The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-25 00:00:00

AMBLECOTE SANITARY QUESTION.

Mr. J. T. Harrison, C,E., attended at the Work-
house, Kingswinford, on Wednesday, to enquire
into an application to the Local Government
Board by the Rural Sanitary Authority of the
Stourbiidge Union to declare certain of the pro-
visions of the Public Health Act, 1875, in force in
urban districts, to be in force in the contributory
place of Amblecote. The enquiry, though
nominally affecting A.mblecote only opened up the
general question of the drainage of the Union.
which the Rural Sanitary Authority have had
"under consideration" for some time.

Amongst those presentwere Messrs. G. Holloway
(clerk to the Sanitary Authority), Billingham, P.
Parffeter, C. Webb, J. Gething, J. Taylor, Turner,
R. L. Bayley, E. Guest, Davis, Duggan, Price,
Kelley, Woodall, C. Squires, Edwards, Hall, W.
Squires, Kensey, Walker, Jones, Emmitt, J. Skid-
more, E. Guest, jun., &c.
Mr. Holloway stated, in reply to the Inspector,
that the urban powers asked for in respect to
Amblecote were those given under sections 150,
151, and 152 of the Public Health Act, 1875. The
hamlet contained 623 acres, and the rateable value
wa5,..t11,791. The population had increased from
1,023 in 1841 to 2,771 in 1871. The present sur-
veyor was appointed by the Vestry, but he had
no power to repair undedicated streets, of which
there were ten. The property owners in the un-
dedicated streets had been unable to agree as to
putting them in repair, and it was therefore
wished to secure urban powers for the Rural
Sanitary Authority to enable the streets to be put
in order. A deputation of the ratepayers had
asked the Authority to apply for these powers. It
was proposed to put the streets in order, and then
turn them over to the Vestry.
The Inspector said they could not transfer them
in that way. The Sanitary Authority was not a
Local Board. He asked for information with
regard to the whole of the Union.
Mr. Holloway said the total area was 16,123
acres, and the population 73,383. There were
Local Boards at Stourbridge, Brierley Hill, and
Quarry Bank, with an aggregate population of
26,000 out of the 73,000.

Mr. P. Pargeter said he represented Amblecote
at the Board of Guardians. The ten streets,
which were undedicated were 2,565 yards long,
and 225 houses were erected upon them. and also
two glassworks and ironworks. Great incon-
venience was caused by the bad state of the
streets,

The Inspector suggested that the roads might
not be cut up so much, but for the traffic to the
works referred to. What had they done with
regard to the sewerage at Amblecote ?
-Mr. Pargeter : Not'iino•° ; it is in abeyance.
The Inspector said that, looking back to Dr.
Ballard's report, and the correspondeuce of the
Rural Sanitary Authority with the Local Govern-
ment Board, he said a great responsibility rested
on the Rural Sanitary Authority. Ever since Dr.
Ballard's report two or three years ago, the Local
Government Board had been endeavouring to
sewerage, stir the Authority up to action in respect
to the but nothing had been done. There had
been a great dal of dilatoriness, to say the
least.

Mr. Hall (a Guardian) : We have already paid
a large sum for plans.
The Inspector said there was nothing definite in
Mr. Marten's report—nothing they could carry
out. It was a general report.
Mr. J. Taylor said, in point of fact, Ambleeote
and Wollaston could obtain all the powers they
required under the Stourbridge Improvement
Act. They had the power of coming under that
Act.

The Inspector said he should like information
on that point presently.
Dr. Bayley, of Stourbridge, described the bad
state of the roads, and said he lictd broken his leg
by an accident owing to their non-repair. He had
patients in the undedicated streets. There was
sickness, which he attributed to the unsanitary
condition of the neighbourhood.
Mr. C. Webb said the streets were impassable
in some places for pedestrians. The traffic from
the works cut them up, but there was much
general traffic as well.
Mr. E. Turner, medical officer of health to the
Rural Authority, said the roads referred to were
dreadfully bad, and he was not aware of there
being any drainage at all. There was little sick-
ness at the present time, and th ra had been no
epidemic since he :had been medical officser.
Amblecote was partly supplied with water from
the wells and partly from the mains. The well
water he believed, was good. The sewage might
get into the wells.
Mr. J. Gething, surveyor, Amblecote, mentioned
a case he had seen that morning of a dumb-well
from a water-closet being under the footpath, and
the overflow running down the road. _

Mr. Giles (sanit-ary inspector) said he knew
nothing of it, and thought it must be a " mis-
take."

Mr. Gething said he had seen it, as he stated,
that morning.
Mr. J. Taylor said he was clerk to the Stourbridge
Commissioners, but did not appear on their
behalf, but to represent the Earl of Stamford, who
was the owner of between 500 and 600 acres in
the hamlet.

The Inspector said it would be a -difficulty in
granting urban sanitary powers for Amblecote if
there were any other way of getting out of the
difficulty, and it appeared Amblecote could come
under the powers Stourbridge had, or join with
Wollaston.

Mr. Taylor, at the request of the Inspector,
read the section of the Stourbridge Improvement
Act enablir.g Amblecote, Wollaston, and the Lye
to come under the operation of the Act; and said
that the ratepayers had never made application
on the subject. Amblecote could form a separate
ward, with three Commissioners.
The Inspector said the Local Government Board
could extend an urban district by a provisional
order, but he did not think they could extend the
district of the Stourbridge Commissioners without
altering their Act first.
Mr. Webb mentioned that the owners of pro-
perty adjoining the undedicated streets would
probably have repaired them, or a portion of them,
but they felt it was useless till there was a proper
system of drainage.
The Inspector (to Mr. Billinghara vice-chairman
of the Guardians) : Everything points to the
importance of your carrying out your sewerage.
Mr. Giles (sanitary inspector) said he lived in
Dennis Park and the drainage ran past his house
on the Bali ice. Sometimes in the summer it
became a nuisance when not cleared away.
The Inspector: Have you reported this con-
dition of things to the Sanitary Authority?
•Mr Giles : Yes.
__

The luspector-: And what have they done ?
Mr. Giles: They have always said "Let the
property owners put the streets in repair and
throw them on the parish."
The Inspector: They have done nothing in real
earnest to get the nuisance away?
Mr. Giles: Nothing that I am aware of. I
have reported the state of things, and a deputa-
tion has waited upon them.
Mr. Billingham : Have they not removed
each separate nuisance? Be careful what you
say.
Mr. Giles: They have had separate affairs
attended to.

The Inspector further elicited that, from the
nature of the dumb-wells and the springs, the
wells from which the water supply was obtained
were probably polluted.
The Inspector What is the objection to form-
ing Amblecote into a Local Board district?
Mr. Pargeter : The expense.
The Inspector: Why should it be a great
expense?
Mr. Pargeter : There would be a staff of officers
to maintain.
The Inspector: I think that is pretty clear—
that the Local Government Board, looking to
what has passed, will say to the Rural Sanitary
Authority, " Do what is required for Amblecote
in the Matter of sewerage; there will then be
plenty of time to consider the roads." The
sewers are the first thing to be done. The Inspec-
tor subsequently remarked that when a. scheme of
sewerage was devised for a populous district that
scheme should provide for the sewerage of all the
houses in existence, and then if there was new
property that was a new matter. That was what
the Local Government Board had laid down as a
rule.