The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-08 00:00:00

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THE Sr )L7IUItIDG-E BURIAL BARD
AND THE EXI'RAS.

A vestry ne-ting of the ra‘epayera of Sfoir-
bridge was held n tiie Cora F:xchange oti St r.iLY
2:wining, for tit, purpose of reeei.:inr a statement
from the members of the Baial Boar] as to fa.:
charge for extr,,4 .at the colnetc.T, aud to coq-
sider an appl.eAlon Ciotti the Board for leave
borrow a fur ler sum f --f11:TO to tr.,4.1 the row
The Rev. C S. Wo:d,,worth (rector of 01's ,inf(Td]
to k the Cl air, md said 11;a: he (ould 1, gal' ra:ia
that p,,siirr, if he hose to do a, Lt as ' e as a
member of the Burial Board he prefer'', d to tee
somtion- else in 4-,e ely-dr

Mr. Kelly proposed thit Mr. Al'sop should tak,
th:. chair.

This was seconded lor Mr. Shepherd.
Mr. G. W. Pres-tott (soliitor) said h. shou:d obj et
t, the -huffling of the cards in this uay. Li tic
Al.sop att. Inpted to take the chair h s ould cbtr.aild
a poll on tht. matt..r, and they s' out I 13, alt.( have
tta quest'on settled be ore nything C s was done
He also protcs'. d agait.st the imp toper t me at
which th.- inee,ing had been call 'd, at e', ven
o'clock that moraine. If Mr. Alisop attwayed to
take ti.e chair he should Pnt,r his prote.t agaiast
hi, doing so, and wake a demand for a R,ll to be
taken He had a right to deinan.l a troll.
Mr. She:dit-rd : Let it be c needed.
Mr. Prescott- : I shan't have it conreded. Y u
won't drive ice from my po-ition. I am stri thy
aid legally right, and I defy y uto deny it. Th re
vs as an cxpress untiertaking that no pubic mt-eti g
in.respeet to this matter should take plt ce tither in
Thursday or Saturday. Th-re are tu`..y the or
four persons here ex,:t lit the members of the B tart
to decide a m -Ater relatir to £l, 000 Trwre s tiO
pm-son her who is th-roughly di-ir,terested. Mr.
Pr( scot went on to 3ty Oa- th.?. Cou.t cil's opi.tion
that had been obtained up ,n the mater of rai.iin,g
the mon-v for the extra, by the Buri ti Board was
not worth the paper that it was written ou.—Mr.
Allsop then t k the chair.
Mr Belly to:d Mr Pr,scott that if he thought
they were going to sit there all day on account of
his int ert-up:ion, he woukk find himself_ mistaken.

_
Pres-eo t snici he did not ask hint anything
he (Mr. Prescott) was not the- tool of any clique. (A.
Voic,. . ‘•Cltiestion

Mr. Shepherd (to th Clerk) : Enter it upon the
min •tes of th • ptoceedinis hat Mr PrescAt de-
mand, a poll.

Ater some other ship p,ss.o.tes between Mr.
Prescott at,d Mr. Stieverd, the latter read the
notice calling t ie Meetiug, awl explained thit he
had the mi fortune an ; • orrow !0 com hfo e tb in
to ask them to •flow the Boa: d to te r:ow a !honsand
p unds to (liable them to get rid of Ilia difficulties
they h•d ex periene..n in co.rr,)inz througb
ore ton of the e,!:net,.3ry chapels, lodg, &.e.. The
Board entered into a c ,ntrae• with Mr. Guest,
builder on April 7th, 1877. and that con met was
pined in the hauls of Mr. S.n.thnan Smith a., th,4 •
arAitect. [hey ad borrow; d £I3OLIO. an 1 :£5,0,13
for the carryint. out of the a ork, nE.; th
land, &c., and b ieved th; se bums were amply
sufficient for ',heir pa pose. Sine th, work had
ben convoeted—on tae 3rd May, 1870 Mr. Guest
sent in a elalin for £032 13s. 61. for extras. Tr.e
Boacci wer-. totally unp;epared or such a (lain], a
they I.elieved they had thero /ghly secured them-
selves from anything of the I:ind occurring. Ago ;d
deal of eorrespor,dence ensued between the parties,
and Mr. Guest. employed a so!ieitor, and negotia-
tions were cart jet on for a long :iwe. Th, result
was that the B ,ard had a. length cone to th- con-
clusion to roc mm nd the parish o pay Mc. Guest
£t-300 in fall d scharge of his claim.
Mr. Prescott : After hating denied your liability
Mr. Sh-pherd :We denied our lialili y s far
that the orders for the -.,,Nt! as lad n t been g7een by
the Board. Mr shepherd then went on t idive
lengthy statement as to low the orders for the
extras were given, ant said the Board had no
knowledge of building, ad were fattirely in the
han sof their architect After making the me.st
c ireful investi- ation they found that if a compro-
mise were no entered into the resu t would be some
exc;?, dingly expensive litigation proceedings, and
nsidered that (in the whole, it would be touch
wiser for the ratep ;yers to settle the matter on the
terms now propos, d than t go on and in olve the
town in a snit, the end of %Ili, h inigh4- be doubtful,
and which could not fail *o result in consid-rable
ex-ense. Mr. Guest said the work was done, audit
was there for any .ae to .e.., and his cha;ge was a
p ;rfectly hone.t one; end he (Mr. Shepherd) was
satisfied that th:s was true. For that reason he
s ;•;uld propose that the mee, ing approve of the
payment to Mr. Goes, of the .£6OO, as prop ~ad,
Mr. Prescott contended that it was not necessary
to make the payment. The architect e oild not
pledge the Board to pay for these extras withou
th- knowledge of te meml.ers.
Mr. F, Evds -econdcd the resolution.
Mr. Present: It is proposed by one member of
the Burial &mid an-1 sec ,nded by anothe7.
Mr. Kelly said he was a ltti 'e surprised tat those
items were so large ; ath ha was hr avoiding
litigation, and thought they could not do .bettet
than pay the money.
Mr. Prese-tt said t'.ey had had qui' e enough of
Mr. Kelley's jobbery in he pliee,
Mr. Kel ey : I am inciependen,. o• ya ; ,n 1 evely-
one else.

Mr. Prescott: I am not talking about indepen-
dence ;I am tasiking about facts.

_
Mr. Ke:ley : Then I say it is a lie.
The Chairman That settles it.

Mr. Preseo,t: Tc questam i 3 not s' Wed; it ha,.
to wire before the mAg etrat•.s and be oc t e
auditor.

The Cha7rman o Mr. Prescott) : I wa.l about to
say a word, b It you
.would not let me. You are
rather tuo fa.t inipting motives to every irody.
The re.o.ution wai put to the meeting and
earriel.

A second resoluti,n was put to the meetinr,
asking those present to au horise the tioird to pv
£2OO tiMr. Swaim-an Smith, the wchi:• ct.
Mr. Shepheed made a statement, with reference
to this latter.

M. Prescott frequen'ly iuterupted the rroceecnitz:i
AV on one occasion the Rev. C. S. Wordsworth
called him t o der.

Mr. Prescott turned round on him, ;.nd asked him
what h.-. 1 bad to do with it. He s it " I cull yOu the
')1(18w:1"T'i pup ; you are rector nw, bat you won't
be rector for long."
The motion Was put to the meeting and carried.
A resolution wit-4 carried empowe.ing the Burial
Bo .rd to pay £2OO for additional works. that re-
at the cemetery. A fourth 'res; n
,(I,,,i,tproellj vcdiTng ew
iig the Board to borrow £l,OOO to ci eiray
th f' above ch,.rges was al o cartied.
mr. t'res-ott denihnded th:t a p ii should take
„'tee all the whole of the resolutions, and this was
Ledf.. r Monday, the 10th inst.—There were about
thirty Pers"s present.

PitorosED Masoste Hirt. AND attn.—We are
iofortued that Mr. Vir. J. Turney has taken up the
lefi3c? ~f. Y:-c,,tirtuci 11..,u,.e. with the view of ulilising
s
premises for a Matouic Hall aid Club, after the
m.:nuer of ti;e une establihed recently at Hilder-
cl..rvcill,urbi
fl:ititiaat
sl,toen!)
towards
ntrdas
in nster,. The pr: wises ,re admirably'adapted for
le;sideraturn in Stourbridge. Mr, Turney's , public
u., doubt, 1--,:o to ine fi4CC.:is
:o;ll7;eitibi:ateulrpli:rio(i:ssia)enok,,ai:l,o;n:di.,ta.i:%Eli,ii.iallipingopc,:
,- • .
DRUNK. AND DisoRDEBLY.—At the Police Cott t,
ycikteroay, bet,re Col. ll' t :her and •Mr. J. 8,
Cochrane, • John •Knowits was charged with b2ing
drunk 4nd disorder]," on the 30th- ult. Polioe-oon,.