Star.
London, England, 1822-10-03 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

Maxstow-licarsz.—Eduserd Mit a butcher, was Charged on
suspicion of having cut a usiusit ease in tux with a knife.—J.
Williams, who attended with his nose strapped up, stated that
he was a carman, ancLwas attending Leadenhall Market, when
he had an altercation with the defendant, of which two tremen-
dous blows from the latter was the consequence. Witness fell
to the ground in a state of insensibility. Upon recovering his
senses, be found the blood streaming from him, and his nose se-
parated, as if by a sword. Neither the witness, nor any other,
however, saw any instrument in the band of the butcher ; and a
surgeon deposed that there were three distinct lacerations on the
nose, which might have been inflicted by the knuckles, although
the blow must have been extraordinary. The defendant, who
said he had used only his fists, was committed in default of bail.

GUILDHALL.—Saar PATIONACIL---Ned, otherwise Milkr Dou-
glas, charged with fraudulently obtaining money, under pretence
of procuring a situation in the East India House, for one J.
Curtis, as already noticed in the STAN was brought up yester-
day before Sir J. SHAW, Bart. the Sitting Alderman, for final
examination.
The charges against Douglas were, obtaining a 45 note, under
pretence of payment for tees upon Curtis's appointment ; the
forging several letters purporting to be the band-writing of a Mr.
Hudson, notifying Curtis's appointment, acknowledging the re-
ceipt of the tees, &e. Bcc. and the obtaining of a further sum of
Ale for a pretended treat, to be given Oir his appointment, to
the clerks of the home.
Curtis was first examined, and deposed to the receiving a letter
which was produced, giving an account of the pretended dinner;
and suggesting. iu what way the amount, said to'be a.few shillings
short of £l4, should be remitted. He accordingly paid that sum
Into the Lewes Batik, and procured a bill, payable at sight, upon
the house of Sir J. Esdaile and Co. to Millar Douglas, Esq.
which be inclosed to the prisoner. The bill was produced and
sworn to by him as the one be so 'remitted. lie also swore
that the indorsement upon it, Received thy above, Millar
Douglas," was the prisoner's hand-writing.
There are three gentlemen of the name of Hudson, brothers,
upon the establishment. each of whom severally deposed that the
letter signed Hudson was not of their hand.writing.; that they
never received a note inclosing £5 from Curtis ; and that they
never attend..d, or before heard of, the dinner said to have been
given by Colonel Millar, at the Ship Tavern, Leadenhalhetreet.
Mr. Adams, the landlord; had previously deposed that no such
dinner had taken place at his house on the day mentioned.
The £5 note had been inclosed in a sealed envelope, directed
to H. Hudson, Esq. and delivered by a frieud of Curtis's to one
of the messengers, wearing, the badge and livery, at the India
House.
Evidence was called tb prove, that the prisoner, becoming
acquainted with some of the messengers by drinking with them,
was always permitted to enter the lobbies. Letters whlchrame
atter office hours were placed on the window in one of the mes-
sengers' lobbies. From the situation of the lobby, and the foot-
ing which the prisoner had obtained there, it was possible that he
nught have gone there after office hours and taken away letters.
Mr. LAWTON, who attended from the India House for the pro-
secution, intimated, that he would not press the charge of forgery,
but only the misdemeanour of obtaining money Fraudulently.
Sir J. SHAW said it was clear that none of the Company's
servants were in any way connected with the fraud. further than
as they had been made dupes of by the defendant. The offence,
though bailable, was serious, and required heavy bail. The Al-
derman, therefore, ordered the prisoner to hnd two respectable
bail tor .NlOO each, and to enter into his own recognizance. for
£4OO, to appear and answer the charge.
The prisoner's solicitor strongly objected to this bail, as exces-
sive. It was nut altered, and the prisoner in default was com-
mitted to prison.
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Losarru-tram.—Mr. Jolan Roberts, a brker, residing in
Phillip-street, St. George's in the East, appeared to articles of
the peace exhibited against him by a Mis. Harmson, a neighbour
and customer of his, who now displayed a &stemma, aid a pair
of black era.
It appeared that chancing to go into a.pnblic-house on Mon-
day evening, she was accosted there by the defendant, who was
sitting in company with some loose girls. She told him that was
not the conduct which a married man ought to pursue, and said
she would, as soon as she got home, depict the whole circum-
stance to his wife • upon which be jumped from his scat, and by
me blow disfigured her face as It now appeared.
The Magistrate said It was Seery gross assault, but that the
complainant did not appeal in a very amiable character. How-
ever, the defendant should either find ball or make her some
moderate compensation for the injuries she sustained.
The complainant then demanded 203. for each black eye, and
ss. for her eroktenne; which defendant thinking exorbitant, re-
fused to pay.
His Worship was of opinion that ss. alone were sufficient, to-
gether with paying the expense of the warrant.
The complainant refused to accept of tbs sum proposed by the
Magistrate, and he ultimately discharged the warrant, telling her
if she chose she might indict the man at the &salon&
Maat.soacrunts-inuay.--Ceptrein Minis was charged with

assaulting J. Jones, a porter Oat one of the gambling-houses in
Thy altereatiam arose from the porter touching one
of the balls while the Captain was playing. Conceiving the coo-
duct of the former very insolent, the Captain seized a chair to
knock him. down. This was wrested from him, but be neverthe-
less got the porter to the ground. The Captain, who had lost a
considerable sum lately in the house, in his defence nerd th.it
I be could not have entered into such a squabble without extreme
provocation. Another of the porters; however, confirmed the
Sault, and the Captain waa ordered to find bail.
Qintini-atinaaa.—.Stesinso.--A bokillrhut 17 or to years of
age, who said his name was• George and that he lodged
with a dyer is an alley in Brick•lane, Oiditreet, was brought

It appears by. the Report of the Parliamentary
Committee on the Poor Laws, that on the average of
the years 1783, 1784., 1785, just after the clo,e of the
American war, the amnunt of money tamed under
the Poor-rates was in round numbers ahoute2,l7o,oooi

the year 1812-13, the People of England ;aid fOur
times that amount ; and last year very neatly four
times; yet the population of the island has certainly
not doubled within the.saine period ; And as there
. does not result froea the tables published any evidence
of a retrogression in the amount if Poor-rate assess 4
ments, from the year 1812 to 1821, except a tran-
sient one in the years 1814 and 1815, afterwards
more than balanced by a rapid and enormous in-
crease, it must be inferred that the progress of paue
perism, since the peace of 1783, hal outstripped that
of our general po ulation in the ratio of more than
two to one. The COmmittee tale credit lot a sensible
diminution in the Poor-rates of the year ending
March, 1821, as compared with that of the year pre&
ceding ; and calculate the reduction, at an averages
throughout the kingdom, of about five per cent: We
wish to go a little farther into this part of the subject:
In the year 1812-13, when wheat stood at 128. per
quarter, the gross sum levied under the Poor-rates
was short of £8,700,000. The sum raised du.ingthe
year ended March, 1821, was upH arils of £8.44X),003
••••I palpable reduction according to the C minittee
but in the latter year, wheat x% as oily 62, BJ.—six-
pence, therefore, would buy more bread in 1821 than
a shilling in 1813 ; and by that rule (-cuing .iside an
increase of one tenth in the population for apse seven
years?, the Poor-rates in March, 1821, ought not td
have exceeded Et, 00,000 ; and allowing for the in•
crease of inhabitants, the ‘•rttsi.te ought to have been
£5,200,000. Here, then, i. a decided increase of
pauperism in the year ending Match, 1821, as cotr.4
pared with March, 1813, to the amount of more
than three millions stet ling.
But let its try the inference which it has been the
obvious wish of the Committee to establish, by some
more recent data, concluding with those which they
have themselves drawn from the Returns of 1813--20:

The year during which the Poor-rates stood highest
wa., that ending March. 1818, v. hen they reached
the enormous amount of £9,300,(X)0: now they are
£8,400,000. See what a reduction! say Ministers
and their friends. But wheat in the former . car sold
for 90s. 7d. and in 1821, for 625. sd. To find, there-
fore, the just propoitions between these pe. iods, strike
off nearly_ a third floor the nine millions odd thou-
sands, and the remainder would be much short of six
minions and a half for that year, which it forms the
boast of the Committee has not exceeded
so the price of wheat in that same yea-, 1819.-qO,
over which the Committee have affirmed so striking
an improvement on behalf of the last year eliding
March, 1821, was 69:;.—in the last, 625. which pro.
portion ought to have reduced the Poor.' ates, not
merely five per cent. as they ale described by the
Committee, but nearly thirteen per cent. or nearly
£1,100,000; whereas the nominal, ..i eduction was
£300,000, and the real increase neat ly
So much for the allega,ii7n that the Pooi.iates, down
to March, 1821, had been diminished. Now, with
regard to the second head of inquiry, viz, the pro-
portion between the sums actually given to the poor,
and those which, under the name of Poor-rates, and
otherwise, and often, we are afraid, improperly, divi
posed of—it appears, that in the last year for which
Returns have been exhibited, the pay men,* made "for
other purposes than• the relief of the poor"—that is
(although the Committee have forborne through de-
licacy to say so), for all purposes under which em-
bezziement, malversatioo, or gi oss improvidence, may
be cooprehended—amoUnt to rather more for Eng:
land generally than sixteen per cent. on the gross as.
sessments. In. Wales, the same desoriptioa of charges
`average less than fourteen per cent.—but in the difa
term counties of England, a sti iking and marvellous
fisproportion is observable; as for Instance, in Che.;
shire those sums from which the poor derive no be-
nefit, amount to 22b per cent. upon the whole; in
'Lincoln, 23 per cent. Rutland, 26; and Lancashire,
3,1, 1 While in other counties, as , Devon, they are
k less than 10, and in Sussex little more than nine per
tent. . Now, when such a rrodigious difference of
pressure is inflicted on the Public for the identical
same account, it would be of extreme inlet,' tance to
scrutinize how much of the excess rebore the average,
in those counties where excess to so great a degree is
found,. might be fairly ascribed to vicious or erro-
neous practices un the part of the Overseers, or other
Public Officers; the names of these charges may lead
intehigent individuals to guess the.tacilltres which
they afford for tnaladmicistration--s" Expenses at
law, and expenses of attending Just`
removals—salaries of Assistant Ow
bf erecting or repahing Aurkhous
aad

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Justices--chArge of
)ierseers—expentes
*es, or other -build-