The San Francisco call., 1906-05-21
COW IS SUBJECT
OF AN INQUIRY
Illustration of the Alb
surdities of Red Tape
in England.
ParliamentGoesInto Rec
ord of Animal Dead
Two Centuries.

LONDON, May 2o.-Brttish Govern
nent business is Just as much tangled
up by red tape as ever It was. Dick
ems IS popularity supposed to have rid
tcu1ed much Of il out Of existence, but
q reality he accomplished very little.
n proof whereof is submitted this
story OF the Purley COW, which has
5ust been made the subject az q Par
Elementary white" paper. "ordered by
me House OF Commons TO be printed" I"
&c 3s duly set forth IN the precious
document itself and printed for his
AEageEty's Stationery once by Eyre
and Spottiswoode, Printers to the
Engs Most Excellent Majesty"
More than two and a quarter CEN
tuS3es ego some charitable person.
whose identity has since eluded SAs
vigilance Of exhaustive Parliamentary
Inquiries, donated TO the poor Of the
pa1aEh OF Purley q nttis village In
Dszarsnzrs. a DOW. valued az sA- which
4 ao0ut $50 IN American money.
Tns COW. which then must have been
6esd about q hundred years. hfst at
taEned national recognition a 17sa In
TIE Parliamentary returns OF that yea<
-prsnted. no doubt; as they are now.
&c fabulous cost-it was recorded
anacng ether interesting and important
de1aEls that there was n the hands o.
rne opeTseer Of the poor OF Purisy the
exm q fs, known as the SPur4ey COW
money! and furthermore that the
orEBeez patd sig shfntngs Qi.6o, a
g0ax &C tneerOst cn the COW money,
vntEh was Distributed "OocaStunzfly'
a3ncog poor WIDOWS.
Ths COW cropped up again tn 1857 N
report made TO Parliament By "the
commissioners appointed tn pursu-
a1cs Of Acts & 6, VIII. ~. q. II. as
confirmed By the Act Z. WI. ". Q. 4,
70 continue me Inquiries concerning
ChaF4etes q England and Wales Cvol.
81 Part / page sas)." According to
COW VIA st1n yielding $50 a year.
The COW continued 60 Eleep IT'S last
stsep undisturbed for e quarter Of
century. but IN 1852. n another report
on local charities. there appeared this
s1arning entry
Locality and designation Of charity
Purlsy, COW money. Total former In
comets. Obesrvatdons-Lost
But, strange 10 relate, this started
no hue and cry n Parliament 20 dis
cover what had become Of the lost
Purley COW money. The American
civil war was then absorbing public
attention For nearly another half
century the PurIey COW was forgotten.
Then. II IL supposed. some member OF
Parliament, browsing among the old
records, came across the above entry.
and saw therein a brilliant opportunity
to justify his election BY starting an
inquiry % ascertain how the money
was lost, ane why n could not be
found again, and when the poor old
cow died, and what II died OF. and
various other things that the Jealous
legislator deemed Of trangcendent i'm
portance. So he set n motion the ma
chinery provided by "Act s & 6, Win.
", @. H." and all the rest Of H.
n due time the official wheels be-
gan to go round, and there followed a
lot OF correspondence with the parish
authorities at Purley. That proving
unsatisfactory, q $1,000 q year assist
ant commissioner OF charity to0rnsyed
20 Pru9ey first oiass-hts travettnE and
hotel expenses are paid by the Gov
ernment-and summoned ell the parish
ofhcfais TO a solemn inquiry into the
matter which was held IN ths village
schooiroom. Oaths were admfnIEsersd
md evidence taken. and no doubt the
air round about was electric with ex-
csement It rs hardly conceivable that
the Puriey COW itself, when slive oveT
6cund sensation
N his report the Asststant Oommis-
Eioner OF Charity recapitulates every
Gh1ng that Parliament had previously
done 70 revive the memory Of the COW,
BE concludes by stating that IN 1881
Edward Sherwood. as overseer OF the
poor OF Purley, was tie custodian Of
The ~ cow money. '61noe his death,
he ADDS. there has been no payment.
a16 the money cannot be traced, but
II Is sa3d that his descendants can.s
That leaves the door open for sou,a
rusRy ofncss1 OF tnquisitive NJ. p. TO
revuFect the COW, at any time IN the
neaF or remote future by demanding
70 Do Informed 4 any efforts have been
rada 90 trace the descendants Of Mr..
Sn@wood and n not, why not, and 40
on Meanwhile the taxpayers have had
70 paT large sum for publishing the
r1a0ufouS report But what an illu-
r1fnAdng Light the incident sheds on
tns necessity for sweeping Parlia-
n1snfa-y reforms when such absurd
tr1v1zlft1es can be thrust upon the at
oension Of body Entrusted with the
government Of the largest empire IN
tps worldi The Purley COW deserve.
% be immortalized.