The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-03 00:00:00

KIDDERMINSTER TOWN COUNCIL.

The last meetiug. of the !dove fo the municipal
year was held on Wednesday.
The Mayor (Mr. G. W. Grosvenor) presided, and
proposed that a letter of condolence should be sent
to Mr. Alderman Binnion on the sad and sudden
death of his wife, which happened last Saturday
afternoon, whilst Mr. Binnion was attending the
funeral of the late Mr. J. H. Chamberlain at Bir-
mingham.
The motion was seconded by Mr, Alderman Lees,
and carried unanimously.
Mr. H. Dixon read the report of the Drainage
Committee, which recommended the payment of
accoun's amounting to ..t1,786 88 9d. There had
been collected on account of the water rate
£166 17a 7d, leaving £l,OlO 17s 7d to be col-
lected

The report was adopted.
The report of the Improvement Committee,
which was read by Mr. Herring contained a recom-
mendation to the effect that they should advertise
for a person to act as curator of the To .vn Hall and
municipal budiing,s, at a salary of 042140 per year.
It also acknowledged the receipt o a deed of a
fonntain at Blakebrook, which had been erected at
the expense of Mr. Goodwin.'
The latter gentleman said he was rather sur-
prised that they should have the deed in their
possession. lie had had it written out, and had in-
tended to present it when the fountain was
finished.

Mr, Herring, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said that what they formerly p 'id to the
curator of the public buildings And to those, who
cleaned the premises amounted to Xl2O per year.
He thought it would be better to have the whole of
the work under one person's control.
Mr. Greaves seconded the m)tion, and it was
carried.

The Medical Officer of Health reported that there
had been 65 births during the month, against 71 in
the corresponding period last year. The number of
deaths in the month was 22, or 11.215 in the thou.
sand, against 30 or 10.19 in the thousand for the
corresponding month last year. There were 20
cases of measles at Thobrook, and he thought it
probable the disease would spread to the town.
The Mayor congratulated the Council upon the
lowness of the death-rate. He saw that the Mayor
of Derby had been congratulating the Corporation
of that town upon their death-rate being only 14 in
the thousand. That showed that the death-rate at
Kiddertninster was really very much below the
average.
Alderman Coxon read the report of the Baths
Committee, which recommended the payment of
accounts amounting to £25 Gs 6d. The receipts
amounted to Hs for the Turkish baths, and
£47 Is 51d for the ordinary baths. He moved the
adoption of the report, and congratulated the
Council upon the fact that the baths were beginini•
to pay th,ir way. The lo3s on the baths during
1881 was .£235 5s ; during 1882 it was £2Bl. 12s;
and during 1883 the amount was £147 13s 10d. He
believed that next year the loss would not amount
t) as much as £5O

Mr. W. It Green seconded the report, which
was adopted. _

The idayor remarked that there was nothing
mentioned in the report with reference to a sc:ieme
for new baths,

Alderman Coxon thought that Wa3a matter that
should be left for a new committee.

The report of the Free Library Committee was
read by Mr. Greaves, It stated that 463 volumes
had recent'y been added to the lending department
of the Free Library. In moving the adoption of
the report, he stated thlt the committee had drawn
up a comcarative statement as to the book s issued
during the year, and fro:n this it appeared that
there had been upwards of 14,000 issues of works of
fiction out of a total of 16,347. The committee had
done their best to meet the public taste and he
took it that it was their duty to do that, so' long as
they saw that no works of an immoral character
were in the library. The committee also recom-
mended that a librarian should be engaged at a
salary of £B5 per year. He stated that it was pro-
posed to have the library open all day in the future
instead of for a few hours on three nights of the
week as at present.
The report was ackpted.
The report of the Watch Committee included an
annual report from the Chief of Police. The latter
stated that the total cost of the police establish-
ment for the year was £1,750 4s 2(1. The number
of persons proceeded against for indictable offences
during the year was 27, being a decrease of 2 as
compared with the previous year. There had been
562 persons proceeded: apinst summarily, a de-
crease of ten has compared with last year. Ninety-
three had been summoned for drunkenness. Seven
licensed victu tilers and seven beerhouse-keepers
had been summoned. All the former were con-
victed, and six of the latter; and in one case a
license was endors-?d. As assistant relieving officer
he (the Chief of Police) had relieved 2,783 tramps
during the year, which was a decrease of 2,423
compared with last year.