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this Vestry with the slightest rebuff, and therefore I fail to
see how any man could say "he had met with rebuffs
at every turn he took." I for one, at least, am at a loss
to see the truth of the remark. And, more than that,
the Vestry had gone out of its way in enabling him to
carry on his work, for, at the request of the Sanitary
Committee, it had given them unlimited power to carry
out the provisions of the Nuisances Removal Acts. And
yet the Vestry of Clerkenwell is to be held up to ridicule
by those whom, I believe, did so from interested
motives. But Sir Charles Dilke stated at that meeting,
or at any rate in the House of Commons, that
"There existed in the Clerkenwell Vestry a combination of
"publicans, house-farmers, brokers, and money-lenders, who con"trolled
and regulated all that was done."
That is a matter of which I am somewhat ignorant, and I
have no doubt that those who supplied Sir Charles Dilke
with his information have more knowledge of brokers
and money-lenders than I have. And I am free to
confess that in all my business life it has not been my
custom to play the part of Paul Pry, in order to
ascertain the business of those with whom I have
worked. Apart from seeking to appreciate their
capability for, and earnestness in public duty, I have
sought to know nothing, but have been willing to cooperate
with them from the very fact that they, too,
have been anxious to do something for the public good.
It does seem a very strange thing that, in the House
of Commons, Mr. George Russell, the Parliamentary
Secretary of the Local Government Board, made the
statement, as reported in the Times of the 9th instant,
and other papers, relative to the Committees of the
Clerkenwell Vestry, that
"In the Parish of Clerkenwell, in each of the five Committees, a
"large majority were house-farmers, or closely connected with
"them. In the Finance Committee 10 out of 15, in the Works
"Committee 15 out of 20, in the Assessment Committee 15 out of
"20, the Parliamentary Committee 6 out of 15, and in the Sanitary
"Committee 9 out of 20 were house-farmers."
I will simply say that his statement is untrue. What
was stated in the House of Commons on the previous
evening? Having told the exact numbers (what they