PENRITH HERALD, October 17, 1874 / WEST WARD UNION.........Part V

[Barb Ontario Canada]

WEST WARD UNION.........Part V

 

The meeting continues.................

 

MR. CAMPLIN said that they had a vagrant ward to build at Shap, and they might therefore as well build both.  He was in favour of maintaining their own poor, and not take them out of the Union, and they were, with a rateable value of £17,000 or £18,000, quite able to do so, and it would be easier to the paupers themselves to take them to Shap than out of the Union.

 

MR. HUTCHINSON said his reasons for signing the memorial for the Shap site were that a workhouse had, it appeared, to be built, a site had been found, everything was in order, and there only wanted a few signatures.  There had been a great many misadventures, and it was quite time it should be terminated.  In fact, it would have been better if MR. ATKINSON’s speech had been made before, and it would then have allowed other gentlemen to bring forward sites.  There was, however, only one site, and now they had the opportunity of soldering up the difficulty.  He did not think that there were any objections on the score of humanity, or that Shap was such a place as had been represented.  He would certainly have preferred the workhouse in a low-lying district, but it was now high time it was settled.  It had been an expensive affair, and the longer it went on, the more expense they would incur.  They were not bound to provide luxuries for paupers.  Poverty, no doubt, was a great misfortune, and they ought to provide every necessary comfort, which he thought could be done at Shap.

 

THE CHAIRMAN said it did not follow that if sanction was not given to the Shap site, they could not get a more suitable one in a low-lying district.

 

MR. T. BIRD said that building would be attended with enormous expense to maintain a small number of paupers not likely to exceed 22 or 23.  If they had to build a workhouse and maintain a staff of officers, it would cost the Union something like £400 a year, which would be a perpetual charge on the ratepayers.  If, however, they could manage to bring about an arrangement with the East Ward for a joint workhouse, it would be a great saving and mutually advantageous to both Unions.

 

THE HON. H. BROUGHAM said he quite agreed with MR. HUTCHINSON, but the way in which he would like to see the thing settled was not by building a new workhouse, but by amalgamating with the other Ward.  The longer they could delay the matter, the stronger would the feeling in favour of that proposal become, and he thought it quite possible they might even yet have one workhouse for the two Wards.

 

THE REV. T. HOLME said if that could be accomplished, it would certainly be the best plan.

 

The memorial, which had already received 15 signatures, was lying on the table, and several gentlemen, including REV. W. R. MARKHAM,  CAPT. MARKHAM,  HON. H. BROUGHAM,  and  REV. C. W. BURTON, appended their names, ,bringing up the number to twenty-two, which, we believe, forms the requisite majority, and the memorial will therefore be at once sent up to the Local Government Board.  In the course of the conversation which ensued, we understood that the four gentlemen just named attached their signatures under a protest which they wrote out to accompany the memorial, in which protest they state their objection to building a new workhouse, and express themselves strongly in favour of amalgamation.

 

THE CHAIRMAN said that if a sufficient number of signatures were attached, there was an end to the whole matter.

 

The subject then dropped.

 

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The meeting continues in Part VI with discussions regarding sanitary matters and nuisances, etc..............................

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barb, ontario, canada.