City Dinners.
The Times, 1824-12-29T00:00:00

It vlU be recollected that on St. Thomas's Day, a contest was or- casionedln the Ward of Lime-street, in consequence of a previous refusal having been made by Mr. John Prince, one of the candi. dates, to sanuition theappllcation of the Ward.yates to-the payment of the expenses of the Common Council and Ward -dinners. The expenses of such dinners have commonly been defrayed by an ap. propriation of the rates, and all the candidates, with the exception of Mr Dyster and Mr. Prince, contended in favour of the practice, as tan.tioned, If not by law, at least by custom, which was equal to law. hIr. Prince strongly censured the practice, and contended that every person who dined at any of those entertainments should pay his own share of the expensea, as the usual course was not only il. legal, but grossly and scandalously unjust, although sanctioned by custom. All in 'thie ward were, he argued, compelled to ply their abaare of the expensea, and hut a few comparatively came in for a Oarticipation of the lnxu rie. This doctrine repmed to displease thie elecibrs. Dlr. Prince lest his election by, a considerable majority. f.e, however, was not prevented by that ftitarc, from doing all a canditlate could do to have a question of so extensive and interesting a nature letermined. He thereford.requested Alderman gridgea to forward the following questions to the City golicitor, for his offi. cial opinfon upon them :_ " Can any Ward-rate wrhatever, levied by act of Parlisment for a I specifip pwpose, belegaily applied to any other purpose by the Ca. mon Council of the i4rard ? "W iVll the sanction of the Wardmnote, or of the majority of the inhabitants zf the Ward, render such an application of the Ward. rates valid ? " If the sanction of the Wardmote will not legalize sueli applica. tion of rates wo other parpores than those provided for bv the act, what penalty will the persons tmaking such illegal application incur?" Those questions were forwarded on Friday morning by the Alder- an to the City Solicitor, wh'o next day sent the folowing answer:- " Dear Sir,-T feel mnuch difficulty in ofFering au opinion upn the proposed queries, considered as abstract questions *nor could I venture an opinion upon any particaLar ease, without beiag first fuUly acquaisited.wvith all the cleuiuinsntancea, and weil considered the con- .struction of the act of.. Parliament referred to. "The questions themselves also appear to be of too much import. ance to varrant me, upontmy own responsibility, in promalgating an opinion which, by possibility, might concern the whole city, and upon which I should prefer consulting with the higher legal attain. ments of the superior law-officers of the city-namely. the liecarder and Commnon Serge3nt; but to do which, an order of the Court of Aldermen would be necessary previous to my taking that step. '' I remain, dear Sir, youts most trtuly "Guildhall, 24th Dec., 1824. " W. L. XEWMAN." Sir. Prince is determined, we understand, not to let the matter rest here; and of course he will be aided by the worthy Alderman of his Ward, whose duty it will be to submit the question to the Court of Aldermen, most of whom are, we are convinced desirous to put ali end to a practice of so injurious and discreditahe a nature. In the WVard of Bridge, and in Langbourn Ward, the habit of taking from all the inhabitants to glut the palates of the few, has long been at an end. In those Wards, civic conviviality is maintained by a fund raised by voluntary contrtbution, and those who do not choose to partake of it have nothing to pay. By opposition to some old absurd customs, principally regarding the stomach, a swving of from 7001, to 1,0001. a-year has been established to the CXizeP.s within the last three or four yeats. As might be suppose4. each breach of the esta. blished practice caused a terrible outcry, but at this moment the change i5 felt to be exceedingly beneficial. Should there be any backwasdness in bringing the question to issue in the Court of Aldermen, the inhLbitants of the Ward, in which the gormandizing system is to be upheld, can appeal at the Quarter Sessions against the payment of the rates, and then the queation must be decided. CITY DINNARS.