The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-09-15 00:00:00

anal Counl4 expren.

TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 15, 1874.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

MONEY MARKET, THIS Div. We desire to draw special attention to the
j)lacoUM demand moderate. Threemontisbilis charged announcement that September 27th has been
selected as 1108PITAL SUNDAY in Dorset. Of all
- the fashions of the day we know of none so
METROPOLITAN CATTLE.—Turs DAY. commendable as that of appointing a time when,
About 6,000 beasts. including 3,500 foredo, Trade. in various Places of worship, appeals shall be
firm -Inferior, Ia to ; prime.it6i 61. 741. ttir. made and contributions taken for the same
trio& ssaheleP.ra. 6cl. Gives wield atntiert:oweis.44Bd. ; piss object. A hospital appeals with peculiar force
to ss. 4d.'tosilclasses,forsufferingisofnopartyorrank,
1 and its alleviation is at ones a Christian duty
and a humane undertaking. Our Dorset County
Hospital is worthy of the best support, and we
trust that there will not be a single place of
worship in the county but whose congregation
will be given the opportunity, and be moved to
its exercise, of adding to the funds of that noble
institution on September 27th. Although
unanimity in the appeal may be most desirable,
circumstances may in some cases prevent it, but
what we hope is this, that if the date suggested
is impracticable the "more convenient season"
will not be indefinitely postponed.
For years the people of Dorchester have
mourned over the rigidity of the borough
boundaries, owing to the land of the Duchy of
Cornwall encircling the town, and hoixil for the
time when expansion would be practicable. We
are glad to say the opportunity now arises. In
response to the Town Council memorial, asking
the Prince of Wales to continue to the inhabi-
tants the free enjoyment of Poundbury and
Maumbury Rings, and setting out the need there
exists for building sites and accommodation land,
the reply read at the last meeting of the Cor-
porate body is most satisfactory. The Council
are gently told their zeal for the monuments
oi antiquity" is altogether unnecessary, and
indeed a reflection on the Prince and his
for they are quite safe in the hands of His noial
Highness; and the gratifying intelligence is
given that 250 acres of Fordington Field have
been reserved fur building plots and accommoda-
tion land for the present tenants of the field and
others. Since that time we have learnt that the
plan and particulars of the proposed letting are
prepared, and may now be seen by anybody who
chooses. The large space devoted to our local
requirements is most considerate on the part of
the Prince and the Duchy Council, and we hope
that the terms will be so easy and the plots so
convenient that the letting will readily follow,
and prove a boon to the town.
The impromptu complaint and inquiry which
took place before the Dorchester Town Council
last week deserve a passing notice, for they very
strongly point the moral we have often striven
to enforce, that the borough is over officered.
Mr. T. S. Morgan who holds a sale of stock by
auction every Wednesday in the fair field, and
has done so for several years past, came before
the Council to complain that the Collector of
Tolls refused his cheque for the nuirket dues,
and that the Supt. of Police threatened to seize
the stock brought to him for sale. Mr. Morgan
at the same time exhibited the cheque endorsed
good by Messrs. Williams, on whose bank it was
drawn. Surprise and indignation were naturally
excited, and. the Collector, the Superintendent,
and finally the Treasurer were called before the
meeting. From the manner in which the matter
Was sifted, it partook of the character of a case
with "witnesses out of court," for each one was
called separately. The result appeared to be
this—Mr. Morgan would pay by cheque by order
of the Borough Treasurer, and said he would not
draw one for loss than £1 to save the bankers
trouble; so that if the tolls of one week were
18a. 9d., as in this instance, he wished the
Collector to lot that sum stand over till after the
following Wednesday's sale, when he would pay
for two weeks. The Collector demanded pay-
ment for each day's sale at its close and in cash,
while the Superintendent, (who is Clerk of the
Market), threatened to seize his stock, as
Mr. Morgan and the Collector said, or
told him he was liable to have it seized as the
Superintendent himself avemxl. The Collector,
we should also say, after hearing the Superin-
tendent, would not be curtain as to the precise
words that ()thew used. But, as Alderman
Galpin very pertinently observed, it is important
to know by what authority this demand and this
threat were made. The Collector admitted that
up to this time Mr. Morgan had always paid by
cheque, save, we believe on one occasion, and
that the other auctioneers paid in the same way
at their pleasure; yet, last Wednesday, simply
of his own notion he refused any but a cash pay-
ment, and took with him the Clerk of the Market
to enforce his pleasure. The system which
permits of such an arbitrary exercise of authority
is at fault, and requires amendment. But the
position taken up by the Superintendent seem
altogether untenable. He certainly had no
authority to seize the stock Mr. Morgan was
about to sell, though the Collector is empowered
to take possession of any goods belonging to a
person refusing to pay toll and sell the same by
auction ; but even the Collector could not seize
the stock in regard to whicis Mr. Morgan was
simply the vendor's agent. So far as we can
read the bye-laws the chief duty of the Clerk of
the Market under our present system is to " pre-
; serve the peace and good order of the market."
• How far he acted in that sense on Wednesday
; we will leave our readers to judge. The
! Treasurer' it is clear, was quite right in refusing
to take the cheque from Mr. Morgan direct—it
would have complicated the accounts, and have
I been a precedent that might involve him in much
I needless trouble. But Mr. Weston never had,
and had not any idea of refusing to receive a
cheque of Mr. Morgan, through the Collector as
ee much cash which in feet it was. The diffi-
culty was inade by the Collector and the clerk.
In the carrying oç of business the inhabitants
of the borough Apo Antitled to every proper
faaility being afforded them, rather than that
they should be hampered by tiresome, reftrictions
and subjected to potty annoyances; giod WO
believe that if the borough would but be content
with the milder glory of county police and fewer
officers, the town would be as equally well
served and at least cost of purse and temper.
The marvellous facilities that fashionable sea-
side resorts afford for getting credit have been
again exemplified at Weymouth. At the March
&matzos of 1873 • yery petty swindler—Maria
Trutch—who got cheap lodging., a fowlandeggs,
and a set of false teeth on credit, by pretending
to have an incomeshe had not, andriels relations
who were no more to her than Adam, wan
awarded five years' penal servitude, but the
severity of the sentence seems in no ways to
diminish the number of those easy-going people
who are "waiting for something to turn up,"
' and meantime enjoy themselves with the good
things of this life regardless of the cost and their
inability to pay; indeed, utter impecuniosity
r seems to engender recklessness of the most
wanton character. Fur several weeks past at
Weymouth, the whereabouts of Colonel Holt,
; who is blest with a mother-in-lap' and four
sisters-in-law, had been is subject of earnest
• inquiry amongst Weymouth tradesmen, amid the
interest in the family party culminated in the
I arrest of Mrs. and the Misses McDermott as
:!uty were About to quit the town by an early
train. They perk charged with obtaining goods
by false sti,:•esscie? and, without the least desire
to Prc:ijuilg.i the aw ra sy y -because it is
prow ey got large estrisaitiec goods of
various kinds without paying 64 tha°,4l'
during the time this wen ..r0
t on, efforts
to borrow money and there were frequent .
to the pawnshop. However, all these credits
may be mere indebtedness. The offence of false
pretences is a very delicate one, turning on
the truthfulness or otherwise of matters of
fact. It would seem that the Colonel is a
half pay officer, and that the Mc.Deruious
freely referred to their estates in Ireland with a
considerable rent-roll; and that it was belief in
this Irish property and rents which caused the
tradesmen of Weymouth to trust them. If they '
have an estate in the sister isle, it seems to us
that the line between swindling and debt will
have to be very finely drawn. It is true the
prosecution have another string to their bow,
and it is the serious one of felony, in that the
McDermott's when flitting carried off some of
their landlady's knives and spoons. The care-
lessness of a servant in packing, or want of dis-
crimination on the part of 80111 U of the young
ladies themselves may be au answer to this, but
there the charge is, and the property was found
in their boxes. But what we want to say is this
—the eager competition which prevails amongst
tradesmen in watering places involves them in
risks that are not worth running. Any strangers
of respectable appearance and address, can get
credit for months, and the tradesmen only vie
with each other for the honour of serving them.
But it is not legitimate competition. Visitors
worth serving, who come to the seaside for a few
weeks or months, will pay cash, or at any rate
weekly, for what they require; and they can be
properly and fairly reached by the legitimate
means of advertisements and circulars and with-
out either personal solicitation or being" got
at" through lodging-house keepers: and if

INTERMENT OF THE LATE MR. CHARLES
GILPIN, M.P.
The remains of the late Mr. Charles Gilpin. M.P. for
Northampton, were this (Monday) afternoon interred in
the Friend's Cemetery. Wuzehmore.

SHOCKING MURDER IN IRELAND.
• farmer, named liamlon eras shot deed at Ms own door Wit
Sunday night et Armagh, County Tippermy, by hie Motile/An-
-11. ael Burke.