Testimonies

Crompton-Roberts, Charles Henry | Day 17

Witness Type: Candidate / MP

Party: Conservative

Other Days The Witness Was Called On: Day 16 | Day 20

Witness Testimony:

• 18508.

  Did he give you to understand it was necessary that those sums should be returned at all ? — He never spoke about them.

• 18509.

  Have you seen the returned expenses which Mr Hughes sent in in your name and on your behalf ? —No.

• 18510.

  Do you know there appears under the head of “Personal Expenses” a sum of £106 13s 2d ? — No.

• 18511.

  I see the first item is “Constitutional Association, £14 14s.” Did you tell Mr Hughes that that was a personal expense of yours ? — I did not know anything about that.

• 18512.

  Then the next is “Pier, £15.” Did you tell Mr Hughes that that was a personal expense of yours ? — I did not spend the money.

• 18513.

  If Mr Hughes put that, as he has done, into his expenses, he did it upon his own authority and without any authority from you ? — Yes.

• 18514.

  You never gave him a single item in respect of personal expenditure, in respect of living, and so on ? — No, never.

• 18515.

  And he never asked you for it ? — No, never. I do not wish to throw any blame upon Mr Hughes that is due to myself. Mr Hughes distinctly told me that I was not to make any payments at all, but by that I understood payments for the purposes of the election.

• 18516.

  Did you authorise Mrs Steadman to pay sums on your account, or to make presents to various persons in Deal ? — If she gave the servants, at the house we took, any presents, she would do that certainly with my authority, although she might not ask me for it. I should look upon that as equivalent to a portion of the rent.

• 18517.

  I see here an item “Mence Smith, £14 6d” and opposite that there is, “Liberal, no vote.” What did you understand by that ? — That is not a present; it is this bill (handing a paper).

• 18518.

  There is written opposite, “Liberal, no vote.” Did you give Mrs Steadman any directions as to whom she should employ? How do you account for that being written opposite that item ? — I have no idea.

• 18519.

  What instructions did you give Mrs Steadman, because, I suppose, your housekeeper does not ordinarily write down opposite the names of the tradesman that she employs a description of their opinions? What instructions did you give Mrs Steadman as to employing tradespeople ? — Speaking from memory, my idea is it was to explain why there were various persons; why instead of going to one person we were going to other tradesmen. You see underneath it, “Oil shop.” Mrs Steadman said to me when I passed that amount that some person had called, and said, “Oh, you have gone to so-and-so, and the man has got a vote. I suppose that is the reason you have gone to him, you might find us an order, though we have no vote.” That is why she gave that little order.

• 18520.

  Then I see several other items: “Poor man,10s; poor woman 10s; poor man again, poor woman, 3s; poor woman 2s; poor man 2s,” and so on. Did you make any inquiries of Mrs Steadman as to who these several people were to whom she had been giving money in this way ? — I made no inquiries.

• 18521.

  Did you authorise her to do so ? — She always has that authority.

• 18522.

  She always has your authority to give money away in this way ? — Yes. We generally keep soup, and all those sort of things going on for the poor in town and in the country, and sooner than be bothered by the people being brought up when she has inquired into a case, she has power to relieve.

• 18523.

  Did you leave it to your housekeeper to give sums of 10s, and 2s 6d, and 3s, to poor people who should come and ask her for money ? — The particular case of 10s is one that I can charge my memory with very well: a man said that he had missed his ship in the Downs, he had come ashore, and his ship had gone on to London, and he had not the means to get up to London to meet his ship, and he had been referred from pillar to post, and been told if he came and asked us he would very likely get the money to pay his fare up to London.

• 18524.

  Was he a Deal man ? — No, I think not. He was a sailor. I know I was going out at the time, and he met me in this way, “Please, sir, would you give me a lift up to London?” and he told me this tale about missing his ship, and so on, and I said, ‘’You know we cannot give any money here, you know this is election time.” “Yes, sir,” he said, and touched his hat, “It is a very hard case; I have missed my vessel and they told me if I came here very likely you would give me a leg up to London.” I said, ‘‘You are not connected with Deal, you are not a voter?” and he said, “No sir, I am not.” And as I was going out I called to the butler, or to the housekeeper, I am not sure which, to let this man have 10s for his railway fare.

• 18525.

  You say you knew he was not a voter, or a Deal man ? — Yes; this is as to the particular matter of 10s.

• 18526.

  I thought you, two or three minutes ago, when I asked you whether or not you knew he was a Deal man, said you did not know ? — I should tell you that a man came afterwards, after the election was over, and I fetched these two servants up to inquire whether it was the same man that had come and got 10s before upon account of this tale of missing the ship, and they were under the impression that it was the same man, and they thought I was done. So when you ask me whether he was or was not a Deal man, I can only say, I do not know at the present time whether he is or not, because having come again close after the election would rather lead one to suppose that he was a Deal man. 10s is an amount that I should not expect the housekeeper to give in charity without special reference to Mrs Crompton Roberts or myself, but as regards smaller sums she has authority to do so sooner than to bring the people before us.

• 18527.

  (Mr Holl) Some of the items are very large, for instance, chemist £7or £8 ? — That was for soda water.

• 18528.

  Then I see here an account from Mr Loyns, ‘‘To account rendered £50 16s” ? — It is for nothing ordered from the house, and I know nothing about it.

• 18529.

  Do you know anything about it, or was that done entirely through your agents ? — I have seen some-thing about it in the papers, and that is the only intimation I have ever had about it.

• 18530.

  You do not know at all what it was for ? — No. There is an item here, you will see in the account with a line run through it: “Loyns, £73s 9d,” and I asked the other day what the meaning of it was, and I was told that an account had come in of £73s 9d which had never been ordered, and it was sent back again. Therefore that £73s 9d should be included in the account before you.

• 18531.

  You think this £73s 9d is part of the account ordered by some of your party, though not by Mrs Crompton Roberts ? — Certainly not by the housekeeper, Mrs Crompton Roberts, or myself, or any person I took down with me.

• 18532.

  With regard to the sum of £50 16s, you say you have no knowledge of it yourself ? — No. The first intimation I had of anything being ordered of that man was in the newspapers; I saw it and read it in the “Pyrenees.”

• 18533.

  (Mr Jeune) I see there is an item here of “Frost, £13 5s 1d,” for which there is no voucher. He was the person, I suppose, for fireworks, because I see below, “Frost, extra for fireworks, £5.” ? — Yes.

• 18534.

  Is that the £5 that you spoke of the other day ? — Yes.

• 18535.

  I may take it that Frost was the man from whom the fireworks were got ? — Yes; these fireworks have never been delivered yet, I believe.

• 18536.

  What is this £13 5s 1d for ? —I hunted for the bill on Thursday night, and we did not find it.

• 18537.

  Frost is the man who sells fireworks ? — Yes. He is a general ironmonger, and he sells all sorts of things of that kind.