The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-03 00:00:00

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.

The Lord Mayor, in compliance with the resolu-
t►ons passed at the commencement of last July by the
Markets' Committee, and referred to by Mr. Hicks,
the Chairman of the Committee at the Mansion
House, issued orders on the subject of Bartholomew-
fair yesterday.
His Lordship intimated to the public that he should
proclaim the fair on Saturday, at twelve o'clock,
without the customary state ceremonies: He will
walk in plain clothes, accompanied by a few of the
members of the household, to that part of Smithfield
which is called Cloth-fair, and, as there will not be a
single show, or wild-beast exhibition; or roundabout,
or swing, it is expected that there will be a very shy
assemblage of people to hail his appearance. The
Markets' Committee having sent round to the
owners of booths with the intelligence of the deter-
mination to check this nuisance altogether, and
having inclosed to them copies of their resolutions to
that effect, no applications were made to them for
ground, except in a few instances, and these instances
were confined to gingerbread stall-keepers, who
rashly undertake the hazard, and will, in the opinion
of the Corporation, be losers by the enterprise.
The fair is to close on Tuesday night, at eleven
o'clock, when all the public-houses will be cleared.
The respectable publicans of the neighbourhood are,
we are given to understand, very much gratified
with the course adopted by the Committee to abolish
the nuisance, according to the advice and opinion of
the City Solicitor some time ago in that gentleman's
Report, elaborately given in the proceedings of the
Court of Common Council.

INIPORTANT TO STEAM-BOAT

PASSENGERS.

A case of much interest to steam-boat passengers
was decided yesterday before the Lord Mayor. The
following is an abstract of the evidence.
William Newton, captain of the Vesta, Gravesend
steam vessel, was summoned under the following
circumstances :

William Nicholl, a shoemaker, accompanied by
thirteen other mechanics, appeared to complain of
the conduct of the captain. The witness said that he
and a friend went on Sunday last on board the Med-
way steamer to go to Gravesend, and paid a shilling
each at the Old Shades Pier, for which sum, as the
tickets they received intimated, they were to be
brought hack from that place to London. The
s,)ecified time for the departure of the vessel from
Gravesend was six o'clock in the evening, and he and
his friend, determined to be punctual, repaired to the
spot at half-past five, but to their surprise they were
prevented by some men, who were evidently
employed by the owners of the steamer, from
going on board, and even from setting a foot upon
the pier. The touters, however, told them
that they would go on board the Vesta, which be-
longed to the same Company, and would convey them
to London, according to the terms on the printed
bill, handing them at the same time copies of the
Vesta's bill, which stated that the fare for the fore
cabin was ninepence. They, along with a great many
other persons, got on board the Vesta, in the firm
expectation of being conveyed to town without fur-
ther charge, but when they approached London the
captain demanded of them a shilling each, and they,
together with a multitude oF other passengers, were
actually detained on board from nine o'clock kthaet
alarm
till half-past eight the next morning. As the rain
and thunder and lightning was very severe,
and inconvenience experienced, especially by the
women and children, was be and description. One
poor woman fainted, and another was obliged to con-
vert her flannel-petticoat into a blanket for her infant.
Here the witness produced the bills in corroboration of
his statement.
Captain Newton—They were distinctly told that
they must pay a shillinc, each, and there is a placard
in the vessel giving thaCinformation.
The LORD MAYOR—But why did you prevent the
poor people from going on board the Medway ? This
is a most palpable and cruel deception upon the public.
Captain Newton said that the persons who were
said to have handed the bills of the Vesta to the pas-
sengers were not employed by the proprietors of that
vessel to supply the information.
The LORD MAYou—How ridiculous it is to en-
deavour
to make me believe that these men would
take the trouble to tout for the Vesta, without being
employed to do so.
Captain Newton—lf these complainants were put
to inconvenience, it was their own fault.

The witness said he would put it to the common
sense of any man, whether it was probable that a
number of people would willingly stay on board all
night. When they were permitted to go ashore, they
were obliged to pay a waterman for landing them.
Captain Newton said that the occurrence com-
plained of was an every night's occurrence, and that
such persons as the complainants were always at
work to get their passage for nothing. Numbers of
persons paid the low fare to Nicholson's boats, which
were in the habit of taking passengers for a shil-
ling each to and from Gravesend, and they after-
wards tried to get to town in the Vesta, under pre-
tence that it belonged to the same Company, whereas
they knew there was no connexion between the boats
in question.
The LORD MAYOR—Depend upon it I shall not
allow this matter to drop here. It shall be tho-
roughly investigated. Who is the managing director
of the Vesta ? Captain Newton—Mr. Howard.
The LORD MAYOR—Perhaps you act under orders
from that gentleman. I must see him, and hear his
explanation.
Mr. Howard accordingly appeared before his Lord-
ship yesterday, and Mr. Hobler having read over the
evidence given on the former day, said, in reply, that
Mr. Birnie knew and -transacted the business of the
Vesta for him, and could explain.
The LORD MAYOR—Putting out of the question the
unfairness of the transaction in which the poor people
were called upon to go into the Vesta instead of re-
turning by the Medway to London, your bill states
that 9d. is the price of a passage for every day except
Sunday.
Mr.-Howard said that the confusion was occasioned
by the mistake of his printer, who had received in-
structions to insert the price of the passage at a shil-
ling a head, as the large placard represented..
Mr. Birnie stated that the tickets got by some
means or other mixed and confounded together, and
that the cheap boats caused indescribable and intoler-
able anoyance and trouble. He had frequently been
obliged to take passengers to the station-house for
having refused to pay, and he uniformly found that
the addresses given were false, so that there was not
only trouble but loss.
The LORD MAYOR—It is quite impossible that you
can get over this mode of distributing your bills at
Gravesend. The deception is quite evident, and my
advice to you is, that you will enter into an ar-
rangement with these poor people, by which you
may make amends to them for their loss of time, and
for the hardship to which they were subjected.
Mr. Howard conserted ; and the passengers, of
whom there were thirteen or fourteen, expressed
' themselves satisfied, and grateful to the Lord Mayor
for his prompt and effective interposition.

THE WEATHER.---The very clear atmosphere with
which we have recently been favoured seems to have been
peculiarly conducive to the excellence in Photographic
miniatures. Among a thousand portraits of the nobility
and gentry taken at Beard's establishments during the
last month, there has been scarcely a temporary failure.
as extraordinary like-
expression of ap-
or
and iyitprAvements
nTehses
eesxhc
aelvlee n cmeoorfe
tthhaens eonoo portraitswo n u
Af delineation a beauty and
hpraoyveal
added; but t s
tui li)esic>rq
aupeenntr
advi c o veri es
peffection in their finish equal to line engraving, and
which can scarcely fail to stamp them as first-rate speci-
mens of art,

Tn COPINTY VPIEns.--rThe Reform Act requires
that in objecting to county voters a notice must be
served, on or before the 25th of August, on the person
Objected to, or left at his place of Modet RA described in
the list of voters, or personally delivered to his tenant in
occupation of the premises described in such list. The
list of objections will be fixed on the church and chapel
doors of the parish where the property, is situtttp.,, on
ittnday nev, the 4th Inpfmiti and ou the folloivitig Sun-
day, and may be seen at the house of an overseer ten
days previous to the 15th of September. Persons, there
fore, who reside at a distance from the property for
Or they arp 01011111, rPflupst their' tenants
to orward any ndtice left with them, as, except in places
where there is an agent ernl3l°Yecl, they have no other
means of receiving the inforniatiion. The time at which
the Barrister visits the Yari°F `ll2trict§, )yhich {nest be
betlyeen the 15th
ofsotbinber dna 'tfl.6 25th of October.
is made known by advertisement in the principal papers
pireulating in the color- .
;1 I a ,Ctil(pf;

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