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ADDENDUM.
Since this Report was first printed and circulated the letters from
the Vestry of the Hamlet of Mile End Old Town and from the Governors
and Directors of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. George the Martyr,
dealing with the subject of disorderly houses, have been received and
referred to your Committee. The former of these contained some
important statements (confirmatory of the views already expressed bv
the Committee) as to the action of the Local Government Board Auditor
in surcharging the expenses of prosecutions initiated by the Overseers
without the intervention of two informers, and the consequent expense
to which that Vestry has been put in paying such informers; and
suggested a Conference upon the subject at the Cannon Street Hotel.
This Conference was held on February 25th, and was attended by
several M.P.'s and a large number of representatives of the Overseers
(or bodies performing the duties of Overseers) of the Metropolis, among
whom your Committee was represented by Dr. Buckell and the Vestry
Clerk, the Chairman being prevented by unavoidable circumstances from
attending.
The series of resolutions, copies of which are appended, were
passed almost unanimously at this Conference.
Your Committee had long been of opinion that, having regard to
the altered circumstances of the Metropolis, the provisions of the Acts
of the reigns of Geo. IT. and Geo. III., with their cumbrous procedure,
were altogether useless in dealing with these houses, but only lately has
it been forced to the conclusion that the Criminal Law Amendment Act
of 1885 gives the Vestry no powers to initiate proceedings; and under
these circumstances your Committee thought that, it was time that
the responsibility for prosecuting the keepers or owners of these houses
should be devolved upon the authority having the control of the police.
The Vestry will, therefore, not be surprised to learn, that of the
appended resolutions, Nos. 2, 3 and 4—although they met with the almost
unanimous support of the other Delegates—were drafted at the instance