Huddersfield Chronicle (20/Apr/1850) - page 7

The following is an uncorrected OCR conversion of a newspaper page and will contain numerous errors. The text is in the Public Domain.

Correspondence

All letters intended for insertion tn 'the CHRONICLE must'

Contain the real name of the writer, ndt with the view to publication, but as an assurance that 'the statements ad+ twared are correct.

The Exhibition of All Nations, in 1851

THE EXHIBITION OF ALL NATIONS, IN 1881. TO THE EDITOR OF THE HUDDERSFIELD CHRONICLE.

Si1n, — Allow mie, through the medium ot your columns, to draw the attention of the managthg Directors of the Exhibition to'a suggestion, for tle convenience of the ublic and the exhibitors. Vigorous efforts are now Fa ee ee a eet © oo funds the purp: ding an opportui to those who are wishful to visit London during the forthcoming exhibition. No doubt a great number of ii trains will be started from almost district in the lom.

The question has ctossed my how Will the: n be re ed? If so many trains are ing, the bility will be, that a great many t be obli to stay in Loudon much longer than they could well leave home, as'well as infringing upon their pockets, in consequence of their not being able to gain admission on thei arrival, h the large influx of visitors. The i

I have to give is, that the country be divided into comprising as many towns as might be thought desirable, each district to be allowed so many days or weeks to visit the exhibition, according to the extent of such district. To have'tlekgts i available only for certain days, and serit to the Nerloas loci Sirestore for Cao mn. 4 i urs Ve o.oo 7 OES Nory TSPSOSEPH WILD, 4, Albion Street, Huddersfield, April 14th, 1850.

Condition of the Present "New Town"

CONDITION OF THE PRESENT "NEW TOWN." a) THE EDITOR OF THE HUDDERSFIELD CHRONICLE. Srr, — it is all very well for either you or the trustees of Sir J. W. Ramsden, or the Huddersfield Improvement Comihissioners, to talk about another '"new town," and to try to get it laid out in the best manner, with squares, and open spaces, and planted portions, and fountains, and porticos open to view, and wide streets, and back stredts, and fine erections, and new sewers ; — I say, it is all Very woll for a lot of you to talk about these things, and "if Wish you may get them ;" but I write to remind you, and, through you, the trustees of the Ramsden estates, and also the Improvement Commissioners, . that there ts ali'eady a Nextown — a fact which I am afraid all of you have forgotten, or surely the poor creatures that inhabit it would not be left in the deplorable state they are! I wish, then, to make it known, through your columns, that, within two hundred yards of the spet you were wpititg 'About so gloriously last week, and projecting such beautiful streets and erections, which should give the traveller an idea of what a fine place Huddersfield was, there is a mass of cottagehouses known by the name of Newtown, the like of which, for discomfort, naStiness, and surrounding filth, is not to be found within the sound of the Parish Church bells. 1 'ill not now say who the landlord of this Newtown ¢e&tate is ; but if either 4ot:, or the Ramsden trustees, or the Improvement Commissioners, desire to See 4 specinitn of " laying out" an estate — how to do without sewtrage — how to dispense with drainage — how to form close courts — how to provide, nd where best to place, public Piiviee — how to crowd up the nooks and corners with pig-cotes and heaps of dung ; — tf'any of you wish to sec a first-rate sample of this tort of arrangement, pray 'come on & voyage of discovery, t6 our blesse1 " Newtown," and you will see what you will not readily forget. But let me advise you to come with a full stomach and fortified with 4 ddse of strong water, or you may not relish the effect' of the strange sights and most savoury smells you will be Certain te meet With. And while you are in this forgotten quarter, just have a look ever the yard walls of the Newtown mills, and see the sort of provision made for females and males to use indiscriminately. When you have seen these things, and ascertained that the owner of the said mills is wealthy, and has a resident manager, endeavour to find out the philosophy of that celebrated maxim — Property has its duties as well as {ts rights, and apportion the amount of duty required of the poor owner of a single cottage tenement, compared with the amount required and exacted from those who towns, and who count yp their rentals by scores of thousands ! If it Wa% not that I feel certdin that the pave I name has not found its way on to the map of the Improvement Commissioners, and that all we have to do with them or they with us, is for the one to pay, and the other to exact rates, year after year, I would ask them what sort of sanitary regulators they consider themselves to be to let the wretched arrangements of this notable Newtown remain as. they are, mqnth after month. Talk of improvement, indeed! It is time that the iniprovers found out where Dirtytown is. If some of them could but be induced to come here and examine, they would be ashamed to look another inhabitant of the filthy spot in the fee, till they had exerted every power they possess to put us in a better position. I have heard a sort of indistinct rumour that the Commissioners have in their pay an officer called an Inspector of Nuisances. Of course his duties cannot take him into owr quarter, or we should have learnt of the reality of his existence. I have seen, #lsd, i the newspapers something about a " Clerk of Board of Works," and heard that some folks are blanting, him for his busybody frepensities, ¢s evinced in poking his nose into what hare been hitherto sacred places of filth ; and that he has caused many of these to be turned topsy-turvy, and thoroughly cleaned out. But all this, if true, is at a long distance from us! The poor inhabitants of Newtown are out of everybody's consideration. Either from want of a right, or a will, to interfere with us, we are left to wallow in our filth. It may be that this is done that a strong contrast with the cleansed portions of your big town may exist : but, if so, it is cruel; for what is thus of use to Others is death to us. Proposing that the present Newtown shall at least be swept clean before another " new-town" is provided, I

subscribe myself _ A CELLAR DWELLER. Newtown, April 16th, 1850.


District News

Lindley

Matrimonial Inconstancy and Its Consequences

Matrmmonial INCONSTANCY AND Its CONSEQUENCES. — On Tuesday fast, at the Guildhall, before J. Armitage and J. Brook, Esqrs., a somewhat fScinating dame from Lindley, named Ellen Wardman, preferred a charge of assault and battery against a young Woman named Mary Cockroft, also against a voung man named Dyson Whitely, and his mother Mary Whitely, all from bindley. Mr. Turner appeared for the defendants. From the plaintiff 's statement and her cross-examination by Mr. Turner, it appeared that Mary Cockroft had loved "not wisely but too well" one of the village Lotharios; the result of which was the usual pledge of love and shame. During this trying peried she resided in the house of Ellen Watdman, who, it appeears, lives appart from her husband — but had recentl} left, as the complainant alleged, in herdebt. On Monday, the Sthinstant, Mary Cockreft called ateomplainant's house, and demanded her bed, which was refiised, until the money owing was paid. She then asked for permission to sleep in the house, which also was refused her. Words then ensued, upon,which the two Whitelys'came into the house, and with tlie assistance of Cockroft succeeded in giving 'fair Ellen" a sound " bunching." "This constituted the charge in question. From the evidence of th® 'Witnesses it was apparent that Ellen would have been more than a match for either of her oppdenents single-handed, and notwithstanding the fearful odds against'her, made a tole:able good battle of it — to use a sporting phrase — although the odds were three to one... 'I'he bench considered all the parties to blame, and fined all the defendiints in the surn of 2s. 6d., niaking with ¢xpenses, 17s. 6d. In order to mark their sense of the impropriety of the copiplainant's conduct, the bench refused her the usual alicsvance.

Saddleworth

Delph Branch Railway

Detph Brasco Raitway. — the making of the Delph Branch of the London and North Western Railway has at length commenced, and that too in good earnest. It will igin ¢i main line just at the west end of the viaduct, at the Saddieworth station. There has long been doubt as to the intentions of the company respecting the construction this branch, as under the Biost favom#blt eircumstalices it is not expected bY many parties ever to pay even 1 per cent. onthe outlay. sy

Concerts in the Mechanics' Lecture Room

Concerts IN THE Meechanics' Lecture Room. — on Friday and Saturday evenings, the 12th and 13th instant, Messis. Higham, Welsh, and Vango, gave two concerts In the beantiful Lecture-room of the Saddleworth Mechanics and Literary Institution. On the first night the attendance #as very respectable, and the performances of Messrs. Higham and Weish, on a great variety of instruments, was niost satisfactory. The piano, concertinas, musical giasses, kettle-drum, tambowrine, bells, cornopeati, gax;horn, and violin, were employed by these two gentlemen with great effect, dnd in avonderful combination. Both gentlettien, we learn, are fom Manchester. . Mr. Vango is a buffo singer of congiderable talent, and his:perfuimence elicited repeated bursts of applause from the lovers of comic song and low buffoonery. His pett .of the entertainment, however, cantiot be conitiared ts. that abote Ailuded to, inasinuch as its, widtal arid elevating tendency is more than qustionaile.


The Local Chronicle

HUDDERSFIELD, APRIL 20, 1850.

Editorial: The Burial Ground Question

THE BURIAL-GROUND QUESTION.

No stthject connected with the local arrangements of Huddersfield presses so urgently for an immediate and a satisfactory settlement as the one of inereased burialground accommodation. The dreadful evils entailed on the vommunity by the existing arrangements, particularly so far as the Parish Church is concerned, have been long known and edmitted on all hands ; and several attempts have been made to provide and apply a remedy : but, hitherto, those efforts have been unavailing. The subject is one of that class where so many and such conflicting interests and feelings are involved, that in its very nature it is difficult of a satisfactory solution ; and when these natural difficulties are at all enhanced by the unaccommodating spirit of either one party or another, or by a rigid stubborn adherence to disputed claims or to invidious distinctions, the' probabilities of an harmonious adjustment of the knotty pointe beeome lessened down almost to the impossible degree.

In 1847 efforts were made to provide proper buria'ground accommodation for the township of Huddersfield, but without siiccess, Those efforts were first directed to the procurement of a Proprietary Cemetery, or the establishment of a Joint-stock Company for the burial of the dead; and, in this scheme, it was intended that all parties and all sects should unite: but when the different parties and representatives of sects came together, it was discovered that so many jarring and conflicting interests and views entered into and were mixed up with the question, that this mode of providing for a great public want had speedily to be given up as impracticable. Nor do we now regret that this was so: for, independent of the great consideration that in a private cemetery there is no right to interment on the part of the public at large, and that the jrdprietors thereof can close their gates when and on whom they please, and open hem only on their own terms ; independently of these important considerations, there is something repugnant and even revolting to correct feeling, when Christian burial is made an article of traffic — when the touching and impress've solemnities of burial are associated with the profits of trade. And so far as the trading principle is involved, the joint-stock company is no better than the private speculator. However disinterested may have been the motives which have induced some te become shareholders in these companies, the primary and effective character of the associations is undeniably that of trading associations ; and they cannot be rescued from that character by even ntimerous individual exceptions. Their managers, like the proprietors of privAte grounds, are assiduous in soliciting attention to their lists of prices ; and those who have visited and perambulated London cannot but have observed the numerous affiches, painted in large letters, and placed at various outlets of the metropolis, which, with genuine mercantile officiousness, direct the public 'to the East London Cemetery only, one mile and a half." Surely this system involves much that is inconsistent with reverential impressions of the sanctity of burial ; much that must cither ¢ffend or deteriorate the better feclings of our population. In all ages arid nations the burial of the dead has been invested with peculiar sanctity. As the office that closes the visible scene of human existence, it concentrates in itself the most touching exercise of our affections towards objects endeared to us in this life, and the most intense and stirring anxieties we ¢an feel respecting an invisible state. It is reasonable, then, that the reverent! impressions thus accumulated within us should shrink from the contact of more selfish and vulgar associations. And what system can be more intensely selfish or more thoroughly vulgar, than that which degrades the burial of the dead into atrade! The mixing of the spirit of money-getting with the hallowed associations and reverential regard connected with the grave, is-revoltingly hearttess. We are glad, therefore, that the first attempt to provide a proprietary burialground for the township of Huddersfield failed, though we no legs sincerely regret the cause of that failure.

The next attempt to provide what all acknowledge ha& been long needed, was when the trustees of Sir J. W. Ramsden offered to give SIX ACRES of land at Hillhotse for the purposes of a parochial burial-ground, leaving to the inhabitants of the township or parish the duty and expense et enclosing the same, and of otherwise adapting it for its intended purpose. At first a trial was made to raise the necessary funds for the accomplishment of th's object by a voluntary subscription; and many set down their names for handsome sums. But it was eventually discovered that this mode Would not result in the amount necessary, very Miany parties objecting, and rightfully so, to subscribe voluntarily for that, which, as it was for the benefit of all, should be provided by all: for such a course would only have thrown the burden of enclosing the burial ground upon the willing and the generous, while the unwilling and the illiberal, though equally entitled to use the new parochial burial-ground, no matter by whom provided, would have gone scot-free. These objecting parties urged that the providing of a burial-ground in which all would have a legal tight to be interred, stood on far different grounds from the providing and maintaining of a place of worship; and while they could sec the propriety and admit the reasonableness of the latter being done by the voluntary contributions of the particular sect or congregation, they could not see either the propriety or the reasonableness of a burial-ground to be used by all being so provided by afew. The effort, therefore, to raise the funds by voluntary subscription failed ; and recourse was had to the vestry, to try to raise them by means of rate on the township. The reasons which had induced many to decline voluntarily to subseribe also induced them to believe that the justice of all being concermed in the duty and cdet of providing what was so recegsary fur the use and benefit of al, would be generally admitted; and that, whatever conscientiotis objections could be properly urged against the imposition of a Church Rate, for the maintenance of the fatrie of a church, from Which niore than one Half of the population dissented or never used, there could be none urged against a rate for such a purpose as the providing of a burial-ground, seeing that there was no other mode of legally procuring the neceastiry place for the burial of the dead. But when the vestry assembled it was found that these views were far from being ginerally entertained. It was soon apparent, that, to a great majority of the meeting, every thing in the shape of a Church-rate wa objectionuble ; that, no matter what was the particular object for which such rate was designed, to an impost of that character they would not submit : and accordingly, the proposition for the laying of a rate to provide the means to en¢ldse and lay out the burial-ground, offered as a gift by the Ramsden trustees. was niet by an amendment, that "a rate should be laid of one-eighth of a penny in the poun ." This amendment was carried : and thus, tirtutlly, was the extingvishor put upon the second proposed mode of protiding a new burial-ground. On 4 calm review of all the circumstances of the case, we think the inhabitants of Huddersfield will ultimately have eduge te Be thinkful that such negative was put by the vesiry to the original proposal: In the first plice, the site offered was signally ineligible 3 was fot at all alap'ted for cemetery purposes ; was fir too Small for the purposes of the township; and would hard been in the § cclusive possdssion, Control, dnd use of " the church as by law established." No provision would have been made for the large'pertion 'of the'population dissenting from the establishment : bet they would: have besh left:to provide burial-grotinds for themselves; after having contributed their respective proportions to' provide the: one for the church : or submit to the performance of rites and ceremonies over their deceased relatives and friends with which they disagreed, and the propriety and efficacy of which they questioned. Since the periodnamel, a flood of light, as it were; has been let-imjen the general question of interment; se much so, as' to: have produced an almost entire revolution of opinion, as to the propricty of the modes and practices formerly Most pertinzcicusly defended, and most generally resorted 'to. The conviction that interment in towns or near to Inrge' masses of dwellings, eucht no longer to be permitted, is adl.Dut universal; and the impropriety, the indecency, and the danger of crowding' a number ot bodies into one grave are' very gonersfly admitted. The result is, that a cemetery provided now will have to possess certain. requisites and conditions for the decency and sacredness of burial, and for the preservation of the health of the living, which would not thew heve been thought of ; and, moreover, an exclusive provision a% public cost cither for the church or for the dissenters would now find favour, or be at all permitted. The principle is laid down, and legislatively established, that in new cemcteries to be previded at public cost, a portion shall be consecrated for the use of the members and friends of the church, and that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of that consecrated portion shall vest in the church, but not the temporal jurisdiction ; while another portion is to be left unconseerated for the use of those who dissent either from the doctrines, discipline, rites, or formularies of the church; and that the controul and management of the whole shall be vested in some responsible body of public authority. The providing of a cemetery 791 therofore for the Huddersfield township will have to be on these principles, and with the precautions and conditions before indicated: and, though great inconvenience has resulted from continuing to use the parish church burial-ground from 1947 to the present time, yet it would have been a very unsatisfactory atrangement which was then proposed; had it been carried out, and it might now have been an effectual bar to the proper settlement of a much vexed question.

The next step taken for the procurement of a proper burial-ground for all parties and sects, were taken at the latter end of last year by the Improvement Commissioners, at the request of the vicar of the parish. Responsible as that body is, for the sanitary condition of the town, tho state of the existing burial-grounds was a subject that properly fell under their cognizance and enquiry: for experienee has proved, that these exercise a very marked influence on the public health, During the last sess%n of Parliament an act, called "the Nuisances, Removal, and Diseases Prevention Amendment Act" was passed, which involved upon the General Board of Health the duty of inquiring into the state of any burial:ground in eny part of England and Wales excepted from the operation of "the Public Health Act," or to which such act had not beent applied: and, in certain cases, to direct that measures of precaution should be observed and curried out ; and, also, in certain other cases, to make further enquiries where it was Judged expedient to close a burial-ground, and prohibit interments therein ; and, in the latter ease, to frame a scheme for providing new burial:grounds, on eertain eonditions therein named, which said scheme was to be submitted to Parliament fer approval, and it then became law, as applicable to the particular district) without the necessity of procuring a special act for that purpose.

In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Improvement Commissioners memorialized the Gencral Board of Health, desiring them to institute an oficial enquiry into the state of the buriel-grottnds within the township of Huddersfield ; and in answer to such memorial, the General Board of Health sent down to Huddersfie'd one of their Supetintending Inspeetors, William Lee, Esq., charged with the duty of making a personal cxamination, and to reeeive evidence, as to the state of each Lurial-ground within the township. Accordingly, on the 9th of January last, that gentleman opened this court of inquiry: and before him evidence was adduced as to the state of the Parish Church burial-ground, absolutely appalling. We co not now enter upon the consideration as to the State of the other burial-grouncs ; for it is the contlition ef this at the Parish Church which presses for immediate attention and 2 remedy, by closing it as a place of burial for ever. That burialground coniains but 4,323 square yards ; and it waa shown ¢n the occasion just named, from the Rezisters themselves, that in it there have been laid, since 1584, rio les than 38,298 bodies, or a fir greater number than the entire population of the township, — man, woman, and child, — in 1841! The state of the ground as to the numbor of coffins — the diffictilty to find a space where the bodies were sufficiently decomposed to allow of the grave to be re-opene¢ — the number of coffins and mangled remains which each such re-opening exposes to view — and the horrible sickening sights thus continually presented, tay be faintly imagined : they certainly cannct be described. It was given in evidence that even in the hot sweltering days of summer, the windows of the Church could not be opened for ventilation, the stench arising from such a huge mass of decomposing human remains being distinctly perceptible. Indeed, it was admitted by every one, viear, clerk, churchwardens, and sexton included, that as far as that g¥ave Yard was concerned, it ought to be closed at once, and all further interment therein prohibited.

The Superintending Inspector having taken this ¢evidence, and having also himself personally viewed the ground, left the town, stating that he should report the result of his investigations to the General Board of Health, and aiso embody his suggestions for a remedy for the evils he found here in such intensity and in such magnitude: for out of thirty enquiries of the kind which he had been engaged in, the case of Huddersfield was by far the worst, as he de: clared ; and, in fatt, unequalled by anything he had seea, except in London.

At the last meeting of the Improvement Commiissioners; a letter from Mr. Lee, the Superintending Inspector, wa3 read, stating that he had not had tinte yet to prepare his report on the state of the Huddersfield burial-ground to the General Board of Health, he being engaged in preparing reports for piaces visited for inquiry before Huddersfield. He added, however, that he hoped his repert as to the state of the Huddersfield burial-grounds would shortly bd ready.

Meantime the General Board cf Health has been engaged in an inquiry of a much more extended nature in cohnection with this General Burial Ground question : the State of the burial grounds in the metropolis ; and the result of szch 'nvestigation Was laid before the Queen and the two houses of Pariiament at the latter end of January last, in the shape of a niost elaborate " Report on a general scheme of extramural interment." In that report a niass of evidencs of a most Sick@ning and disgusting character, ag to the practices pursued in ovr crdwded burial grouiids, iind of the datigerous consequences arising therefrom, is cumulated ; and the whdle duestidn thoroughly and minutely discussed. The result 6f the whole inquiry is expreascd in a general summary; Which we here give : —

From the replies to queries issued by the General Board 6° Health, it appedzs that the number of public and private

(Continued on the 8th page.)


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