PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
c.o.
Reference -
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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Heligolanders even took pleasure in seeing the refugee make game of the Council.
"The Wardsmen do not get on much better in enforcing the cleanliness and order of their districts. Their utmost exertions are frequently fruitless, and then nothing remains but to saddle the local chest with the expense of defraying the cost of the work to be done.
"Besides the Councillors and the Wardsmen, there are the Elders, who were in existence so far back as 1615, although their origin is veiled in obscurity, In the middle of the seventeenth century, 'Bevollmächtigte des Landes' (Plenipoten- tiaries of the Land), are spoken of. In documents of later date, mention is made of the whole of the résidents,' or, of the whole island.'
From the
middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Elders regularly come to light as 'independent representatives' of the community. They form no particular corporation; but with the six Councillors and eight Wardsmen constitute the Landesvorste- herschaft, or general representation of the island. Their number is sixteen, and they hold office for life; so that the whole Vorsterschaft consists of thirty members, who usually adopt resolutions by the majority of votes. They are called together by the Cassen-meister, or Treasurer, who is elected, from year to year, from the eight Wardsmen in succession. The assembly of the Landesvorsteher. schaft, according to a decision of the Superior Courts in 1779, and a Royal Ordinance of 1780, is not to take place without the previous knowledge of the Landvogt, nor in his absence if he chooses to be present, excepting only when the matter to be treated of relates to himself. The Landesvorsteherschaft disposes of the property of the community, and co-operates in the general regulation of public affairs, &c. But it enjoys little consideration, and its orders are not always followed out. In 1818, for example, a species of trade and income-tax was resolved upon, but the number of payers gradually melted away, while the debts of the local treasury went on increasing, and attempts at prosecutions and seizure of goods only ended in discreditable discomfiture.
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"In the year 1845 a person had thoroughly cud- gelled his adversary on account of some judicial process. The Court ordered his arrest; but three policemen would not venture to seize the offender, and the Court ordered that the parties should be allowed time to cool down. The offender was then summoned, but he threatened the breaking of bones and so forth, and declined to take time to reconsider the matter. The Governor was of opinion that the eight Wardsmen should bear hand, but they had no liking for the business. Military or police assis- tance was then demanded from London, but the question of expense became a serious consideration, two pounds weekly being demanded for the pay of each policeman. A public admonition to contrition was held to be an avowal of weakness, and treated with contempt. At last the thing to be done was attempted, with the help of one constable, but, aa might have been foreseen, without result. "In Decem- ber, 1845, a police serjeant came from London, and was introduced by a serious public warning from the Governor. But what could a single man do, un- acquainted with everything, unsupported, and hooted
as a spy and tax-eater? His little stick was laughed When he reported resistance to his authority,
at.
the Court imposed fines which no one paid. Being ordered to take a man into custody, he could do no more than report that he had been jeered by a mob of sixty or seventy persons, and told by the father of the refractory offender 'that the magistrates were thieves, and that he did not respect the Court.' There it ended, and the policeman was soon after- wards discharged.
"And yet it is remarkable that everybody is dissatisfied with the present state of things: the Governor, because he cannot order matters as he would wish; the Councillors and Wardsmen, because they cannot enforce obedience; the Elders, because they demand an independent position for them- selves; the Clergymen, because there is neither discipline nor order, and because they are not paid their dues; some persons, because they are ambi- tious, and envious of the position and receipts of the Councillors; the one or two men of understanding
in the Island, because they want a better election of
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