kio' ON THE LOCAL TAXATION OF THE CITY OF DUELIN. 73 Do you believe it ?— I have no reason to doubt it. • . in r i Then the improvidence of that contract, is not attributable to the grand jury ?— Richard Purdy Under those circumstances, certainly not v ^ 1 Then how could that improvident contract have been remedied, if it had been ( 29 April.) before the parish committees, and not before the grand jury?— I am inclined to think, that there would have been more bidders before the parishes, than before the grand jury. Was it publicly advertised?— I conclude that it was. Was it open to every human being to make a proposal?— It was open to make a proposal; but I have heard persons say, who have proposed for contracts with those grand juries, that it was quite useless to do so ; one person in particular made this remark. Who was that?— A clothier in High- street; he proposed for the supply of blankets and convicts' clothing. At how much ?— I do not know. Will you state the particlars of that?— When I had referred to the accounts of the prisons at Preston and Glasgow, and other prisons, and compared the amount with the amount levied in Dublin for a similar object, I concluded, that there must be something wrong; and I proposed to visit the Richmond bridewell, and to take a person with me who was competent to give an opinion on the articles supplied ; I applied to a third person to go with me, and he went also; there was a Russian gentlemen in Dublin, who was anxious to see our prisons, and he went with us to the prison ; he remarked, that the prison was badly constructed for the purpose for which it was intended, which led to further inquiries, the result of which was, the conclusion, that it was badly constructed ; this gentleman had seen a great many, and he spoke with great praise of one at Limerick ; he went through the prison and examined the bedding, having the gentleman, whom I have named as a clothier of High- street, with us ; we also examined the provisions, and remarked, in one corner of the storehouse, a heap of potatoes of very inferior quality ; I applied to the deputy governor, the governor being absent, to know why those potatoes were received, as I conceived they were very inferior; he stated, that the prisoners had objected to use them ; I then asked who was the contractor, he mentioned a person of the name of Richardson, whose brother is, I understand, in partnership with a brother of Sir George Whitford, ex- sheriff; I asked the rate of contract, and he told me, that under a recent Act of Parliament, the contracts were all exposed in the visiting room; I subsequently referred to that list, and I perceived that the con- tract was made at 61. per ton ; I stated to the deputy governor, that I conceived it was a very exorbitant rate for potatoes, and that the potatoes ought to be of better quality; his reply was, that he had applied to the contractor for better quality, as the contract was for the best apple potatoes; that the contractor refused to give better ; and to accommodate matters, that he, the deputy governor, sent to market and purchased potatoes at 1/. 135. 4d. per ton, and that the difference between 11. 13 s. 4d. per ton and 61. per ton, was paid to the contractor for the purpose, he said, of giving good potatoes to the prisoners, and at the same time not infring- ing the contract that had previously been made with the contractor; I thought the proceeding a very extraordinary one; we made further inquiry on the subject, and the governor of Bridewell stated to the gentleman who made inquiry, that the difference of price was not absolutely paid to the contractor, but that he still demanded it from the grand jury, in consequence of which the original statement which I received from the deputy governor was altered. I asked the clothier who accompanied me, his opinion of the quality of the blankets in the prison, and he stated that some of them were very good, and some of them inferior; he stated also, that he had proposed to contract for those blankets and other matters for the use of the prisoners. What other matters ?— Linens; I think that a similar contract was proposed by Mr. Dalton, whom he described to us as shopman or foreman to an alderman of the corporation ; he stated, that he had a friend on the grand jury who was anxious to obtain it for him ; that this friend was obliged to go to England on business, and that in his absence Mr. Dalton obtained the contract. I made further inquiries respecting Mr. Dalton, and I have reason to conclude, that he had been in the employment of the alderman I allude to, and circumstances that have occurred since, rather lead me to think that the alderman was more or less concerned in the the contract, or in supplying necessaries for the prisons. 549. Have