The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-12-13 00:00:00

THE ROWLEY SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION

The election of the first School Board for the
parish of Rowley Regis took place on Wednesday I
last. A list of candidates was agreed upon by the
representatives el the Church and Non :onformist
parties, and it was thought that the election would
pass on without a conteat, but the more advanced
secti..n of the Liberal party being diesatistied,
uomivated Mr. liadiey as their champion. 64ve-
rou meetings have been held in dmereut parts of
the parieh, and resolutions were unanimously
adopted approving of his candidature. On Tues-
day ingid a meeting was held in the Lndowed
&mould, Eakidall Hail, Rowley, under the presi-
dency of Mr. J. P. hunt, te advocate the ClaitllB 01
he ume eaadida.es already agreed to.
aim Cu:holism tu ills opening address, com-
p:awed that Aix. Hanley was one of the parties
agreehig to the list which would save the parish
Ws expense and turmoil of a contested election,
and then coining forward as an independent can-
didate. They were thus compelled to tight, and
the parish would have to pay a large sum for the
ejection. It was for the electors to say woo they
would have as.their representatives on the S.ehoot
Board. After questioning the propriety of the
etep taken by Mr. Hadley, the Chairman said that
as they were driven to a contest, the best thing
they could do was to vote for the nine candidates
selected by the representatives of both parties se
the parish. It was, he said, a sorry thing to admit
mat tuey could not take a man e word, and it
molted as it tuey were going back to the early
daps of civilisation—(applause).
air. R. ti. Slilitth one Of the candidates, next
addreeeed the ineetuig, and counselled his hearers
to snow their abhorrence of the conduct of their
opponent, by giving one vote each of the follow-
leg gentiouen : Aliment. W. Baesano, C. B. Hod-
' eetts, B. ktingley, ti. H. Hickman, U. Lewis, W.
Aorta, J. reun, R. IL Stnitu, and J. Whiteley.
Mr. U. blreen explained at some length the
aorta made to prevent a contested electiou, after
which

Mr. Thomas Homer made a vigorous attack
"tie sell-elected " leaders of bola Church and
Nonconlormist parties. He haklnt a word to say
against tie nine gentlemen selected for the Board,
in tact, he respected them very much, but, why,
ho &stied, did they not submit the list at a property
convened public meeting Personally speaking,
be was pieased with the gentlemen seiected as
eandidates, but he strongly objected to a few in-
dividuals taking upon themselves to speak and
act tor tne wawa parish. By their 'conduct many
of the leading imusoitants had been insulted,
whilst the great majority of the iuhabitants had
been iguored—(appiatse). The programine had
aiipareutly been cut said dried, mid the great
eiuutier committed was not caning a public meet-
ing and consulting the wishes in those who had a
right to have a voice in the matter. Again, Mr.
A. It. Baas had issued is bits, which looked very
much like a threat, tor in it lie said, there was
littie or no chance oh any one being elected to the
.13.aud other than those he approved of. All he
(air. Homer) asked tor was that they should be
treated as ra.t.epayers, and although they were not
ail rich 10011, 110 doubt the poor men had as much
goon judguicnk as their more favoured neighbours
—Wad tippiausej—and theretore had a claim to
be buAtitULC,l when an ejection was about to take
place, in which they must all feel a deep interest
—(apptause). They must not now-adays measure
a man by the quality of his cloth or the length ox
his purse—(hear, hear). lie repeated that the
ratepayers geaerally ought to have been consulted
earlier; and he was satisfied that had that been
done there would have been no contest—(hear
Lear). He threw the whole responsibility of the
contest on the shoulders of Mr. Barrs, whose seal
in the matter had outstretched his discretion.
Mr. A. H. Barre said Mr. Hadley had deceived
them. He was present at the meeting when it
was decidel to adoptlthe nine candidates, and lie
raised no objection to them. He approved of the
list, and now he had turned round and gone
against the men he had promised to snpport. A
man that was not true to his word was a Judas
Iscariot. . - -

Other speakers followed, and a vote of thanks
to the Chairman ended the meeting, which was
not a very orderly one.

On Wednesday the polling took place. There
were ten places appointed for the votes to be
taken. There was but little excitement manifes-
ted until the afternoon, when numbers of persons
could be seen round the various polling places.
r- any of the booths there appeared to be a
strong l'.'ling in favor of the selected nine, but at
Blackheath and Crsdley Heath, Mr. Hadley, the
" Woxking Man's Candidate," as he was designa-
ted, seemed to have a considerable number of
supporters. The result, however, was not made
known untily Thursday last, when it was published
at Dudley by Mr. Thomas Allen, Clerk to the
Dudley Board of Guardians. The following are
the figures ;—Mr. Hadley (Independent Noncon-
formist candidate), 3,084; Mr. W. Bassein)
(Churchman), 2,152; Mr. Lewis (Churchman),
1,591 ; Mr. B. Hingley (Churchman), 1,407; Mr.
Hodgetts (Churchman), 1,335; Mr. Whitley (Non-
conformist (1,309) ; Mr. no= (Nonconformist),
1,2101; Mr. W. North (Nonconformist), 1,191 •
Mr. Hickman (Churchman), 1,146 ; Mr. R. If.
Smith (Nonconformist), 1,145. The first nine
gentlemen are elected; Mr. Smith being the tenth
on the pull.