The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-31 00:00:00

KIDDERMINSTER TOWN COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of this Cou cil was Leld on
Wednesday, the Mayor (Alderman Biunian) in the
chair.

The Mayor read a letter foul the Lord Mayor of
London with reference to the fund for the defence
of property in Ireland, and announced that he had
received a letter also from the borough member, in
which he seemed to 4ympath6e with the movement,
and expressing willifigness to do any,hing to assist
it. The firm of Messrs. Brinton and Co. promised
a donation of •:.5 guineas to the fund. No resolution
was passed on the subject.
The Mayor next read a communication from the
Tecasury, requiring payment fr m the borough
treasurer of £147 1G J, expenses connected with
• he t ial of the municipal eketion petition, Slade and
Oth as v. Cha !wick,

Alderrnan Tempest.Radferd said i.e suppoFed that
,rasit fine they had to pay for the gross corruption
there had Leon in the borough, for it was 110 hing
tti,xe nor less that a fine upon those who conducted
,lectio s fairly to have to submit to a charge of
that kind, due to tlr.t bribery of those pf_-rsons who
had n-,t allowed elections to be cell ucted in a fair
and orderly mariner. He felt warmly on the mat-
t- r, i..eehtwe he had before taken steps, though not
in that case, to expose the means taken to contam-
inate the toreutzh. He was very sorry they had
another bill of costs of the kind. Rally might say
it w.ts 111 oupthittiuopno, ibauttht:hienchoyultdhenoptartraykewtdhitottitvaiset‘iv.
g ited the
of it. If there had been no offence there would
have b. en no necersity to vindicate the law, and it
there bad nA been any men endeavourin.,• to con-
tarni.ate a wh It constituency ihey should not have
wanted any laws respecting corrupt practices. He
a. ituaru magist ate rewarkithat it was a great
pity the nunt r was umv, d in ; but he said it would
have lr.en a disgrace to have passed it over. He ,
.;oul only regret that the r.itepztyers of Kidder-
minster ecre fined in 00n3equence of the gross ir-
regularity of those who had been gui;ty of corrupt
practices. No doubt the its-on taught by the late
uribery r.entences weuld he a warning, to all in
futu e. (Hear, hear.) He was sorry for those who
were seve;•ely punished, for they knew there were
many thousands who deserved to he in a similar
position.
Mr. Holloway endorsed the greater portion of
what the last speaker bad rs,:id. He thought those
who hid been guilty ;.f eN.aupt 1 ractices deserved
puni,h,nent, and in several instanc,s they had met
with severe punishment ; in the eyes of some
people it alight appear too severe. They might
1,.0k upon it that the £147 166 3d were filched from
the lutes for the express purpose of trying to purifiy
the borough, and he hoped it would have I hat effect.
Ile would be a bold man, a'ter the r; cent sentences,
who would attempt anything in the shape of bribery
and corruption again. He was very glad such
punishment had been given to those persons, and
he had no doubt it wt old be a wholesome lesson to
any 0,10 thug part in parliamentary and municipal
tie. tions in future.

The subject then dropped.
The Drainage and Water Works Committee re-
commended pa)ments to the amount of .4-.:664 8s 41
Mr. Spofforth's claim of £25 for injury to his horse
from a roadway giving way had, after some negotia-
tions with him, been reduced to £2l, and payment
of this sum • was recommended. The report was
adopted.
Mr. 1). Corbett, medical officer, reported 77 births
and 42 deaths In the last moth The death-rate
was 19.3, against 15.3 Ist 3 car. llure had been
one death from scarlet fever, and many fresh cases
had appeared. Every precaution was loirig taken
to provout the spread of the di3Lass.

The Improvement Committee recommended pay
ment of £ll3 us tin general account, and of £3Ol
lOs 5d on borough fund account. There had been
£468 7s 2d collected on general district rate account,
leaving £4.974 outstanding. The coma- it tee re-
commended The allowance of 8s lid, town
clerk's expetts?s in connection with Parliamentary
registration. The comtnittee recommended that the
widening ot the lower part of Comber:on Hill be
now carried out. Forty trees had been promised
for the emb-llishment and improvement of IBcwdley
Hill. The report was adopt 1, excepting the part
referring to the widening of the lower pact of Com-
bertan Hill.

Tbis lead to some discussion, Mr. Holloway ex-
pressing an opinion that private rights would be
interfered with by the alteration.
Several members of the Council replied to Mr.
Holloway, and this part o' the report was then
carried. . _ _

Alderman Terapest-Ra3ford said Alderman Willis
had a motion on the paper for a swimming bath. It
would be a capital place to have it in the hollow
ground on the side of Comberton Hill, and he be-
lieved they conld at the same time utilise the space
above it for other purposes. •
Mr, Holloway said if they used the ground for
purpose of a swimming bath, they should have his
property cheap.
The reports of the other committees were pre-
sented and adopted.
The report of the Free Library Comrnittea, read
by Mr. Greaves, showed that, there had been 3,244
issues of books from the lending library since Octo-
ber, and the number of borrowers was 690. . The
estimated attendance at the reading room was 200
per day. .
Upon the reirling of the Sanitary Inspector's re-
port, lderman Tempest-Radford suggested whether
it would be possible to reduce the charges for water
supply to cottages, and also for water-closets. If
the charge for the latter was lessened he thought
there would be more services put in, and the ex-
pense connected with the emptying of ashpits
would be decreased. _ _ .

Mr. Goodwin agreed that it would be a good thing
to revise the scale of charges for water-closets, and
said if this were done there would be two or three
where there was only.one now.
Mr. Herring advised that the matter should be
considered in committee and afterwards brought
before the Council ; and it was understood this
would be done.
A series of resolutions were down in Alderman
'Willis's name with reference to the baths. The
first one was regarding thesanitary condition of the
Turkish baths ; but Alderman Willis expressed him-
self satisfied with what been done to put it in a
proper state since he gave notice of his motion.
This resolution was withdrawn, as alz o was one
with respect to letting the baths.
The third resolution was as follows : " That it
be an instruction to the Baths and Washhouses
Committee to select and purchase a site for a com-
plete set of baths, including a large swimming bath,
not less than 100 ft. by GOft., and that the surveyor
be instructed to prepare plans, with esti:nate of
probable cost." This, after some dis2us,,,ion, was
carried, an amendment that no steps be taken in
the matter receiving only three votes.
During the discussion reference was made to the
rather warm remarks which passed at the last meet-
ing, and all supposed personalities were withdrawn