The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-01 00:00:00

stablishment of another
court, we have not included them in the above

ributed merely

amount.

To meet this expenditure, we find, on the credit
de of the account,—

Received for fees on ma

gisterial

£ s. d.
2953 8 0

business

Do., fines on su

COIIVIC-

ess paid to justices,
poor fund, and collectors of
town and dock rates

tions ;

4883 3 3

Total rec

£7836 11 3
3133 9 11

Deduct expenses a- boN

And we have a balance 0f.... f 4703 1 4
ieing to the borough fund hv the present ma-

giaterial system and e

y
Is Ii went

cient answer to those,
)lishment of a new court
)00 a year, to have
nt court and tnagis-
-3 gs. 11d. ; for, al-
buildings will be re-
sary that we shall, in
tal of nearly £2,000 per
_ eferred giving the above,
inasmuch as it shows that the cost of administering
justice is not a dead loss to the borough fund ; and
warrants the inference which we draw, that the cost
of a new court will be, to a certain extent, repro-
ductive expenditure. Let us come then to the
question as to the probable actual expense of the

It would have he

]o tell us that the.est

involve an expense of f

shown that th cost of t
terial staff amounts t

thougl

quired, it cannot be nec

providing them, incur a YE
have 1:0

annum

But w

w court proposed.
The rent of necessary buildings, salaries of a
expenses of new dis-
patron's salary, and in-
Ire are beyond the mark
and even this

trictbridewell, keeper am
cidental charges, we thin

Piflfl r

amount is arrived at upon the supposition that we
pav for magisterial and other services at a much

gher rate than

The Journal, we

observe, makes the amount £5,600 ; but the esti-
mate altogether is so exag►;erated, that it is scarcely
worth while remarking upon in detail. We showed,
however, last week, that the establishment of a new
would greatly increase the magisterial busi-
ness of the borough, by facilitating access to jus-
tice, and allowing both individuals and the police to
s charges which are now suffered to escape
We shall not be over-estimating if we

PI
notice

calculate upon an increase of one fourth in the
fees for magisterial business and the fines on sum-
mary penalties; and, taking last year's amount for
our guide, we have from this source an amount, in
round numbers, of £2,000. Looking over the sa-
laries paid for the present establishment, and taking
into consideration that we are materially reducing
the duties of the staff there, it will be seen that a
clerk, or two, can be transferred to the new esta-
blishment. From thi3 source, we may save £4OO
per
_annum in salaries; and we have this £2,400
ross amount of £3,500, leav-
t to the borough fund

io deduct from the
Lng £l,lOO as the

f-
of the additional establishment proposed.
This, however, is far from being all that can be
urged in behalf of such a change of system on the
score of its comparative inexpensiveness. During
the last few years, we have been increasing largely
the extent of our police force, with a view to pro-
tect properly our growing out kirts. Last year, cve
paid for superintendents', inspectors', bridewell,
keepers,' and constables' wages, £24,894 I Is. 7d.,
and on the same accoant for the dock division,
£10,674 2s. Bd.,—in all, £35,568 14s. 3d. ; in 1840,
we paid a total amount of £29,596, sheaving an
increase in the six years of £6,000. With the
new dock works going on, and some of them ap-
proaching completion, and.witi the town extending
itself in every direction, we shall be called upon to
incur again a considerably increased coat of police su-
pervision—a cost vastly out ' of proportion with the
trifling outlay.. required for an additional stipendiary

magistrate. Yet we have no hesitation in saying, '
that by pursuing the course which we recommend,
and thus rendering the unties of the police force
more easy, we can stave off the necessity for any
increased cost under this head for three or five
years to come. A dozen constables, with a police
court and a magistrate close at hand, will do the
work of a score of constables who have to go two
or three miles with every prisoner, and spend three
or four hours in procuring a conviction. The
twelve need not on an average be an hour each per
day absent from their beats ; of the twenty, under the
present system, one half of their time is totally lost
to the public. In other words, by the new arrange-
ment we shall have eleven effective men for the cost
of twelve, whilst, by the present, we are getting the
effective services of only ten for the cost of twenty.
We think we may dismiss the question of the
expense of a division of magisterial duties as ut-
terly unworthy of consideration. Before doing so,
however, we may again remind our reader's that the
borough fund is deriving a nett sum of nearly
£5,000 a y ar from the profits of magisterial busi-
ness, and from fines on convictions. How can this
be better or more properly spent than in procuring for
the public speedy justice, repressing crime, and pro-
tecting property ? Surely we are not to have the
magisterial bench made into a source of profit,
until we have the objects, which it was meant to
achieve, fully and effectually accomplished, and such
speedy and cheap justice brought to every man's
door.

Since our last week's remarks, another proposal
has been placed before the public, which is not with-
out its reasonableness, but, in our humble opinion,
is not calculated to meet the emergency in which we
find ourselves. It is said,—Appoint another ma-
gistrate, at a salary of £BOO per annum, to sit either
in the Nisi Prius Court or in the Magistrates'
Room. By this arrangement, the expense of an
additional Bridewell and an additional set of officers
will be saved ; and, by a proper division of labour,
the whole business may be got through in four
hours, instead of occupying five or six. There will
be the advantage, also, that the magistrates can
confer with each other in cases of difficulty. The
great question with the public, however, will be,—
is the temporary saving—for it must be hut tempo-
rary—at all calculated to reconcile us with the loss
of the vast advantages which a bolder and more de-
cided course offers to us ? We are surely not such
a very poor community that we must be startled
from the pursuit of a great public good by the pros-
pect of a few hundreds, or even thousands, to be
expended in the salaries of half a dozen clerks, a
Bridewell, and a few Bridewell keepers. One of
the main defects of our present system is the dis-
tance of the court from the two extremities of the
town. Why should an inhabitant of the Dingle be
dragged away from his house or his occupation up-
wards of two miles to the Sessions-house, to answer
a charge of setting his chimney on fire, or having
his cellar grid unfastened, when he could have the
whole matter equally well disposed of, without going
a quarter of the distance ? Why are two policemen
and hal a dozen witnesses to be brought down from
Windsor to the Exchange for every petty offence
or squabble occurring, when justice could as effec-
tually be done, without having to seek for it further
than the end of Parliament-street ? The advocates
of this plan admit that another magistrate is wanted.
We say place him where he is wanted. They say
arrange and divide cases so as to reduce the time
which people are compelled to lose in attending the
court. We say divide the area within which crime
is occurring, and save the time spent in travelling to
the court by which it is adjudicated upon. The
magisterial business of the borough brings in
revenue; let us have all the convenience possible,
since it is already paid for.
We remarked upon the hardships felt by mer-
chants in the case of dock summonses, in reply to
which our contemporary the Journal remarks that
such summonses are " disposed of daily within an
hour." It may be so occasionally. Often. how-
ever, it is not so. On Thursday last, we believe,
the dock summonses occupied an hour and a half.
One great objection, however, is, that parties have
to go so far to have them thus disposed of, that in
many instances full justice is not done. The time
actually spent in court is not the only time lost. A
witness may be taken from his business half a mile
to give his evidence, who will not so readily be in-
duced to go a couple of miles. The business arising
from our extending line of docks affords, in fact,
one of the strongest arguments in favour of two
courts—one at the north and one at the south.
Ultimately we shall he driven to divide the borough
into four magisterial districts. For the present,
however, the public will probably be content with
two.

The Journal adds, that " two courts would not
be any relief to the police," and that " the whole
business being done in one office contributes greatly
to promote the efficiency of the police force." We
must take leave to differ from him upon both points.
It would certainly be a relief to a policeman living in
the neighbourhood of his beat to be enabled to press
any charge when off duty, within a reasonable dis-
tance of his own home ; and when this is to lie done
whilst on duty, the public would save their length-
ened absences from their beats, by which crime is,
no doubt, materially increased, by the additional im-
punity given to offenders. Our contemporary will
not deny that the arrangement by which the police-
force was formed into two divisions, instead of being
inspected in one body at the Central Station, has
been productive of great goo 1, and great satisfaction
to the men themselves. We believe, if the ques-
tion was left to the decision of the police themselves,
there would be, on this point, a great majority in
our favour. The efficiency of the force, we con-
ceive, would be best promoted by any measure
which would secure them ample and efficient super-
intendence, and allow time to the bench to weigh
properly their testimony, and to form an acquaint-
ance with their characters. Under the present
system the superintendents and inspectors are too
frequently withdrawn, and far too long, by the ne-
cessity of attending upon Mr. Rushton. To a
court with a more circumscribed jurisdiction they
might be readily summoned whenever wanted, and
be immediately upon duty again, scarcely ever losing
sight of those over whose performance of their
duties they have to watch. A district magistrate,
with no more duty to perform than he could effi-
ciently perform, would not have to trust so much to
his own impressions, and to hurry through Lusiness
at the rate witnessed sometimes in the present Cen-
tral Court. He could afford more time to weigh
the credibility of a policeman's testimony when op-
posed to the oaths of respectable witnesses; and the
result would be, so far as the force is concerned, the
weeding out of its unworthy members. The real
" efficiency" of a force is not shown by the mere
number of convictions or of charges, but by the

fact that impartial justice and the repression of
eis the result. It is idle any longer to insist
upon the possibility of Mr. Ru-hton, or any other
man,getting through the mass of magisterial bu-
siness which we shall shortly have. It is admitted
on all hands that we must soon make fresh ap-
pointments, and that, meanwhile, the present
amount of business is not satisfactorily performed ;
that great irregularity and loss of time are the con-
sequence of the present system. Even the Liverpool
Mercury, in a letter from a correspondent, the sub-
stance of which we give elsewhere, tacitly admits
the fact. If we are to make a new arrangement
then, let us do it at once, and do it effectually.
Peddling half measures—mere expedients to stave
off the immediate pressure of a difficulty—are al-
ways the most expensive in the long run, and in the
meantime entail upon those who adopt them incon-
venience and disappointment.
We intended to have said something with respect
to the manner in which the business of the court
could be best divided, arid the police force governed
under a new system. 'We find, however, that we
have not left ourselves space, and must, therefore,
postpone the subject. Before concluding, however,
we may venture to express a hope that we have not
been arguing against a foregone conclusion. Ru-
mour says that the increase of Mr. Rushton's salary
to £2OOO is already determined upon; and rumour
makes very unfavourable comments upon the matter,
to which we shall not give increased currency in our
columns. We trust the fact is not as represented ;
but that there is still an opportunity of adopting a
better considered and a wiser course. The Council
meeting of to-morrow, however, will, perhaps, in-
form us whether the thing is settled or not. We re-
peat that our advocacy of division of the magisterial
business is prompted by no ill-feeling towards Mr.
Rushton. The feeling which prompts us is a very
contrary one. Certainly, we may have sometimes
told the stipendiary of what we conceived to be his
faults ; but we have all along been impressed with a
sense of the vast duty imposed upon him, and the
impossibility, under such circumstances, of that
duty being at all times faultlessly performed. Most