A GENERAL AND DISTRICT RATE, _in lieu of old Town Rate_, of 1s.
in the Pound.
A HIGHWAY RATE of 10d. in the Pound. These will be more than
sufficient to meet the expenditure heretofore paid out of the
Town and Highway Rates.
The writer wishes to make you believe that the cost of Salaries
is entirely additional under the present Board.
He knows that this is not the case, and he also knows that the
amount payable under the Board of Health, under this head, will
be less, including Professional Charges, than under the Town
Commissioners.
The writer would deceive you as to the amounts to be paid for
Drainage, &c., and the desirability of such expenditure. I
cannot say at present what this expenditure may amount to; but
the largest amount--efficiently expended in Drainage--will
be the most economical to the Parish, when the saving to the
Poor Rates, from the prevention of disease and death, is taken
into account. Upon this point, let me again quote the words
of the Medical Gentleman already alluded to (not the Officer
of Health):--"_The inhabitants of this Town are ill prepared
to withstand the onslaught of Cholera, which would be brought
to our very doors by living in such a tainted and impure
atmosphere as that which exists in the very centre of the
Town._"
The writer of the Handbill does not tell you, that whatever may
be the expenditure of the Board of Health, it will always have
to be audited by a Public Officer, and the Balance Sheets open
to the inspection of any Ratepayer.
The Handbill would deceive you again in reference to the stake
in the Parish which those proposed as guardians on the List
nominated by Messrs. Dixon and Lester possess.
He again insinuates, where he dares not assert. What will you
think of this insinuation, when I tell you that there are Four
Persons on that List, each of whom pays separately, three of
them as individuals, and one as Agent of a Company, a larger
amount of local taxation, as far as the Parish of Dudley is
concerned, than the entire Ten upon the opposite List.
I regret exceedingly, that I should be obliged thus even to
allude to a matter which may appear to be personal, but I am
compelled to do so. It would be false delicacy to shrink from
the exposure of the deceit contained in the Handbill. I am
ready at any moment to confront the writer, and to prove, not
only every statement I here make, but also any inference I have
drawn therefrom.
For myself, I can only say, that personally I have no motive
to serve in allowing myself to be nominated as one of your
Guardians. If you honor me by election, I shall earnestly
strive to fulfil the duties so imposed--but how painful those
duties are, they only know who have accompanied me over the
Poor House in this Town, which, I hesitate not to say, is a
disgrace to humanity, and to the intelligence of the present
day. The hours which I have spent within its walls have been
amongst the most painful of my life, and there is, I am sure,
no Ratepayer who would accompany the Visiting Committee in
their periodical inspection of it, who would not most earnestly
labour for its removal, as a religious duty which he dared not
neglect.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
S. H. BLACKWELL.
_Dudley, March 31st, 1854._
This disgraceful strangling of common sense and prostitution of all
recognised rules of decent electioneering propriety came to a close
with the following result:
ELECTED TORIES.
Votes.
Isaac Badger 1565
Thos. Griffiths 1500
Jos. Guest 1402
Jos. G. Walker 1378
Edw. Fisher Smith 1372
M. Dennison 1290
Jno. Aston 1223
Jas. Harrison 1201
Jno. Renaud 1166
Francis Northall 1166
REJECTED LIBERALS.
Votes.
S. H. Blackwell 940
A. B. Cochrane 876
Thomas Wood 772
J. C. Cook 771
---- Thomson 710
Evors Swindell 707
Alex Patterson 657
Jno. Finch 651
D. Lloyd 517
METROPOLITAN ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE DWELLINGS OF THE
INDUSTRIOUS CLASSES.