14S MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE djl". Dr. now ?— Three hundred pounds a year was attached to my office, at the time of my William Harty, jec^ on t| ie same as was paid to my predecessor; it is now 400/. a year. *- u js there anv maximum fixed to the salary of the physician ?— At present there is (, 2 May.) ^^^. k is fo* obvjolls masons left to the discretion of the grand jury to make com- pensation according to the amount of duty. By what Act of Parliament is it repealed?— By the 50th of the late King; be- fore that the maximum was 100 /. a year. What is the difference between the duties now to be performed, and those at the time of your election ?— At the time of my appointment, the prisons I had to attend to were Newgate, the city marshalsea, and the sheriffs prison, which from the num- ber of criminals then committed afforded very little duty compared with the present amount thereof; there was also a small prison which contained generally forty or fifty prisoners, but that prison gave me no duty, the prisoners, being chiefly monthly prisoners, and under charge of the surgeon : there was no medical hospital, and if any person was sick, my simple duty was to order the removal of that person to the hospitals of the house of industry, so that that prison gave me no duty ; the in- crease of my duties now arises from the immense increase of prisoners, with the addition of two new prisons, Richmond bridewell and Smithfield penitentiary; and the Richmond bridewell contains nearly twice as many prisoners as Newgate did at the time of my appointment, and the Smithfield penitentiary as many. When did that great increase of duty commence ?— The increase was gradual with respect to the number of prisoners, there was a considerable increase of my duties in 1815; there was a great increase of duty also at the sheriff's prison under the operation of the insolvent acts, that prison being then excessively crowded; but the essential increase from the additional prisons took place in 1818, on the opening of the Richmond bridewell, and a still further increase in 1821, by the opening of the Smithfield penitentiary. When was your salary raised to its present amount ?— At Easter term 1822. Had you in the interval made any application to the grand jury for an increase of your salary ?— I made two or three applications by letter and in person to the grand jury immediately after the great increase of duty by the addition of Richmond bridewell; I made these different applications in vain, for the grand jury, though admitting at the same time the great increase of my duty, said they did not feel themselves warranted under the existing distress of theeity, to make any addition to the salary. Had you any relative on those grand juries at that time ?— I had. And those grand juries refused to sanction your application?— They did. How did you ultimately succeed ?— I found it useless to apply to the grand jury ; and therefore I addressed a memorial, in Easter term 1822, to the grand jury, and at the same time sent a copy of it to the judges of the court of King's Bench, having waited on Judge Jebb for that purpose. Have you a copy of the memorial?— I have, and also a copy of the letter from Judge Jebb, after he had submitted the memorial to the judges of the court, [ The witness delivered in the same, which are as follows:] " To the Foreman and Gentlemen of the Easter Term Grand Jury for the year 1822. " The Memorial of William Marty, physician to the prisons of Dublin, " Respectfully sheweth,— " That memorialist was appointed in the year 1812 physician to the prisons, at a salary of 300/. per annum, the same as was paid to his pre- decessor in office; that the only prisons which then, and until the year 1818, called for memorialist's regular attendance, were the sheriff's prison, city marshalsea and Newgate, the old bridewell in James's- street, having had no medical hospital and containing but few prisoners ; that, at the time of memorialist's appointment, the number of annual committals to Newgate did not exceed 800, whereas they have for several years amounted to 2,000 ; and, though the labour of memorialist has thereby been greatly increased, lie would, notwithstanding such increase, still consider himself as receiving a tan- remuneration, had not other duties, to a serious extent, been required ot him. I hat, since the year 181S, memorialist has attended the Richmond 01 ldewell; a prison which, from its remote situation and the number of sick supplied by its numerous inmates, is a source of greater labour and loss of time,