View report page

94
at a special meeting of the Vestry on the 25th August, and
as the Board had previously appointed a Special Committee,
which was then sitting in public and open to representatives
of the press, to receive evidence and investigate any charges
that might be formulated, the Vestry deemed it premature
at that time to take any action in the matter. No material
evidence, however, being tendered, and the allegations referred
to being couched in such vague terms as to preclude a
satisfactory enquiry into their truth, the work of the
Committee proved abortive. The aspect of affairs being thus
altered, the Vestry considered the matter further, and came
to the determination that an independent enquiry by some
competent authority having power to compel the attendance
of witnesses and the production of documents, was advisable
in the interests of local government. The Vestry accordingly
requested the Home Secretary to adopt measures with this
view, at the same time pointing out that they did not impugn
the administration of the Board, but that the Board might
be hampered in the discharge of the important duties
entrusted to it, if it were suffered to remain under the
imputations which had cast upon it, which imputations had
not been proved, and which the Board had not had any
opportunity of refuting.
Almost immediately after Parliament assembled in
February, Lord Randolph Churchill gave notice of his
intention to move for the appointment of a Royal Commission
to enquire into the administration of the Board. It
appeared to the Vestry that a Royal Commission vested
with only ordinary powers would probably fail in securing
the attendance and evidence of some of the persons who had
been freely aspersing the character of the Board, and while
cordially welcoming the proposed enquiry, they therefore