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137
Such a disproportionate representation was obvious, and it
was only necessary further to refer in the memorial to the comparatively
small expense and the few contests in the Election of
Vestrymen by wards, while the Election of the Guardians of the
Poor, although there may be only two or three nominations above
the number of Guardians required, necessitated voting papers
being served on, and collected from, about 35,000 (formerly about
7,000) ra'epayers ; and that precedents were afforded, for such a
division into Wards as was required, by similar orders which had
been made separating into Wards for the Election of Guardians,
the Parishes of St. Mary, Islington, St. Mary, Lambeth, St.
Leonard, Shoreditch, St. Marylebone, and St. Matthew, Bethnal
Green—St. Leonard, Shoreditch, having a population of only
126,565, and St. Matthew, Bethnal Green, 127,006, while Camberwell,
as has been stated, has over 200,000.
On the 11th of November, 1886, a Deputation of the Members
of the Vestry attended, with Mr. A. A. Baumann, M.P., and
Mr. J. Richards Kelly, M.P., at the Local Government Board in
support of the Memorial, and was received, in the unavoidable
absence of the President, by Mr. Long, one of the Under-Secretaries.
Mr. Middlemass ably expressed the views of the Vestry,
and it was ultimately decided by the Board that Mr. Headley,
one of its Inspectors, should hold a local enquiry into the subject.
On the 13th of December, 1886, the Enquiry was publicly
held in the Vestry Hall, and on the 1st of March, 1887, the Board
issued their Order, which, for future reference, I have deemed it
advisable to quote verbatim :—
" 21,169 (1st March, 1887.)
" Election of Guardians : Dividing Parish into Wards.
"PARISH OF ST. GILES, CAMBERWELL.
" £0 ffje (CnwrMans uf ffjc $>001} of the
Pabish of St. Giles, Camberwell, in the County
of Surrey ;—