18 Before the Bobbiesimpossible for him to answer for everything that happened within the
same.Witnesses pointed out that within the parish of St James, there were 81
streets, four lanes, 38 alleys, containing over 3000 houses, 'and but Thirty-
two Watchmen employed to take care of the whole Parish'. The residents of
the parishes of St George and StJames found the quantity and quality of
watchmen and beadles deficient and the Burgesses unresponsive to com-
plaints. Mr John Goland, of Bond Street, who had been robbed of lead three
times in the past four to five years, said 'he generally finds the Watchman
drunk, and wandering about with lewd Women .. .'. Mr Lambert, the JP,
related 'That he has frequently spoke to Beadles, and desired them to
remove Beggars; but to no Purpose'. He also wrote to one of the Burgesses
about this problem, but received no answer.^66
Witnesses also testified about the difficulty encountered in collecting rates
to pay for the existing night watch, the same argument used the year before
by the Burgesses. There were no statutes, beyond the Statute of Winchester
and acts dating from the reigns of Edward III and Henry IV, that concerned
the power to appoint and regulate a watch or the power to tax for that
purpose. Nicholas Humphreys, a watch rate collector for the Court of
Burgesses, admitted he had no power to enforce the collection of the
watch rates and 'a great many of the Inhabitants refused to pay them,
complaining they were not half watched'. The Commons committee ruled
in favour of the petitioners and leave was given for the bill to be prepared by
a committee chaired, once again, by Lord '!yrconnei.^67
The Burgesses opposed the bill on the grounds that the Act of 27 Eliza-
beth I gave them authority over the watch and beadles, assigning to them
responsibility for the 'good government' of Westminster. They also argued
that, contrary to the statements made in the parochial petitions, the funds
'for the maintaining such Watch have been constantly made in a moderate
and easy Method, and the Monies arising thereby regularly accounted for;
and Accounts thereof have been kept, for the Inspection and Satisfaction of
the Inhabitants'. The Burgesses' petition, supported by some of the residents
of the parishes of StJames and St George, was tabled.^68 From this point on,
the bill's passage was uneventful.^69
With the precedent set, other bills quickly followed in 1736. Starting with
St Martin-in-the-Fields, five more parishes of Westminster petitioned Parlia-
ment 'for a like Law to be obtained ... for the better regulating the Nightly
Watch and Beadles'?^0 StMartin's was followed by St Paul's, Covent Garden,
the joint parishes of St Margaret and St John the Evangelist, and St Anne,
Soho. The Burgesses tried to stem the tide and presented a petition against
the bill for St Martin's. Their protests, however, were tabled and the other
bills were unopposed.^71