Star.
London, England, 1829-01-21 00:00:00

PRACTICE IN THE ELECTION Olt CONSTABLES.

A practice has existed for a very great length of time
in some of the Wards, which has been the subject 01,
enimadversion repeatedly, but which, until ye-terday,
was believed, like many other bad practices, to be im-
tnottal. It is with considerable ple sure we state that
the ahuse received a death-blow before the Court of
Alder men, who really expressed much indignation at
the existence of it. The following is a shaft history of
what we allude to:
Mr. Bogies, an inhabitant of the parish of St. An.
drew, Holborn, was at the lost Precinct Meeting of the
Ward of Farringdon Without, voted to serve as Con-
stable lir the ensuing year—a proceeding to which he
objected. inasmuch as dive were several other indivi
dues id much older standing in the parish than himself
who had never served, and he thought it rather um ea•
sonabie to require him to precede those upon whom the
Piecinct Nlieting omitted to call. He accordingly
made his objection, upon which the Precinct Meeting
did him the favour to demand of him the sum of ten
guineas, as a penilty for refusing to serve.
Noo , as Air. Rogers by no means relished this mode
of (lisp( sing of his ten guineas, he refused to pay one
fart ing,,and of course the matter came before the
Court of Aldermen. His objection will be collected
from the following statement—Six or seven Gentlemen
bad been elected constables before he was called upon,
and not one of them having any fancy to the office,
would meddle with it. 6. Well, then," said the Pre-
cinct M. eting. " as that is the case, pay us a fine of ten
guineas each of you, and you shall be excused." This
proposal was considered t e less of the two evils, and
they paid the sum demandeJ, so that in a very short
time the Precinct Meeting had 60 or 70 guineas
added to its funds. A person who heard of such fines
would naturally imagine that they were appropriated
to the payment of substitutes; but this has not been
the case. The moment one inhabitant refused to set ve,
the fine was inflicted, and another was called upon, so
that the payment of a fine imposed the disagreeable
duty of constable upon several petsuns years before
any equitable liability could be established against
them. Besides, several of the inhabitants took it into
their hesds, but for what reason he did not know, that
the money collected in this manner from refectory
inhabitants, found its way in some shape or other
down the throats of some few of the persons who were
foremost in enforcing this injurious custom, instead
of being applied to the purpose above alluded to, or to
the truly legitimate use of feeding the hungry and
clothing the naked.
Mr. Room did not at all relish the suspected appro.
priarion. He requested to know in what manner the
fines were disposed of the poor of the parish
were benefi•ted by the imposition, and by what autho-
rity the redact put their hands into the pockets of in-
dividuals : and the answers he received by no means sa-
tisfied his notions of the integrity of the managers of
the business. He was told that the precinct, which was
composed of all the inhabitants, had determined upon
pursuing the system, had made the rule for themselves.
that the fines were not squandered in dinners, or " blows
,out," as bad been calumniously asserted, but were ap-
plied to defray certain contingent expenses tor the liqui-
d mon of which tlt re were no funds in the Ward. He re•
fused to pay, and was then required to support his Ap.
peal before the Court of Aldermen.
The Lotto MAYOR asked Mr. Rogers why he refused
to *etre the office of Constable ?—Mr. Rogers said that
he had what he trusted would be considered adequate
wounds for refusing to serve. He should not have the
tightest objection to .tease in the duties of the Ward, if,
he thought himself called upon irr his proper turn ; but
he had been called upon out of his turn. Six or seven
of ttose w ho ought to serve bef ire he should had been
fitted ten guineas each, and the 54111 C fine was imposed
'upon him, as lie had refused to set ve the duty of con-
stable some years bef ire he could in justice be called
upon ,o serve.
The LOliD MAYOR asked what sight existed for de.
mending fines. He did not comprehend so strange a
proceeding as the ii.flicting of penalties under such cir-
cumstances, anal by such a body.
M ..faveon (one r f the Common Councilmen of the
Ward) said, in reply, that the Ward Precinct had e.tab-
fished the custom amongst themselves, as the most ad-
mirable, in inducing individuals to serve. If there ap-
peared to be asy th.ng objectionable iu the practice, the
anh .bitaiits themselves h.d the blame upon their own
Lead-, As the fines were levied with their approbation.

The LORD Mayors wished to knew in what manner
the sums thus received were distributed? did any of the
produce of the fines go off in dinners?—(A laugh).
Mr. TAYLOR (as well as we could collect) said, that
n pats of the fines had been appropriated to the pay-
ment if dinner bill, this year. There were expenses
arising in the Ward, from the necessity of paying the
collectors of rates, and of defraying the charges for
advertisements. and those wete paid out of the fines,
the appropriation of which. in every particular,
was to he easily ascertained by any of the inhabitants,
as the Common Council of the Ward, who had no-
thing else to do with the matter, kept the accounts.
Them was no abuse whatever in the manner in which
the suns seie distributed.
• The Lord Mayor expressed his surprise at the ex-
istence of such a practice as that of fining. The per.
so s who ought to serve as Constables, should be
called upon to serve, and if they objected, they
must procure substitutes, subject to the approbation,
cf that Ci•uit.
Some of the Conn spoke of the practice as one which
most be immediately abolished; and it was at once de-
(ermined that Mr. Rogeis should be excused from
serving the office of Constable ; that the individual who
stood higfitst on the list should be called upon tourer ;

land that the six or seven persons who had paid the ten
guineas each to be excused should forthwith receive
back the same from the bands of the fine-taker—an
office to be considered henceforward of co efficacy
or avail.

This decision gave the greatest satisfaction, when it
was made known outside the doors of the Court.

WEST PORT MURDERS.

The grounds upon which access has been refused to
Burke, the murderer, we understand, are as follow—
Some days ago, the unfortunate individual, tired of the
importunate intrusions of the numerous visitants who
were continually infesting his cell, intimated to the She-
iff, that, in order to put an end to them, he was anxious
to emit a declaration before him of all he knew, con-
nected directly or indirectly with the recent atrocities.
The Sheriff immediately complied with this request ;
and oa the Sd inst. a document was drawn out, extend-
ing to 19 pages of manuscript, which being afterwards
read over to him, was signed with all due formality.
This document was immediately conveyed to the Lord
Advocate, and a copy of it dispatched to Mr. Secretary
Peel. Subsequently to this, application was made by
Burke to the Lord Provost, in a letter not written but
signed by him, requesting that the Gentleman alluded
to in our last might be permitted to have access to him,
in order to takedown another declaration,which we pre-
sume could be for no other purpose than that of publi-
cation. On receiving this application, the Lard Provost
applied to the Lord Advocate fur his advice; and in the
answer of the Learned Lord, which we have seen, his
Lordship recommends, that as Burke has already de-
clared that he has nothing further to communicate,
any new declaration, if it were not a repetition of
what he had already said, and cons• quently useless,
might by some discrepancies only tend to throw dos
credit on that which had already been taken down with
so much c.tte, at Burke's own request. The Learned
Lord recommended, however, for the satisfaction of the
Lord Provost, that the Sheriff should again visit But ke,
again read over his declaration, and again inquire of
him if he had any thing to alter or to add to it.—
This propo..ed interview tse think should take place,
in presence of the Reverend Mr. Reid, the Confessor
of Burke, that the document may remain unimpeach-
able. It is certainly of some importance that this should
be the case; and if we are right in thinking to, it
may also be necessary to avoid, as far as is consistent
with right and usage, the publication of contradictory
and inconsistent declarations.

From the foregoing. statement it appears that the
Lord Prov:)st, guided doubtless by the advice of the
1.-rd Advocate, takes upon himself the whole respon-
sibility of refusing the admission which had been soli.
cited ; but that responsibility will weigh very lightly it
the public are in any way informed of the nature of the
disclosures which this wretched man may make; and
we think they are entitled to look for such a communi-
cation as soon as prudence or expediency will permit its
being made.—Caledonivu Mercury.