The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-12-31 00:00:00

TOXTETII-PARK.

TN a publication of the evidence taken before the Commis-
sioners of Inquiry, commencing on the 4th day of Novem-
ber, 1833, into the affairs of the Corporation of Liverpool, we
were greatly astonished, and much grieved, to see the evidence
of two of our parishioners, which imperiously calls upon us, the
Overseers, Surveyors, „and Committee for managing the affairs
of the Parish, to rebut the groundless charge made against our
management, and.the moral character of the major part of the
inhabitants; considering that, if it was .not publicly proved to
be without foundation, it would tend to alarm the inhabitants,
and materially injure the property in the Township.
Our worthy magistrate, William Wallace Currie, Esq., in
commencing his statement, says, that from nearly three years'
active experience in the affairs of the Township, the result was,
that there was not only an absolute denial of justice, but almost
entire impunity for crime, from the want of an efficient police,
there being only -four paid constables.—Of there being no jus-
tice to be had in the place, which he Positively states there is
an absolute denial of, we were totally ignorant, the administra-
tion or denial of which resting entirely with him and his bro-
ther magistrates. With respect to there being an almost en-
tire impunity for crime, from• the want of an efficient police,
there being only four paid constables, wo beg to observe that,
in addition to the four stated by the worthy magistrate, there
are fifteen sworn constables, liable to be called at all times to
resider any services that may be requisite, for which they are
paid by the Parish, and which, in candour, Mr. Currie ought
to have mentioned, he having sworn a number of them in. The
crime committed in Toxteth-park, we assert, is not near so
great in proportion with that in Liverpool, when we state that,
for the last twelve months, out of a population of 25,000, there
were only 300 cases brought before the magistrates, being at the
rate of one and a half per cent. ; and it appears that, in Liver
•
pool,dosing the seine period, there were 15,000, being at the
ratio of nearly ten per cent. of the population. From the above
statement it would appear very clearly that our worthy magis-
trate had drawn a very erroneous conclusion of the moral
character of the calumniated inhabitants of Toxteth-park, com-
pared with Liverpool.
Mr. Currie next stated that " there is no Select Vestry, no
Commissioners for paving the streets, and, in short, the affairs
of the Township as at present managed, he would not say
whether well or ill, but they were managed i gally—the ma-
naging body was, in fact, an illegal body." Iris true there is
no Select Vestry, but we have a lawful stitute for it, con-
sisting of the Overseers of the Poor, ap uted according to act
of Parliament, assisted by the Surveyors, and twenty-four
of the inhabitants, chosen annually at a general meeting called
for t he'purpose. It-is also-true that we have no Commissioners
for the Highways, the parishioners not deeming them requisite;
but we have legal Surveyors, appointed annually, who keep
our roads in a state equa 1, if not superior, to any in the vicinity,
and with the greatest economy.
With respect to the bill stated by Mr. Currie to have been
thrown overboard by those who, he says, du rule the Parish,
we, the Overseers, Surveyors, and Assistant Committee, do
affirm, that the draft of the bill was postponed, and not thrown
overboard by a public meeting, called expressly for the pur-
pose of investigating it, the same having been generally ap-
proved of _by the
Overseers, Surveyors, and Committee, pre-.
vious to such meeting.
It is also a matter of the greatest surprise that Mr. Jordan
should have corroborated all that Mr. Currie had stated, as
.well as at the unfounded assertion made by him, that two-
thirds of our inhabitants are the abomination of Liverpool.
Mr. Jordan having been an active member of the Committee
for the last twenty years,- and perfectly aware that it received
the approbation of the inhabitants annually at their public
meetin?,s, we can truly state that, during that period, the Over-
seers, Surveyors, and Committee have been entirely free from
reproach, their conduct being guided by justice, integrity, and
ecanomy, not one shilling of the public money having been
expended for refreshments for themselves, although they have
frequently devoted three nights in the week to the service of
the parish.
The above statement signed by me on behalf of the Over-
seers, Surveyors, and Committee for managing the affairs of
the extra-Parochial Place of Toxteth-park,
PETER FORREST, Chairman.