The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-09 00:00:00

consequence was that the neighbourhood of Old Hill
was too dirty and smoky for him to live in. Now, if he
thought they were not worthy of living amongst, he
(Mr. Best) hoped they would not consider Mr. Green
worthy of voting for. (Hear, hear, and applause.) He
was quite sure, too, that they would say that the worst
thing the candidates on the other side ever did was to
ally themselves to the Unitarian Green League.
(Laughter.) They were mere puppets or figures in a
show, and Mr. George Green was tip man who pulled
the strings. (Continued laughter and cheering.)
The Rev. James Ormiston supported the motion.
He thought it would be a disastrous thing if Mr. George
Green were returned, and it would be much worse if he
were made Chairman of the Board as representing the
majority. Of all the men on the opposite side, Mr.
Green was the one who should be left out in the cold.
(Hear, hear.) He had before him a handbill, in which
Mr. Green made extracts from the hymn book in use at
the School Board schools. The extracts, however,
were made in a very unfair manner, and inconvenient
words were left out. The rev, gentleman gave proofs of
this, and he charged Mr. Green with taking the course
he had to suit his purpose. It was a document which
he certainly expected that Mr. Edwards at least would
have repudiated. He little thought, after such a bill
had been issued, that the whole of the candidates would
continue to be bracketted together with Mr. Green as
their leader. He should be glad to hear at the meet-
ing to be held on the morrow that there wus a repudia-
tion of Mr. Green and his infidelity. (Cheers.)
The motion was then put to the meeting and carried
unanimously.
A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceed-
ings.
Meetings was held by both parties in various parts of
the parish on Monday, and a number of squibs were
issued by both sides. The Liberal party appeared confi-
dent as to the result. Early on Tuesday morning a
great number of vehicles of every description were
engaged bringing up the voters, and both sides appeared
to work hard to get their men elected. An additional
staff of police were in attendance in case of a disturbance
but happily their services were not required as the *hole
affair passed off quietly with the usual hooting, d:c.
Both parties appeared confident and on Wednesday,
morning the candidates attended at the Town Hall,'
Dudley, with their friends to hear the
DECLARATION OF THE 'POLL. .
Mr. Thomas Allen; (Returning Officer). said the•l
number of papers placed in the ten boxes was 3,511, and '
out of them 154 were rejected.
The number of votes given for each candidate was—
Bassano, 3,687; Ker, 3.538; Hingley, 3,297 ; Hunt.
3.256; Bradley, 3,255 ; Green, 3,076; Edwards, 2,664 ;
Hadley, 2,403; Whltley, 2,387; North, 2,288.
The total number of votes recorded was 29,751, and
Mr. Allen declared that the first nine were elected mem-
bers of the School Board.
The rejected candidate, Mr. North, is a Noncon-
formist, and a coalmaster, residing in Dudley.
The party pledged to support the policy of the late'
Board head the poll.
At the close of the proceedings at the Dudley Town
Hall, Mr. Bassano 'proposed a vote of thanks to the
Returning Officer, for his very courteous and efficient
conduct in the performance of a very onerous duty.
He also wished to recognise the fair and impartial con-
duct of the whole of the presiding officers.
Mr. 'George Green secoaded the motion, and said he
was perfectly satisfied with what Mr. Allen had done,
and he did not think the duty of a Returning Officer
could have been better discharged. He could also
endorse what had been said with respect to the pre-
siding officers. He went round to all the booths except
one, and saw nothing to complain of.
Mr. Allen, in responding, said he was pleased at the
manner in which they had spoken of his performance
of the duties of Returning Office. It had been his
endeavour to carry out those duties in accordance with
the Act, and he was glad that the steps he had taken
met witk their approval.
The first meeting of the Board is fixed to take place on
the 22nd inst.