The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-01-27 00:00:00

THE HALES° WEN RAILWAY COMPANY

On Wed es,l y. at the Ra lway Comas •ioti
(before Sir F. Peel, Mr. W. P. Price, and Mr. A.
E. Miller, Q. C.), the ease oi the Halesowen Rail-
way Company v Midland Railw,y Company and
Great Western Railway Ccmp my was commenced
It was an application for an order compe.lirg the
respondents to afford all ress Amble faeilities for
the receiving forwarding, and delivering of traffic
up a) and from the Halesowcn Railway Co pan,
witheut unteasonable delay, in accordance with ae
agreement en ered into betwe ,n the pa-ties, and
ineerpora ed in the a,,,plicants' Act of 1865. It
appearel that in 1865 an agreem- nt was ma e
between the premoters of the Ilalesowen and
Bromsgrove Branch Railways Bill and Midi ;nu
and Great Western Railway Companies, by which
the Halesowen Company agreed to construct Ihe
railways, stations, buildings, and works by the
AA authorised includinv a terminal station at
Halesowen, to the satisfactien of the respective
engineers of the three companies. From and after
the time mien the railway was so completed it
was to be worked by the Midland and Great
We-tern Companies. All differences were to be
determined by arbitration. The applicants state
that they have fulfilled ,their part of the agreement.
but alleged that, netwithstanding frequent appli-
cations on their part, the respondents have failed
to carry out their undertaking, They, therefore,
ask the Commissioners, inasmuch as no arbitrator
htd been appointed, to decid- the queetions
issue. Mr. Littler, Q.C., and Balfour Browne- ap-
peared for the applicants ; Mr. Bidder, Q C., for
the Midland Railway Coinpaby ; and Mr. Webster,
Q.C., Mr. R. S. Wri,ilat, and Mr. Sutton for th-
'ireat Western Rai way Company.- Mr. Li tier, Q.C..
wis about to open the case on behslf of the an•
plicants, when Mr. Weestn. cl itned the right of
the respond, nts to be heard first, inastnuch as they
admitted the facts ststed by the applicants and ap-
peared to dcmcr. They contend d thet this was
not a ease within the jurisdiction of the Commis-
oners.—The Cuintnieeieuers held that the course
propos d by Mr. Webster would be the more con-
venient. qr. Bidd r, Q.C., then proceeded to
challen_ e the juris,liction of the Commissioners.
He admitted, for the purpose of argument, that
the works hat been completed, but the Great
Western had, rightly or wrongly, taken a different
view, and the Midland were tote .mpelled, and had
no power. to carry out the agreement themselves.
His second ground was that the Court had not
power to Consider this case in lieu of its being sent
te an arbitrater as provided by the agreemen..—
Mr. Webster, Q C., followed on behalf of the Great
Western, He urged that the w ‘rks had not yet
he .n completed t ) the satisfact oa cf the engineers.
He also ideputed the jutis ti a r 1 of the Cora
missice ers to deal with he case.—The arguments
on the case lasted the whole of the day. and tee
eese was adjourn d.

. CLENT.

A CeIDENT.—On Tueslay evening last, an
aecide. t oecurr dto a man n ,ined George Barlo,v,
wagoner to Mr harby. It ai pears the unt'ortunat
man was in charge of a wagon and hor,es when the
whoel went over his left leg and broke it and a.so
broke his thigh. Dr. flobl.,s was called in on
atiended Ihe sufferer.

SANITARY INIA UTERS AT THE LYE.
PROPOSED LOCAL BOARD

It will be remembered hat when the question of
iacotporation came up at Stou budge, the Lye
strongly opposed the project, and the subject has
been allowed to rest for a time. The said sty
state of the Lye and Wolfe cote, however, is such
that it has become imperative that some steps
B muld be taken. On Thursday night a numer-
oasly-a tenied vestry meeting was field at the
National S. hoofs, to consider a communication fr.ini
the Rural Sanita'y Authority, pointing out that
ing to pressure from the Local Government
Boald something must be done, or the Authority
would have to act themselves. The Rev. Mr.
Philii a (the vi3ar) preside 1. Dr. Turner,
medical officer of nealth for the district, was in
vited to address the meeting and he said he re-
gretted very inuih to say there had not been a
mouth last year in whlch there had not been deaths
from enteric or typhoid fever in Lye or \Voiles-
cote. A hind who had known the district a num-
ber of years told hint he had never known the Lye
and IVoilescole free from these fevers. That was
a sad and deplorable thing. They were 111Y13ng
the m 'Bl, fatal diseases they had to contend wit h,
and he was informed that the slate of things was
worse this year than last. He had had to inspect
premises in nig Street, where he found a great
qu tutity of horrihe and offensive water in the cel-
lar. and the only way of clearing it a Aay was by
pumping it into the m iin ro id ; and he was assured
there were score 3 of dwellings in tbe Lye
with fil.hy w tter constantly in their
celiars. There had been a consideiahle extensidn
in the supply of tap water in the district, but other
things required attention. Fifteen out of twenty
ashpits were full, and they did not find spouting
to one out of fifty. Tne3e, perhaps, were not times
for spending money, but when it was a question of
life and health, or of death, expense should nil
have c ,nsideration. Tney cduld prev.Art a great
deal of suffering by adopting saidaaiy improve-
ments, and it should hi remembered that the
zymotic diseases of which they read in the news-
papers were diseases which could be avoided.—The
Unairman read a letter from Mr. H. T. Hickman,
expreseting hi opizaim that it wetild be better for

L:, e join in the Stout MI • main drainage
sch .nic„ —Mr. A. I said to e t-
ha I el a m eti g, and de3ided not t) join the Lye
iiiih reat er ovkao die meeting. A great ti,a of
the f ver a'hich had 0,-eurrel. was in the indedi •
cated -treets on the WOll sclte side of the district,
and if th y had a octd Board for to Lye they
cud al with all ma ters that were necessary.
Wollesco e pe tpie present sAid there was a strong
feeling in WoLescote aLfainst j ,ining the Lye in
local administration.—After a prolonvd discussion
it was decided to apply to tin Local Governm,,nt
Board for poweis to elect a Local Board for the
Lye, leaving it open f.a7 Woliescote to come in if
, the tatepayers wish. d. There appe 'red to be a
general feeling in favour o joining in the Stour-
budge wain drainage saern t.

!4ATITRD V, JANUARY 27, 1883.