The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-01-11 00:00:00

IN HONOUR OF MISS BURDETT
COUTTS !

There was considerable excitement in Columbia.
square, Bethnal-green, London, on Saturday night.
The tenants of the four blocks of buildings forming the
square united in making a general illumination, and in
testifying in other ways their joy at the certainty of
their being enrolled amongst the "free and inde-
pendent" electors of Hackney. For this result they
are almost entirely indebted to their wisely benevolent
landlady. Mies Burdett Coutts, Although Mr.
Stuart Mill did not succeed in giving to her the pri-
vilege of voting as a "person," she has determined
that those members of the labouring class who are in
any way connected with her model lodging-house
scheme shall have whatever benefit was obtainable for
them from the Reform Act of last session.
So far back as October last, Miss Burdett Coutta
had a circular distributed to all her tenants, and in it
she gave them full information respecting the famous
"personal payment" clauses. She took care to ex-
plain that by the law she had ceased to be a "com-
pound householder," and that their relations with her
had become those of " occupiers " to an "owner."
By the altered law they were bound to pay the rates,
but were entitled to deduct from the rent which they
paid to her collector. In a second circular, dated 12th
December lad, she informed her tenenta that the
vestry of Bethnal-green had separately rated each
of them for the relief of the poor, and that

their names would be registered accordingly.
Having learned that itawould be legal for the vestry
to receive the rates from her RA their authorised
agent, and feeling that it might be very incon-
venient to them to have to pay their rites quarterly
(whilst they paid their rents weekly), she stated that
oho had instructed the collector to receive the rents as
before, and would cause the rates to be regularly de-
ducted and paid to the parish for each of them. Be-
sides being thus careful of the interests of her tenants,
she was in this anxious to lessen the heavy expenses
of the parish in collecting the rates. She intimated
that in order to enable her to carry out the arrange-
ments it was requisite for them to sign a paper re.
pirating her to become their agent, and as such to pay
their rates. That everything might be clear and
understandable, she ordered that new weekly rent
books should be supplied, with double money columns,
showing how much the tenantry paid to the collector
for rent, and how much to meet the rates due to the
Parish.

Still further to add to their fulness of knowledge
respecting the relationship existing between "owners"
and " occupiers "of houses and tenements under the
new Reform Acts Miss Burdett (*onus had printed
and distributed amongst her tenantry, an extract from
an important circular addressed by the Poor-law
Board to overseers of parishes.
The tenantry, sensible of the importance of the com-
munications which they had received from their land-
lady, held a meeting on December at which a
resolution was unanimously adopted, expressing the
opinion that Miss Burdett Omits was deserving of
the grateful thanks of her tenantry for having aided
them in obtaining the benefits of citizenship, and for
having voluntarily defrayed all the expenses attendant
upon their being put upon the electoral roll. It was
further resolved that, in honour of the generosity of
their landlady, all the buildings in Columbiaatinare
should be illuminated on Saturday, January 4, 1868.
On Saturday this last resolution was carried out most
successfully.