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tion recorded its appreciation of his services by unanimously passing a
resolution, as representing the parishioners at large, expressive of its
deep gratitude to him for his long and faithful services.
The Vestry has lost a good servant by the appointment of
Mr. W. Chambers Leete (Chief Clerk) to the Vestry Clerkship of the
large and important parish of Kensington. The vacancy has been filled
up by the appointment of Mr. Thomas Hensman Munsey, principal
assistant clerk in the office of the Vestry of St. James, Westminster.
The Vestry has also been deprived of the services of Mr. Charles
Higgins, Surveyor of Sewers and Buildings, a matter the more to be
regretted since it is the result of illness. With thirty-four years of good
and faithful service to his credit, the Vestry had no hesitation in granting
Mr. Higgins an extended leave of absence, but although at the close of
the year with which this report deals it is understood that his health
has somewhat improved there are grave reasons for doubting whether it
will ever be sufficiently restored to enable the Vestry again to avail itself
of his exceptional experience in matters connected with drainage.
In September, 1889, the parish sustained a loss by the death of
Mr. John Blount Price, J.P., a member of a family which had been for
some generations prominently associated with local government in
Islington. Mr. J. B. Price had himself filled the offices of Trustee, Churchwarden
and Vestryman, but it was more particularly as a member of the
local Bench of Justices that his services were valuable to Islington.
Possessed of strong common sense and remarkably upright and
conscientious in the discharge of his magisterial duties, he was always
willing to subordinate personal considerations to the call of duty, and
to place his time at the public disposal. Mr. Price's independence
of character was specially manifested in connection with the Church
rate dispute in 1874, and his name is associated with some of the most
important legal decisions that have from time to time been obtained
by the Vestry in- the Superior Courts. One in particular, which will
always be a ruling case in rating law, is that of " R. v. Price " (L. R. 5,
Q. B. D. 300) a decision given in 1880 by the Court of Queen's Bench
as to the effect of the Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1879 upon proceedings
for the recovery of poor and local rates. This decision was of
great importance to the Vestry of Islington, and only in a less
degree so to the other rating authorities of the country.