them out. He
objected to their fighting, and said, " We'll have no
more of this." He did not come between them, having
enough to do to keep the people from the bar.
. .

Mi.. Pelham, for 'the defence, said the North Briton
was what is commonly called a night-house, and was
open to an early hour in the morning for the purpose of
affording refreshments to persons frequenting the Pavi-
lion Theatre, the principal plat:- of amusement to those
residing at the eastern end of the metropolis. It could
not be expected that persons frequenting the bar of such
an establishment should be the most respectable, but for
a house of the kind the landlord had, for a considerable
time, conducted it in a highly creditable manner. The
parlour was frequented by gentlemen and tradesmen for
the purpose of social entertainment. (Some of whom
he called to speak to the transaction, and to show that
the defendant did all he could to check the disturbance.)
After hearing them,
Mr. BALLANTINE said, that though well disposed to
make every allowance for that kind of house, it was clear
that a serious disturbance had taken place. There were
prostitutes and other disorderly persons at the bar, in
addition to which a man had been seriously wounded,
and none of the respectable tradesmen and gentlemen
looked after him, a poor wretched prostitute being the
only person who looked after him, by going for a cab
and taking him under her care to the hospital. He would
mark his sense of the proceeding by inflicting the highest
penalty, namely 5L
The defendant, through Mr. Pelham, gave notice of
appeal.
Mr. John William Gray, plumber in the Commercial-
road, was charged with assaulting a lad named Christo-
pher James Lewis, who had been bound to him from the
parish of Limehouse.
Lewis stated, that on Monday last his master charged
him with idleness, and took up a rope, with which he
beat him in a most cruel manner. His back was sore
ever since.

Douglas, the warrant officer, examined the boy's back,
which was nearly black all over. His arms were also
black, and he seemed to have been punished cruelly.
Daniel Murphy, in the employment of the defendant,
said the boy was idle and negligent. He was sent with a
mesiage on the previous Tuesday, and stayed away so
long that he was fined 25., being at the rate of 3d. an
hour.

The lad said he was ill and obliged to go home. He
had already suffered for his illness by the fine.
Murphy added, that besides being idle and negligent,
he was also very insolent.

Mr. BALLANTINE said that did not warrant such ex-
treme ill-usage. It was evident that the boy had been
very cruelly beaten, and the defendant must pay a fine
of 40s.

The money was instantly paid.

SURREY QUARTER SESSIONS.
KINGSTON, Oct. 16.
(Before E. PENHRYN, Esq., Chairman ; J. TROTTER,
Esq., M.P., B. HAWES, Esq., M.P., Colonel CHAL-
LONER, T. PUCKLE, Esq., &c.)
The Court this day proceeded to hear applications
for licenses for music and dancing.
Mr. WALLINGER made an application on behalf of
Mr. Joseph Key, of the Southampton Railway Ta-
vern, at the Kingston station, for a license to have
music and dancing at that establishment. The ap-
plication was signed by the churchwardens and parish
officers, and there was no opposition to it by any
party. The license was accordingly granted.
Mr. LOCKE applied for a renewal of the license for
Vauxhall Gardens in the name of William Fowler.—
Granted.
The licenses for the Bower Saloon, the St. Helena
Gardens, Rotherhithe, and the Castle Hotel, Rich-
mond, were also renewed without any observation.
An application was then made by Mr. Richard
Preece, of the Grapes, Great Suffolk-street, for a
license to have music and dancing.
Mr. Knapp and Mr. Corner supported the applica-
tion, and it was opposed by Mr. Scriven.
Mr. KNAPP, in support of the application, put in a
memorial, signed by the churchwardens, overseers,
and guardians of the poor of Southwark, testifying to
the respectability of the applicant, and the excellent
manner in which his house had been conducted.
There were also the signatures of 286 persons of
respectability residing in the immediate neighbour-
hood, all of whom expressed their opinion that if the
license was granted, it would be the means of afford-
ing innocent recreation to the poorer inhabitants of
the neighbourhood. The Learned Counsel, in the
course of his address, said that the application had
been made last year, and was refused, but he trusted
that on the present occasion it would be more suc-
cessful.

Mr. Knight was then called to prove the signatures
to the petition. lie said that he was himself formerly
a member of the Board of Guardians, and that during
the time he had known Mr. Preece the house had
always been very respectably conducted.
Cross-examined—Witness had been to the per-
formances at the applicant's house three times. The
words " Grand Harmonic Hall" were written over
the door. He was not aware that the condition upon
which Mr. Preece received his spirit license on the
last occasion was, that he should take down a stage
that was erected, and discontinue the perform-
ances in his house. He believed that money was
taken at the doors. There was a stage at present
in the room, and persons danced and sang upon it.
Threepence was the sum charged for admission, and
the performers were dressed in the same way as they
were at the theatres.
Re-examined—He never saw any indecent con-
duct, and the style of dancing was not a hit morn in- ,
decent than might be seen at the Opera.—(A iaugh.)
Mr. Yates, an inspector of the metropolitan police,
deposed that the house in question had been conducted

in a very proper and respectable manner since Mr.
Preece kept it. He had witnessed the performances,
and never saw anything improper.
Cross-examined—There was dancing and music
going on when he went to the house. The dancing
was upon a stage, which, upon examination, he found
to be a sort of large table, about four feet high.
There were some young women performing dressed
in boys' clothes, and boys dressed as girls. There
was no band, and the only music was a pianoforte.
Witness went to the house by order of the Commis-
sioners of Police, in consequence of some complaints
that had been formerly made, but there had been no
complaints within the last twelve months. Witness
was present when Mr. Preece applied for his spirit
license, and he heard Mr. Puckle, one of the magis-
trates, recommend that the stage and the performances
should be done away with.
Mr. SCRIVEN—And after this, the stage was taken
away, and the " table," as you call it, was put in its
place ? Witness—Yes.
Cross-examination continued—Did not think the
performers dressed themselves under the table.—
(Laughter.) The ladies dressed on one side, and the
gentlemen on the other. He had never seen any im-
proper characters present at the performances. Wit-
ness was aware that Mr. Preece only had a spirit
license, but it was not the duty of, the police to inter-
fere with the performances in the house unless they
had orders to do so.
Mr. CORNER, at the conclusion of the evidence, ad-
dressed the Court in support of the application, and
said that there was no intention to deny that there
had been music and dancing carried on in the house,
but he submitted that this ought not in any way to
affect the application, and that as it was proved the
house had been conducted in a creditable and re-
spectable manner, the license prayed for ought to be
grante 1.
Mr. SCRIVEN then addressed the Court in opposi-
tion to the application, and said that the bench had
refused the license last year, and the only new fact
now brought forward was, that since that period the
applicant had, in defiance of the magistrates, persisted
in carrying on the performances. It did not appear
that the applicant wanted any license, for he had been
doing all that the license would have empowered him
to do, and the only object of the present proceeding
appeared to be to get a bill of indemnity from the
magistrates for having infringed the law. The
Learned Counsel then proceeded at some length to
comment upon the facts that had been adduced in
support of the application, and concluded by express-
ing his opinion that the magistrates would not, under
such circumstances, think of granting a license to the
applicant.
Colonel CIIALLONER said, he thought the fact of the
license having been refused last year ought not to
weigh at all with the Court, but they should merely
be guided by the merits of the case as it appeared be
fore them. He was extremely favourable to the
granting of licenses of this description, because he
felt convinced that amusements of this description
tended to increase morality among the lower orders,
and induced habits of sobriety. He thought they
were bound to pay attention to a petition signed by
286 respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who
might very reasonably be supposed to be better ac-
quainted with its wants than they were ; and when
they recollected that the petition was also signed by
a great number of guardians of the poor, and that an
officer of police had borne testimony to the fact of the
house being conducted in a respectable manner, he
considered they were bound to grant the licnese, and
he begged to propose, therefore, that it should be
granted.
Mr. HAwEs, in seconding the motion, said it would
not be denied that Mr. Preece had acted wrongly in
continuing the performances in his house without a
license after the caution he had received, but still he
did not think this:ought to influence the Court in their
decision. They should only look to the public in-
terest; and when they saw so many respectable
persons sign the application fur the license, he thought
they were bound to grant it. There was, he believed,
a very great improvement in the moral condition of
the labouring classes, and also a strong movement in
favour of temperance among them ; and it was their
duty to provide the poorer classes with recreation and
amusement, to enable them to occupy their minds
innocently, in lieu of going to public-houses, and in-
juring their health and character by drinking to excess.
Mr. PUCKLE opposed the grant of the license for
music and dancing, on ,the ground that, if it were
legally sanctioned in such a neighbourhood, it would
be productive of great mischief. It had been said
that there was nothing more improper done at this
house than at the Opera. He (Mr. Puckle) did not
know much about the Opera, but this he must say,
that if a little public-house in St. George's-fields was
permitted to imitate the Opera, he did not think it
likely to advance the cause of morality. Mr. Puckle
then remarked upon the fact of the applicant having
continued his performances far the last twelve months
in defiance of the magistrates, and he said he thought
this was an additional reason why the license should
be refused. If he discontinued those performances at
once, and his house was conducted in a proper
manner, and next year he applied for a music license
only, it was probable that he (Mr. Puckle) should
not oppose the application.
After a few words from Mr. Best and the Chair-
man, the question was put, when the Court, by a
majority of two, refused the license.