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mation; you have had, I believe, in the Vestry some money
lenders?—We have.
17,859. Have they neglected their duty?—No.
17,860. Have they been oppressors of the poor?—No.
17,861. Have they been as disposed as other people to do their
duty as local government authorities?—Quite so.
17,862. Is not your great difficulty in local elections for a
small parish like Clerkenwell to get a sufficient number of persons
wholly disinterested in local money making to act as members
of your Vestry?—Yes.
17,863. Would that difficulty be lessened supposing that
Clerkenwell, and Holborn, and Bloomsbury were added together
and formed one combination for the purposes of local authority ?
—I should question it unless it was constituted under some other
form and rendered dignified and attractive.
17,864. Would it not be easier to get a sufficient number, and
would there not be a greater inducement to persons of the
middle class to serve?—Am I to understand that supposing the
same number of men that now constitute the Clerkenwell Yestry
were constituted into a board representing a much larger area
the difficulty of obtaining proper men to serve would be lessened
by the total number being lessened ? that is to say that, supposing
there were 72 members to constitute the board for a
much larger area than Clerkenwell, would the difficulty be less
in getting better men to make up that 72 than it now is in
Clerkenwell ?
17,865. Yes?—That is very difficult to answer.
17,866. Is it not a fact that in Holborn and in Bloomsbury
there are perhaps two score men who are specially fitted for such
duties and specially active?—Yes.
17,867. If you added them to the same number in Clerkenwell
would you not have a better body than you have now, being
obliged to go lower and resort to men who are less eligible?—I
am inclined to think that we should. Out of a large number of
men there will always be a certain number who will take a very
inactive part, and a certain number who will take a more active
part. If the active parts of two or three boards were put
together they would be a more efficient board than a board constituted
out of an active and inactive part.
17,868. I think you know something of the management of
the neighbouring parishes of Islington and St. Pancras?—Yes,
a little.
17,869. Is it not a matter of notoriety that in Islington, which
is not complained of, there are on the Vestry men of these
various callings that we have been speaking of?—Certainly.