The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-24 00:00:00

KIDDERMINSTER TOWN COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of this Council was held
on Wednesday; the Mayor (Mr. T. Radford) pre-
siding. The Drainage and Waterworks Committee
reported that they had drawn cheques for £65. on
labour account, and £34. 14s. 6d. had been paid
for interest and miscellaneous accounts. The sum
of £146. 6s. 6d. for water rates hap been paid to
the treasurer. The report was adopted,---1 he Im-
provement Committee reported that they had
drawn cheques for £lOl. for labour, and had paid
accounts to the amount of £lO9 165., in 'addition,
to which £429 19s 9d had been paid out of sewage
farm loan on account of improvements. The sum
of £563 t3s. 7d. had been paid to the treasurer on
acccount of general district rate collected A
further payment of £750 had been made to the con-
tractor and of £lOO to the architect on account of
munieipalbuildings. The :committee recommended
the widening of Comberton Hill and Prospect Hill,
he estimated cost of the former being .£252 and
of the latter £167 155.. The report was adopted
after a Aloft discussion on the proposed Prospect
Hill improvement.
The Medical Officer (Mr. D. Corbett) reported
that the death rate for the past month was 171- in
the 1,000. He ha 4 carefully investigated the
smells from the grating in the street, and recom-
mended that the openings which were trapped
should be untrapped. The report also referred to
a case of polluted well water and to nuisances
arising from pigsties in Hardcastle's yard.
The sanitary inspector reported on. s number of
matters, including cases of -smoke nuisance, in
which he had informed the stokers that they would
be summoned as well as their employers if the
nuisath!e was continued. He reported specially
upon the houses in Cemetery Row, some of which
had not been whitewashed for thirteen years,
while the sanitary conditions in other particUlars
were bad.

Tua P1101,0411D Issturerre.—li WAS announced some
time ago that Ald..rmaa Goodwin (ez-Mayor ef Kidder.
aineter) had presented a valuable ink fir the e:ectiou
a scientific and art institute iu Kid •errniuster, and a
committee wait appointed to consider and rep trt upon a
scheme for the c uititutiots and management of the
iustltute. rile report tyro. laid before a public meeting.
u.itter .11 preindeuej of the Mayor (ft. T. Radford).—
rt port, w:ich was read by Mr. tl. 11. falbut, taco
that ti.e counniitew had before them the v:irlocui Acts of
earli.o.net't relating to i.ublic libratice and literary and
aci‘ nitric iastitutiou-, and recommended Wile insti ute
anould be cuustructed to rue, t the distioct icipirt,tueutr
of (I) A echo .1 of art ; (2) elas,ea for instruct.ou in
.cieoce, esp.:daily watt rifereute to the 1. cal in inufac-
.utes ; sod (3) ttettme .1 re!erence library and teiauu g
.ounue fur the use 1 arentbe.rs Al the Si Cprebe:.teu
ado HA, ill their opiutun, taro enough for a free librar)
ti.u, they recututu.:Htled that the iota UI tucurporatthe
the free itbrar) be abtedoned. the Coq) ,r,.tiou h.ir ng
VOA it to illifiLe lueht.l pIOVO.LOU for tue Wijuit u
.11 title o.t ot toe be .1 rates, lite committee recoil,
in,t,..ed .11u, .he am /taut to hi xpendcd in huald.ug
titus ed t 001), and that plans bJ prepared a luai .g
what can b . reeled for that sow, lucid hug, it additius,
t i to ra quireu fur the .eti,,ol of art and
• i.nee !iniary tan nailing
.rJoin tot tie ti,ti 01
inewb rs Ihe adoption of the 4,h,rtablai Iru‘tee.
lucirp alien Act would save the en tof appAuting
UtW itu.te, b it d, f the conveyance of that property to
lew, and toe en•ur ug of their regular slit prop ti
appu.ntiu.Lt At tie ,Ahle
,tinte, the pioperty would be
I') eit,eut uu. ti,t-eistinent con,rol, ahi.eji woulu
not, howt.v..r, be disadvantageous if aid were accept° I
front the Committee of Coutcil on Educatioa, by wliutn
a grant of 2. 6d per square foot of internal sties, but
mit taceediug £SJU, way ue wade for the school of att,
if the, Committee of Conned were satisfied on certain
points. A siuniar money grant might be obtained from
the Science Depattruent if the truet d.:ed provided
'• that the building be used as a ACUOOI for the instruction
of eh I lreu mud adults in the pure and natural sciences
applicable to industry and manufactures." The com-
mittee recommended the acceptance of the aid, which
they estimate at about £BOO, tor the two departments;
;they -memo:nand also the -adoption of the Trustees
Incorporation Act. The objects of the institutiOn
enuelid be the proportion of eeimee.,.itte!..ure, the fine
mitt uction ; the diffusion of nautili
knowledge, the foundation or maintenanee of a school
of art, libraries, or reading rooms ; .of puhae museums
end galleries of paintings and other works of art, eel-
amnions of natural history, mechanical awl philoisophieal
liventions, inatinnifints, or designs; and generally tor
sasala other ad esticnal and seientitie purrs's* se are
eunaprised in the Literary and Scientitis institutions
Act, 1854, or Islay be comprised h 1 any eztensiea of Gush
Act. 'Tie neuter of trustees should be twelve of
whom the Vicar of Kidderminster and the Mayor 'for
the time being should be two, and John Howland Good-
win one of the first trustees,
,(as stipulated by the donor
if the site), the remaining nine to be elected by the
subscribers to the building fund. The affairs of the
wilful* should be managed by • general Board, consist.
iug of eighteen Members elected annually—one-halt by
the annual subscribers to the institute, and one half by -
the subseabers tO the School of Art. The institute
would be dependent upon the subscriptions of members,
donations, and such other sources of income arising
from exhibitions,lectures,&c., scare open to such itisti-
tutions.—The Bev. G. U. Boyle moved that the report
be adopted, and that the best thanks of the niee:ing be
given to the donor of the site. When he came there
nine years ago, after ten years' absence from the town,
he felt very strongly
,there ought to be in the town of
Kidderminster, rising into prosperity, some such insti-
tute as he left behind him in Birmingham, where, at
that peal id, he had the honour of being the president of
the Birmingham and Midland Institute. Efforts which
were made in that direction were not successful. The
hour and the man had not come; but they had come at
last, and what was proposed to be carried eat wot.ll be
of great importance and permanent benefit to the town
—(cheers.) After dwelling on the work of the institute
Mr. Boyle concluded by reading a letter from Mr. John
Briaton, dated June 8, regretting he should not. be at the
meeting, owing to the visit he was undertaking to the
United States'. The scheme had his most cordial
wishes for its success, and provided the entire sum
acquired could be raised in two yeses, he begged that his
name might be put down for Xsto—(cheers.)—fhe Vicar
said he did not like to speak of his own. small contribu-
tion, but he should be glad to contribute, as his first
donation, £so—(checrs.)—Councillor Grieves seconded
the resolution. He was satisfied from the way in which
many had received the proposal that, before the time
Mr. Brinton mentioned, they should have raised the
amount required and receive his £5OO. The 'resolution
was carried with applause.—Alderman Naylor moved a
vole of thanks to the committee who..had drain up the
report, and moved their reappointment for the purpose
of raising funds for electing the institute. Mr. Naylor
spoke of the argent want of an institution like that