The Sun.
London, England, 1816-09-05 00:00:00

tirlitightsnian.

, How many days are you, in consequence of
Lolding those two first situations., necessarily
absent from the office ?—I upon an in:et ake ,
the twit circuits in the year require idiom eikht
veci,s' ahmence ; my :attendance tit the SeQgiolls
)10'er attire ly prevent* my attending at the ()dice,
because I have a clerk to assist ine at the Session,,
and I go backwards and forwards during the day,
sis I find necessary; if the business, presses at the
sessions, I ant a longer time there ; if I find,it
neeesAary to he longer at the,office, 1 am so.
There arc eight sessions in the year ?—Yes.
How many days do they* generally last ?---Nly
attendance is nerer required but wh:le the Grand
,Ivry arc sitting, that is generally live or six d.ys
each session, and no evening attendance is neet:s.
aary.

It'hen you are not attending your duty at now.
street office, who does it for you'?--L-There arc
two other clerks Upon the establishment, a second
and titird cloak, and t4o at) assistant clerk.
In point of fact, is it not the extra clerk, as he
it named in the return, who does a great part of
tbe business of the office certainly is of
most mate! tat service ; for Mr,Thomai, the second
clerk,- from 'illness and infirmities, is not so Coto-7
r.etent now as lie w as fOrmerlyln do the business,
originally, took the appointment. 'of thief clerk
'at How-street, with an understanding that I was
• to be permitted to go the circuit. I ptevionsly
had the appointment ot chief clerk at Union-hall;
and a vacancy having taken place at Bow-street,
Sir Richard Forki, at that dine tbe'ebirl magistrate
there, offered medic appointment, which I was
glad to,agent, us the magistrates. at Unicift-hall
110 folieal Come faith with my absence on the eir.
• Fuit ; bat Sieltichard Ford, so tarfrOm objecting
to-my going the circuit, said, he thimk;ht might
derive. from it much information that might be
useful to theoffiee.
Do you not.think that ,if the . three 'clerks did
daily their-dot y, confining themselves solely to
The business ot the ail:, time necessity cirthe em-
ployment of the extra clerk would no "lotigta
exist ?—I have my doubts about that.; the bosi-
'. Tcs's of the otileti•is a great deal more, than petipie
ingeneral have any conception of; and I believe
that done but persons belonging to thcofirke are
aware of the great labour reiluirt d frunithe clerks
by he great'qOautity buSinesS.
Yon must..be aware that if you are absent "snell
a namber of weeks in the course of the Year, if the
aecood clerk, is in a state such as you have descrih.
ed, and If the third clerk rarely comes'to the office,
lhat, suppooiir all the three clerks did vegultitly
ctIA 1)111..0n:04y their duty, there he no ne-
qeessity-fOr au extra clerk certainly think that
..the three cietks,,by having nothiagelse to engage
..their attention but their duty at the office, and
'by constant attendance to it, might, be elmbled to
get through the builine4s, • but it would be with
ltery hard fagging ; there is a.; great defii of busi-
Ins., to do : my time, is, frequently 'taken imp for
Joi,:is -in answering persons who come to. ask
,qae4ttoris and seek advice ;in' VarlOtni, ma; ters.
e,r e is one ditty thrown upon its by two icCeitt
1303 or parliament with respect,to the subsistence
of soldiers' .wives and children, and making Out
routes and passes for them; that takes up Altuiit
one person's time. .
Is the attendance of the magistrates at Bow-
vteet regular and ituirorm %—Our Magititratesrer-
tainly cto not consider themselves extictly bound to
theparticular !lours specified for the.attendauce
of the tniiglstrates at the police-offices ; ge-
mrally speaking, t he attendance of the magistrates
at 13ow street I> regular. .
In point of fact does one of the magistrates
daily attend at 1 i O'Cludk
; • And again.at 8 'o'clock 'in the evening ?---The
attendance in the moruiiig is Uniform and regular
in the eveving sometimes it happens that they do
• Pot attend J. sOmetimes.it occurs that a magistrate
from, another office will attend for threat; Air,
Nitres some time ago was in a very bad state of
health, beJs better north and ationtoled so late as
last night ; but when lie Was its ill health he some.
times 'absented himself in the evening, and got a
magistrate to attend for
Is not the attendance" of thoie magistrates who
fluty' be considered as volunteer magistrates, re-
, .
temng no salary, 'more regular than the attend.

Knee of the inaiistrates who are paid by'the pub-
anti I beg to state,-that the magistrate
Who attends in en evening occasionally for him
whose turn it 'is, is generally either one of our
iii:Vo; or •one,of the police miikistrates ; we have
'.'s!ety littit'attendanetkindeed at our office of fu
reign pagistrates. •
Does it ever happen that a person it kept under
rliarge all night,- in consequence of „there, being
uo'magistrate-in attendance to receive the
1110ioTt against him ?—.lt is possibreimeh w thing
may Bays havpened, but 1 tro not know of any
insrance,of it, within my Own recollection.
Were von in attendanCe on Wednesdarthel76
.of April last Cannot bring to my recollection
-whether I tivns or not Wetiiiesthiy is one of

the days of Mr. Nares's attendance, and I think
it possible
ithift In the evening there might be no
magktrate ttiere.

,
So pat
.rt might have happened that a person
who Ira,/ 'taken up at lour o'clock on liTednesday.

OtternnotrOas nbt examined before a magistrate

till hittreen iw6 and three on Thursday

• - •
plight lfappeo :. but the lateness of the eNamina-
tint, On Thursday could nut arise from the non-

—• .
attention-at of a magistrate. It very often hap-
pens, where prisoneri tire taken in an afternoon,
that their examination cannot be gone into in the
evening, the officers not being able to procure
the attendance of the necessary witnesses so
soon ; therefore, though, the magistrate might be
absent, stud ttie prisoner remain in custody, it

does not necessarily follow thatit was occasioned
by the- absence of thelnagistrate.
You must be aware that, though 'it does not
necessarily follow, be could not be exaniincd it
there was no magistrate ?—Certainly.
And you are also aware that it. is the duty of
the magistrate to be there ?--Certainly, .
Do you recollect wher.er the saine thing happen-
-61 A few days previons,,in the preceding week ?
That cannot say. •
In poiotof tact, is it not. a circumstance of
.Cominott occurrence, to4thete is not thavattend-
due* Laatthem 0ep....,ht to be, ,on the.
part of the ii )1,,.e magistrate, ?—The only nights
that I tttt Aware of any thing like it having
happened, are the nights that I have already men-
tioned, when Mr. Narei should have been there,
anti another magistrate has not attended for dine;
awl therefore it has happened that there has bean
a White of attendance sometimes ia an evening.;
PUBLIC-HOLTI •
• Are yon.at.all cone:N.lfeet with the licensing of
poblie-houses at Bow-street the district that
'is licensed at Bow-street, I 'ant so far concerned
as to he joint licensing clerk with the vestry
clerks of the respeoive parishes we license at
;Bow-street ; which are, Lite parishes of St. Cle-
nient-Danes, St. N1ur..41,1e-Strattil, bt. Pant Covent-
gurden, and the liberty of St.Martitt's-le-grand.
%Vita, pains, are taken, prior to the granting of
the license, to ascertain that the person petition-
ing for a new license is tote to whom stick lieense
ought to be granted ?--It has very rarely hap-
•ienedthat any new license has been (;ranted
within the district of Bow-street ; the magistrates
are,aoxions lather to lesSeu the untidier, of pnitli6
houses Ilrln to increase them. IVhen person
applies for a license, 'it by petition; he stares
his name, residence, tiade• or business, anti what
nisi reatonts fife for wishing to take'a public-house;
and sometimes, also the'inbabitants send: a me-
Morial, stating that the house I' necessary'''. un-
nessary, , as the case may he : anti the. magistrates
inquire into all the particulari, and exercise their
discretion upon the subject.
Are the certificates generally signed by the
clergyman of the pal Hi, or by the parishioners ?
—I think they are generally signed by sonic of
the parish officers, trod some of the parishioners
who are substantial housekeepers; in• bourse in-
stances the clergynntn• signs, but generally the
Qversvel:s and churchwardens, and some respect-
able inhabitants.
Are you aWare that it is stated
,by Mr. Coign-
boun, that it. is a Common practice for the beadle
to get the certifitAte of the clergyman, he (the
beadle) receisittg a fee of half-a-crorvu,' and that
those certificates are given as a matter of course
—No, I urn not atm e of any such practice, nenr
does it existiwthedistriet I have any, thing-lo d'o
with ; we never grant a license, or even a trans-
fer, without sendiog. for the vestry. clerk, who
regularly attends, and states that the inhabitants
arc 4:11.6fie1l wirlr the account they have had ofthe
incoming tern6t. ,
Are you not aware at the office of the, existence
of !natty houses whichttre known by the name of
1! lusts-house sr" where there is a
,nightly assem-
blage of bad and low people of both sexes ?—No,
I do not knots of any in our district.
IVI:Tt? you not away e of it house •in ilose-street,
Covent-garden, against which complaints wet e
matte at the and against which a preunt-
'mot was made by, the magistrates at .Clerken-
alluded to, I apprehend, is the
sign of the rinse, siruatein the parish of St. Mar-
tin-in 46e-fields ;I am aware of Complaints ltav-
ing been-made against it : it 'was kept by a man
of the name of Kelly, of bad character, mid

%vas understood that it was frequented.by
per pelsons'i the license was taken away it hos
' been since granteti 'to another person.' and I be-
lieve the house now is a very well-regnlated bonsc,
yon take upon yourself to say, -that 'with-
in your,-district theye are no houses such as have
been deser;bl-d; in Which' nightly, meet thieves,
persons of the most notorious character, tit both
sexes, • in n, hie!), they live, and whjel! they I)”
as their dwelling-house ; and where the Bow..
street officers go when they wish to look after
a thief, knowing that there ale Ilia haunts ?
To tire first part of the wiestion, No, there are
none in our district. There Is a 1100 e, the
norest.. I know any thing of, known by the
name of Tin ‘Vilvat Sheaf, in Drury-hue, situ-
ate in ; we hare :no.
thing, to. do with the licensing of that, but I know
that the. Hector was taken away some time ago,
and that. the parish indicted the occupier for keep-
ing a.tlisornerly house ; the holm was afterwards
relicensed, "and there has heel) a, change of tenants
since :. tha,ve not heard of complidtits he-
ing made against it, but I have reason to believe
that it is now nearly as had as ever. I do not
know of any of our, officers going and associating
with the.cempany there.
The'question is,, whether they do not.go there,
knowing that ,tbere they shall,tind,their prey ?—I
hatT no reason to:hmlieve that .thry do.
An. you mean to say that the police-officers of
Ilow-street do not- know that there are particular
public 11011$V6 which the thieves.itt the metropolis,
isliose character and whose .perbons they know:,
frequent ?,---Certainly there are houses, in the mer
that the office's must know, and do know,
are, frequented by tbivesi
Shoup! you not think, sufficient,ohjeettoh
to warrant the magistrate. refosinz2the renewal of
a license for the masters of 'those houses, that the
in.itses themselves are receptacles for thieves
ellost undoubtedly.; I should think that when it
wastestablished before the. magistrates, that the
house Was. frequented hythieves,and pers'ons of ill
fame, or,that the house was many other re,pept a
disorderly house, that the magistrates would con,
sider it a sullicieFit.gronnti.tpr refusing the license.,
,Do yout,not know that nightly. in the neigh-
hourhood of ,Drury-iarteand Cument4garilen,. all
the small publichonse: and gitt-411tops, of which
there are Many, are scenes_ :of, theitrcatt,lt de
baucheryr.!---No, J. tiu ,not know it ;,neither I
think the fact it au,,be
Did you .ever pass on an evening, through nnY
of the_strects. or alleys, in
.whicil these public-
houses are situate ?—I have passed onliVeteningl
through all the streets and alleys in the neigh-,
bourhood of Covent-gerdep,
.and certainly there
arc many houses open, and there is more bustle in
that part of the town than in other parts, ia cuni, .

sequence of. the viciuity to the theatres : antLe
great number of persons employed at the theatres,
labourers, mechanics, and others, go to those
public houses for necessary refreshment after their
husiorsi is done. •

Is it flat a mattct of public notoriety, that those
houses arc the receptacles of every species of vice
certainly not.
Do you consider it as a pert of the duty of the
Bow-street patrole to clear the streets and the
market of disorderly people during the night
Disorderly people" is such- K 1,-entral.term, that
.I hardly know how to answer; I tttke it a person,
must be doing sonic specific act that will atitho-
.rize the patrole to interfere, before they can sued- '
dle with him.

Do yolk Hot know -the market itself is a place
where boys and women of the town promiscuously
sleep ?—1 never heard of .wonien -of the town
sleeping in Covent-garden market ; I havecer-
tainly heard that hays slept there, nod idle fellows,
and even labourers and porters, previous to com-
mencing their work in the morninwhich begins
as early as three or four o'clock on market morn-
ings.

Then the Committee are to understand you to
tttate., that the public-houses and gin-shops, and
places of that. description; in the neighbourhood
of Covent-garden and Drury-lane, are generally
conduried in a Manner •that meets with the
approbation of the magistracy ?---Perhaps I should
be goim! too far if, I. was to state that they wore
conducted in ft mealier that Meets with the appro-
bation of the magiatreev ; but l have noltesita•
tints in saving-that nothin,-. t•eetres referred
'to have taken place-at those houses,- wit bin my
knowledge; and 1 believe many publicans are ex-
tre:nely anxious to keep their houses as orderly as
possible. When the licence for the Rose was stopt,
some of the people that used to go there went to
another house, the Green Man, and I know% that
the landlord of that house applit d to a magis;rite
for advice as to what means could take to
prevent such people conning to his house. Some
of the houses arc necessarily, kept open to s-
late hoer in the night., from the vicinity. to
the theatres : and the.accortonodation of pecans
frequenting, the, unit ket requires other houses to
Opel) very early in the Winning ; then there is a
description of houses which have sprung up of
late, yeari, ipd arc more mischievous than the
poblic•houses, over which the magistrates
no seminary power—they are 'called coffee-howsts
cir coffee-roonis, and open at I i , 12, or I, at night,.
and remain open during the whole of the niaht
30. that when idle people are drive;; out of the
pablit-houses, they first Mid harbram in. those
'places, anti eats afterwards go to the market-hoaaes,
Art they obliged to take out a license?—No;
there is 'no .lieense at all. • . Even some eating 4
houses or "cool6:shops have got into the way of
keeping open almost all night, iu which'hot vic-
tuals, roast pig, and' joints of meat are provided,
and people, men and women of any description,
are reeeirell'; 1 have seen them open till four in
the morning.
Do they not there-sell liquor ?—No, not soiri-
Nous liquors ; they sell spruce beer and ginger
beer, and those sort farthings. .
Have you ever had anyeomplaiuts at your. office
of Any disorders at those houses ?—Yes.
What steps were'then taken ?--We sent a party
of our parole with a search-warrant, and took
thewhole of the peo-ple found there at a late hour
in the eight into etstody,. considering that they
.eitme,tinder the dent iption. of idle and disorderly
persons, and such as 'they would be authorised by
their, warrant to apprehend.'
Were any of them in the situation of reputed
ahieeeso, I do not recollect that they were-
What did you do with the parties —'
brow brought before the Mugistrate the next Morning;
a arek,i proportion of them wete discharged;
ulna not sure whether any were list! tee bail !..some
stated that they were journeymen Printers, and
that they were eniployed'on the morning papers,
hich required eurly'aftendarrce ; some said they
were 'fisbutimgers'' men, 'going to 'Billingsgate y
Had a variety:, of accounts were: givetilti-others.
bey all Sitid,,that seeing the boase open, they
went in for refreahment. 1 think the worriers
taken amoaigst them were sent to prison.
There is t Statute in 54 George 111. (cap. 37),
in which it
,is provided, s' that constables may
apprehend suspected persons, that is, persOns
ill fame or reputed thieves ; and if such person or
persons, shall not be able to give a satisfactory
count' of theinselves, 'the Magistrate shall have
the power of committing them to the House of
Cart ection.." -
IS that Act often acted upon in your Wilco--
Yes, daily almost : but it requires three, things
to convict a nnio halter 'that Act.; he most first
be e 'reputed ti)iel,--be must be found in one of
placca the Act deseribes,'—then lie must be
.prOVed to he there with an' intent to commit fe-
.lfrity upon the Persons or propertrof 1114 Majesty's
subjects, and not be ableAti Five a Satisfactory
account of himself or of hitAvay of living. ,
!rhea one Magistrate can commitlsitu to gaol ?
—Yes, if he. does tun appeal et the 'titne of eon-
:eh:6om, and offer bail ; and as there is no frac-
tion of a day in this reSpect, he has the whole
day t'o,proCure bail; but if lie does not offer bail
till afterwards, we tlo not accept it.
Gan yon State to the Committee the number of
persons whom the Magistrate:, ittßow-street have
conitnitted within the last year under:this act
No, I cannot from memory. •
Shoold yon' think a considerable number
yes ; I 'should think there are some committed
to every sessions; perhaps, on the average, four
or five to each sessions, 'there being eight sessions
.
in the'year.

Do you believe that infortnations are ever laid
against the keepers of public-Louses; in order to
extol t iniffley (tom them 1-1 am not aware of it ;
that has never apileared from any cases brought to
the ofh-ce in Bow-street.
Do yo.on believe that offences to any extent are
contiuitted in the licensed houses that are not
heird of at the l!olice Office ?—No, 1 do Rot be-.
lieVe there are,

Polon believe those houses which are the re-
bort of thieves and loose characters assist, -or
otherwie, the police in the detection of thole
thieves ?--1-Ithink that in some measure they as-
-sist ; not but that the evil tendency of-them more
than counterbalances any gooci they do but they