The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-10-20 00:00:00

ROYAL VISIT TO HUDDERSFIELD,

jury.
George Warden was then called, and in the course
of his evidence des, ribed the various transactions
which had taken place between himself and Wafters,
and which went on until he (witness) left the bank.
Sometimes the account was even, sometimes there was
a profit, and sometimes there was a loss of from £6,00
to £lO,OOO in a fortnight. The losses gradually in.
creased. He could not Bay what the losses amounted
to, but the money advanced was under £lOO,OOO. He
knew that the stock he took was stock deposited with the
bank by their customers for safe custody, and was
entered in the security book by the security clerk,
Mr. Clarke. When he took the securities he pre-
served the labels, and left about 15 of them in his own
iron sale. He kept them in case he should be for-
tunate enough to be able to replace them, and then
the labels would have been ready to his hand. The list
of the securities which were in the 15 labels found
in his iron safe wers given by him to Watters in re-
spect to the transactions to which he referred. He had
no means of telling when each lot was taken. He made
memoranda when the coupons became due. He sent
Watters a list of the securities he had taken from
the bank. He wrote to the auditors on September 20,
making an appointment for the audit on a tober 1,
Previous to that date there had been deposited in the
bank various securities on which money had been ad-
vanced. They would have to be shown to the auditors.
Mr. Clarke made out a list. He could not eay what
he took of the various stocks. He had no re-
cord of what was taken. Watters never gave
him receipts for these bonds and no account was ever
rendered. He knew that all the stocks would have to
be produced to the auditors.
Knowing that you had incurred losses of over
gloopo, what conversation did you have with Mr.
Watters in reference to the audit at the bank saw
him on Saturday, September 29, at his office. Several
days bef re that I had told him the audit was fixed
for Monday, October 1, and that the stocks that were
wanting would be required. I took him round a list
of the stocks on which loans were out which I had
made, and left it with him, in order that he might make
it agree with his own figures, which he did. He told
me on Saturday that he felt certain all the stocks would
be there in time for the audit. The list, so far as
I remember, ccmprised eight lots of stock. It did not
give the name of the customer, but merely the amount
and the title of the stock. The stock deposited for
safe keeping was in another list. Watters gave me
the assurance that, so far as he saw, everything would
be in order by Monday morning, I did not know where
the stocks were deposited. He told me he was going to
get them against cheque. Witness continued—On Mon-
day before the Ist of 03tober he met Watters in Throe-
morton•avenue, and he said that if any hitch occurred
he would give himself up. On the let of October Wat•
ters came to the bank twice or three times and brought
him some of the missing stock, and he said that he
could not get any more unless he had "cover,"
and he asked witness to get him "cover." The
Egyptian stock had been examined and ticked off
as correct first. He then' took £25.000 Egyptian
Preference Stock, part of the £30,000 belonging to
the Commercial Bank, after it bad been ticked off,
and gave it to Watters, who returned several other
securities, but then he began to fall off in pro-
ducing them. When he found that he could produce
no more he (witness) went to the office of Mr.
Watters and did not return to the bank. Several
lettsrs were put into the hands of the witness, which
were said to have been written by Wattere to different
brokers, and also several cheques, which the witness
said were all in the prisoner's handwriting. When
he went to the office of Watters, witness said "I am
a ruined man ;" and Watters said "I have got more
of the securities, but not all." Witness said,
"What are you going to do ? " and he said, "I shall
give myself up." He then gave witness £2OO in notes.
Witness asked him to look after his (witness's) sisters,
and he said he would. He left London that after-
noon, and ultimately went to Havre, and then saw an
account of the matter in the pavers. He then decided
to return to London, and he did so and communicated
with the bank, He was apprehended at a temporary
lodging. He had never told the prisoner that he was
acting for a syndicate.
At the conclusion of Warden's evidence Watters
was remanded for a week.

On Saturday, their Royal Highnesses the Duke and
Duchess of Albany arrived at Huddersfield from'
Otley, for the purpose of paying a visit to the Hud-
dersheld Fine Art alai Indu.trial Exhibition and open.
ing Beauntont's-park. Preparations were made to
give their Royal Elighneses,a loyal and hearty we'.
come. The Corporation granted £l,OOO out of the cor-
porate funds for decorations, and the inhabitants
generally joined in the effort to make the visit an event
worthy ot the town. At the end of Buxton-road an
effectively arranged Norman arch, with tower and
keep was erected, and the public buildidgs, warehouses,
and offices along the line of route taken by the Duke
and Duchess were gaily decorated. Fortunately, the
weather was fine in the early part of the day, and
thousands of persons wended their way into the town,
and with the inhabitants of the borough, crowded the
streets through which their Royal Highnesses would

pass.
At 10.36 precisely, the special Midland train with
the Duke and Duchess and their suite drew up along-
side the platform, and the volunteer band played the
National Anthem.
On the Duke and Duchess alighting from the train,
they were received by the Mayor of Hudderefiell
(Alderman Brigg), and Mrs. Briggs presented a bou-
quet to the Duchess. Proceeding t ) the tirst-class
refreshment room, their Royal Highneeses took up a
position on a cheese which had been provided for the
purpose. The Mayor of Huddersfield then expressed
the gratification of the Corporation and the whole
comtnurity at being honoured with a visit from their
Royal Highnessee, and the Council in order to place
on permanent record the expression of their loyalty
Red goodwill to the Royal house on this occasion had
adopted an address of welcome which he hoped they
would be pLased to accept.
Mr. J. Batley, the Town Clerk, presented an illu-
minated address on vellum, in the course of which,
having warmly welcomed the Duke and Duchess,
the Corporation said they desired to give expression
to their grateful recognition of the warm interest
which was taken by HeiMajesty and the Royal family
In the prosperity and welfare ot the great industries of
the country, in the first rank of which is the woollen
cloth manufacture, of which Huddersfield is the centre
and chief seat.
The Duke of Albany read the following reply :
Mr. Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough
of Huddersfield,—Oo the Duchess of Albany's and on
my own behalf I beg to thank both you and the in-
habitants of Hudde,sfield for the kind terms of your
address. I thank you also for your expressions of
loyalty to the Queen, and I can assure you that such
tokens of attachment on the part of Her Majesty's
subjects are highly valued by her. Both the Duchess
and I have looked forward with interest to visiting
your town, for we are aware that it has won for
itself a high reputation among the many important
manufacturing centres in this part of Eng'and.
It will afford us great pleasure to visit the Tech-
nical School and the Industrial and Fine Arts Exhibi-
tion. Such undertakings as these furnish sufficient
proof of the vitality of the industries of Huddersfield,
and of the determination of her leading citizens to
neglect no legitimate means of raising the standard of
taste and knowledge among all classes of their fellow.
townsmen. With no less gratification shall we assist
at the ceremony of opening the park, the site of which
has been so generously presented to you by Mr. Henry
Beaumont. The Duchess of Albany joins with me in
the hope that the town of Huddersfield may continue
' to enjoy in the future that prosperity which has at-
tended it for so many years.
A proceosion was then formed, and their Royal
Highnesses, escorted by a troop of West Yorkshire
Yeomanry and accompanied by a large number of the
principal residents and officials, proceeded to the Fine
Art Exhibition, where they were received by Colonel
Brooke, the president, and the committee, and were
shown over the building. The Duchess accepted a
magnificent Oriental shawl, manufactured by Messrs.
Norton Brothers and Co., as a specimen of local
manufacture and souvenir of the visit. Both their
Royal Highnesses were deeply interested in the
machinery and other departments, and asked several
questions abont various exhibits. Subsequently they,
proceeded to the Town-hall, where they were enter-
tamed at at luncheon by the mayor. A large number of
guests had been invited.
The Mayor proposed the loyal toasts, and
The Duke of Albany, in responding, asked to be
allowed to state, on behalf of himself and his brothers,
that they were all animated by a desire to promote the
best interests of the country. After assuring them that
they heartily wished success to such enterprises as
Huddersfield had embarked in, his Royal Highness ex-
pressed rt-gret at not being able to visit that town before,
and acknowledged the enthusiastic welcome which he
and the Duchess had received. To those who did not
know the position which Huddersfield occupied in con-
nection with the woollen industry he would say that this
was not the first time the town had awakened to a sense
of the imp ntance of affording high-class hastruction to
her artisans. He had been deeply interested in learning
that so long ago as 1855 his father's attention was
drawn to the existence at Huddersfield of the Me-
chanics' Institute, and was PO struck with the merits
of the work that he voluntarily sent a contribution to
its funds. The technical school at Huddersfield might
be described as a development of its Mechanics' In-
stitute, and the continued success of the one was suffi-
cient guarantee that the people of Huddersfield would
not be slow to avail themselves of further improvement
in the machinery of education. It had been well said
that if we would succeed we must struggle. England
bad now to face foreign competition, but with her wo.
k.
men better educated they need not fear to stand the
test. Soientifil education had made greater advances of
late y. ars, and kind e.. o.iderablv helped by the
ancient guilds of London—such as, for example, tne
Worshipful Company of Cloth workers, who had
hastened to acknowledge that for such purposes legiti-
mete demands might be made upon the funds
at their disposal. While Huddersfield and other
towns were peeking such advances in education it could
no longer be said that delicate and decorative work
could not be produced in England. He congratulated
the town up 'n the success of the exhibition, and re-
ferred in terms of approval to the movement for
making part of the present exhibition into a permanent
museum.
Whilst luncheon was in progress a procession was
formed of the trades societies, ancient orders, temper-
ance societies, &c., together with members of the Town
Council and various public bodies and the general
public, and about three o'clock it moved off from the
Town Hall to Beaumont Park, the ground of which is
the gift of Mr. Beaumont. The park is 21 acres in
extent, and under the care of Mr. R. S. Imedale,
C.E , the borough engineer, it has been admirably laid
out, with a large lake, a smaller lake, grottoes, and
ornamental walks. The works so far have cost the
sum of £20,C00, but they are only about half com-
pleted. Upon arriving at the principal entranee gate
the Duke of Albany was presented with a gold key,
and the Royal party was conducted by the Mayor to
the other end of the Park, near which a tent had been
erected.
The Duke of Albany, in an appropriate speech,
dwelt upon the importance of parks to large communi-
ties, and referred to the fact that the land was a gift
to the town. There were meny ways in which those
who had means at their disposal might select for
brightening and improving the lot of their fellow.
countrymen, and England could point with just pride
to the long list of names which would be inseparably
bound up with improvements—monumente, more
durable than brass, of wiser and patriotic generosity.
His Royal Highness concluded by saying :—Before
formally declaring the park open, I would ask leave
to congratulate Mr. Dugdale on the taste and skill
with which he has adapted the natural beauties of
the situation to the purposes to whieh the ground
is henceforth to be devoted; and finally I will call
upon all here present to join with me in wishing Mr.
and Mrs. Beaumont many years of life and health,
that they may be enabled to witness in the increased
health and prosperity of the town of Huddersfield
the fruits of their good deeds. Mr. Mayor, I now
beg to declare this park open to the people of Hudders-
field.
Mr. H. F Beaumont, the donor of the park, at the
request of the Mayor, gave an address, and was
heartily received. He expressed his regret that the
park was not in the centre of the town, and that he
had not 1,000 acres frem which he might have given
the people 50 instead of a paltry 21. However, such
as he had he gave to them, and he hoped that those
who entered the park in the future would never have
cause to regret it or think otherwise than pleasantly
of its donor.
Mr. Alderman Walker, who was Mayor when the
first sod WM turned by Mrs. Beaumont, and Mr. Alder-
man R. Hurst, the chairman of the Park Committee,
gave congratulatory addresses.
The Royal visitors and party then proceeded to
another portion of the park, where the Mayor pre-
sented a silver spade to the Duchess who performed
the interesting ceremony of planting a sycamore

tree.
The Mayor having thanked her Royal Highness, the
proceedings terminated. The carriages were re-entered,
the procession re-formed, and returned by another route
to Huddersfield. From the square the Royal party,
with Mr. Beaumont and family and gnests,and escorted
by the Yeomanry Cavalry, drove to Whitley Beau-
mont, where a dinner party was given, and a reception
held in the evening.

On Monday the Duke of Albany attended a Pro-
vincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons at Huddersfield,
nearly 1,000 brethren of the craft behag present. In
replying to an aldress, his Royal Highness referred to
the warm welcome that had been extended to the
Duchess and himself on the occasion of their visit to
Yorkshire. Their Royal Highnesses were subse-
quently escorted by a Masonic procession to the rail-
way station on their return to London,

Port-au•Prinoe, or Port Republican, as it is some-
times 3alied, has a population of about 20,000. It is
the capital of the island of Hayti, and is situated on
the west coast, at the head of the Bay of Gonaives.
It rises imposingly from the shore, but with few excep-
tions consists of wooden houses of indifferent appear-
ance, ranged in spacious but dirty streets. The town
is ill built, squalid, and unhealthy. The streets are
cumbered with refuse, and *l-.e harbour is obstructed
with mud islands overgrown with mangrove shrubs.
The chief buildings are the President's house, the
Ssnate House, the hospital college, the Lyceum, the
Petit Seminaire, and the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1675 a terrible fire destroyed the best part of the
town. Its exports are coffee, cocoa, cotton, mahogany,
cam pechey, guayac gnw, &c. Jeremie, whence the
steamer A/rs was fired upon, is a seaport town of
Hayti, situated on its south west peninsula, and about
120 miles west of Port•au-Prince. It has a population
of about 5,000,