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order being rescinded, and sought an interview with their
representative in Parliament (the Right Hon. W. H. Smith)
in order to take counsel with him as to the best means of
meeting the difficulty in which they suddenly found themselves.
Other local authorities were equally affected by the new
condition of affairs, and a deputation from various Vestries,
which was organised by the Vestry of Hackney, waited upon
the Home Secretary on the 2nd December, with the result
that the order of the Commissioner was virtually withdrawn,
it being understood that future applications for police
assistance are to be made to the Commissioner direct, instead
of to the local Superintendent as formerly. It would appear
that this alteration of procedure might have been made without
causing inconvenience to the local authorities, and a
temporary cessation of brothel prosecutions throughout the
Metropolis. The Vestry regret that by the issue of the
Order they were compelled to assume an attitude of apparent
antagonism to the Commissioner of Police, the arduous
nature of whose duties they readily recognise, and trust
that the matter will now prove to have been satisfactorily
arranged.
The Commissioner has, however, succeeded in emphasizing
the anomalous position of the Metropolis with regard to the
management of its police. The most insignificant corporate
town outside the Metropolis controls the expenditure and
duties of its police force, but although the ratepayers in the
Metropolis pay exactly the same proportion of the cost of
its police as the ratepayers in a corporate town, their elected
representatives have had to seek the aid of one of Her Majesty's
Ministers to obtain the occasional services of a constable to
watch a house suspected to be carried on as a brothel, notwithstanding
that the protection of public morals is generally
assumed to be a police duty.