14S MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE djl". ( 9 May.) the quality, as none but of the best quality was sent in by him, either from the public markets or elsewhere; we do not recollect a murmur to have been made by P. R. Gamble. thg prjsoners unti[ after they were supplied by contract, and since then frequent " complaints have been made, and much inconvenience has occurred to the prisoners, and to the officers of the prison, the latter having been obliged often to return the potatoes sent by a contractor. „ ,,, 0 Jas Horner, Presbyterian Chaplain. Dublin, ioth May 1823. Fr( j B Gaoler. ( A true copy.) Did you ever hear, before you attended this Committee as a witness, of any charge of misconduct against you for that transaction ?,— Never. According to the 50th of the King, if any improper charge had been made by you, would a representation to the court of King's Bench necessarily have induced an inquiry into your conduct?— Decidedly, I should think so. Does it not rest with the court of King's Bench to deprive you of your office, . on proof of your misconduct?— Certainly. What are the checks appointed by law upon you, in the purchase, distribution and management of the provisions and other articles for the prisoners ?— Whenever I purchased articles for the prisons, they are liable to be inspected by other officers ; they may be inspected by the physician, by the three chaplains, by the gaoler, and by the clerk. Have you any reason to suppose that such an inspection was neglected by those officers at the time that this transaction took place?— No, I have not. Was there any complaint made by those officers of your conduct?— None in the world. Was any complaint made by the prisoners themselves ?— I cannot charge my memory with any; but if a complaint had been made by the prisoners, it would have called down directly the investigation of some of the authorities. Have you any means of checking a complaint on the part of the prisoners ?— None in the world ; the prisoners can complain to whom they please, and paper is given to them when asked. Are prisoners in the habit of making complaint to you respecting the mode of supply in the prisons?— Sometimes they do. If you are absent, they have the right also of making complaint to other officers ? — They have. Then, from the silence which has been observed respecting this transaction, from the time it took place up to this period, have you any reason to suppose that your conduct was blameable ?— Not in the least; I never heard the transaction mentioned before. According to the letter of the law, did not you think yourself perfectly justified to use your discretion in making the purchase of such potatoes, from your mother- in- law, as well as from any other person ?— According to the letter of the law, I think I might have used my discretion in purchasing them from her as well as from any other person. Then the Committee are to understand, that the articles were equally good, and supplied at as cheap a rate as if they had been purchased in the market?— Decidedly at as cheap a rate ; as to the goodness of them, I never heard a word against it in my life. Were not you of course purchasing for the public, and were you not bound to purchase in the best way, in the cheapest way that you could, and in the way least liable to suspicion ?— Certainly, I should think so. Do you consider that it was quite an unsuspicious act in a public functionary, to buy potatoes for the use of the prisoners, from his mother- in- law?— I declare I had no consideration that it was an improper act, or even a suspicious one, as there was no concealment in the case. Would not you consider it a suspicious act in another?— I should not. Would you advise another to do it?— I should not certainly, after what I have heard on this Committee. But without having heard that, would not you think, that a man in a public trust should keep himself from suspicion ?— If I may be allowed to answer the question clearly, I do not think that it could possibly make me, or any person liable to sus- picion, to purchase five or six tons of potatoes from my mother- in- law in a year, when so large a quantity was bought by me in the course of a year as 150 tons. Then it was five or six tons only, that you- bought of your mother- in- law ?— Five or