THE FIGHT FOR EQUALISATION 21 
there was a statutory duty upon the Councillors which they 
refused to perform. . . . Now it is said that they ask to 
be relcased, and they certainly make a very—I do not like 
to say plausible—but rather an attractive affidavit in asking 
for it. They say they are desirous of doing what they can at 
this conference to relieve their community of the difficulty in 
which it is at present placed. That is a very laudable position 
to take up, and while they apologise to the Court and take up 
that position, the County Council says it would welcome their 
attendance at the conference. The words are: ‘ We welcome 
any action on the part of the Borough Council which would 
enable them freely to participate in such a conference.” That 
is an ingeniously-framed sentence, and exactly what it means 
I do not know; but the only way in which they could freely 
participate in such a conference is by this Court discharging 
them from the commitment under which they at present lie; 
and if it is to be read, as it seems to be, as a statement that 
the County Council, while they leave it to the Court, of course, 
to deal with the matter, would be glad that these Borough 
Councillors should be released in order that the matters of local 
government in Poplar, and in the Metropolis generally, should 
be carried on with some regard to the Statutes under which it 
is so carried, if they welcome that, then the Court thinks that 
it may treat this as a consent on the part of the prosecutors 
to their discharge; and Mr. Macmorran, who supports this 
resolution for the County Council, appears also for the 
Metropolitan Asylums Board, and supports it in the same way 
for them to the same extent. 
‘ Under these circumstances, and having regard to the change 
in the circumstances of Poplar, which are set out in this 
second affidavit of Mr. March, in which he shows that in the 
week ending June 3rd there were 13,471 men, women and 
children receiving support from the ratepayers, and that for 
the first week in October the number has increased to 19,091 
men, women and children, it does show a very considerable 
change in the circumstances of the Borough, and the Court 
thinks that it will not be doing wrong—it hopes that it will 
not be encouraging these Councillors to think that they can 
disregard their Statutory duties—and would be justified in 
releasing them from the imprisonment from which they now 
suffer. In these circumstances we have, with considerable 
difficulty, come to the conclusion that we can discharge -the 
prisoners from custody.” 
At six o'clock on the same day the prisoners marched out of 
Brixton singing the ‘“ Red Flag,” and in a fleet of motor cars 
were quickly conveyed to their homes. 
But the victory was not yet really won. On October 17th a 
conference assembled at the Ministry of Health. The debate 
was long, the conference often on the point of breaking up 
without acreement. In the end revresentatives of the poorer