The Portland daily press., 1870-12-05

We publish the reasons urged by the pet
toners for the division of Westbrook. The
division line is the same as last year:
FIRST The size of the town, the number OF
IS inhabltauts, (Dow nearly seven thousand }
rs iarge valuation, the character and extent 0
Is bi hways, make it nnwieldy under q town
iza.ion, while from it's situation and di
versty of interests, a city charter is impracti-
cable.
Second, On account of the large number OF
voters, our town meetings have become I'm
wleldy Assem- blIes, often exposing our eli liens
to great discomfort and inconvenience, detaln-
ing them unreasonably at the polls, and sub
i-cting them to great 1855 OF time. And this
- hut small part OF the evil, for the town bust
ness is often hastily and inconslderately die
posed of in the necessary confusion and tn
cult OF such an assembly.
THIRD. There is too much business to be
done at our annual meetings. As many as fifty
lis met articles have been contained in on.
warrant for an annual town me etiDg, many O
tbem calling for appropriations OF consdera-
BILE sums of money, for repairs and improve
ments, and these matters OF business have re
lated to localities scattered over sixty-eight
miles of road and thirty-three square mics of
territory, many OF which in each section were
totally unknown to the citizens of the other
and about which they were as Indifferent as
with the affairs of ANOTHER town, except to get
rid of liability and expense. And We have suff
damages to indemnify persons who have sus-
tainsd injuries in consequence Of the indffer-
erent manner of transactlng our town business
necessarily attendant upon its enormous ex
tent
Fourth, the town as whole has no centre.
either busIress, social or municipal, but is
composed of two sections, between which the
proposed line makes the natural division, leav-
ing on either side two villages or communities
of nearly equal size; each with outlylngfarm.
ing country. aud each having interests and
al ms of its own, which are different from those
of the other-and as a consequence of this di
v-rsiry, each community, naturally regarding
he affairs of the other with Indifference, and
in many cases with jealousy, there has arisen
between the two sections, an i'll feeling, which
has been Of late increasing and we can see no
possible relief from this evil, except by divi
sion of the town, and we believe that this will
cause no conceivable injury to either section,
for each will make town among the largestin
the State, in respect to wealth and population
Filth, our public schools are naturally ovid
ed in like manner with the other affairs of the
own, and those of each section we believe
should be superntepded by the citizens of thai
pay oi me town to which they belong.
o,A'n, we 90 not wish to share with the peo-
PIE OF tne western section the duties and re-
<pOnsibilites, incident to the manaoemeot ot
their local concerns, but prefer to he a distinct
community. and discharge the dut,es which
our own affairs impose upon us, untrammelled
DIV the OplulUuS VI WisucS Oh The other
Seventh, And for proof of the alJeeations
above submitted, we need only to refer to the
history of our own town affairs. Our town
house was located only after long aud angry
sectional contest between the same sections
now contending for and against division.
And recently, when we petitioned the last
Legislature for relief from the difficulties OPP
pressing US, we we're met not In the spirit
which citizens of the same town should meet
each other, but at the very first meeting, by
the most extraordinary conduct, that forever
rent asunder and divided the citizens of the
two sections from each other. And this fact
has been apparent at every town meeting held
since that time. We were misrepresented at
the Legislature, and members of that honora-
bic body were led to believe by those misrep-
reservations that the movement to divide the
town, was the project of few designing men
Tor purely selfish purposes, and that the great
majority OF the petitioners were indiffer emit
ABOUT the matter, and were not sincerely seek
ing relief from evils. and endeavoring to bring
about much needed reforms This compels us
now to reiterate all we have said in our former
petition, and to assure the Honorable Senate
and House Of Representatives that we again