EDITORIAL – re Redcar Local Board of Healh

Accreditation The Redcar and Saltburn-by-the Sea Gazette 29/03/1878.

EDITORIAL

            Our readers are aware that the orders and ratepayers of Redcar are on the eve of selecting three members for the Redcar Local Board of Health in place of three who retire annually by rotation. Messrs. Crabtree, Coulson, and Dowson are the three retiring members; – the latter refused to be nominated, but the first two gentlemen are candidates, and have, we concert, strong claim is on the public for re-election. The town owes much to Mr. Crabtree, Poole, when he was Surveyor, planned the sea wall, the Esplanade, and most of the Street improvements, all of which have tended directly to the prosperity of Redcar as a watering place. Indeed, it is not too much to say that but for Mr. Crabtree’s determination to improve the place, oftentimes, in spite of the Board, which then attempted to rule him, many of the works he accomplished would never have been carried out. We sincerely hope that ratepayers will have the good sense to return him at the head of the Paul. Mr. James Coulson’s credentials are all so perfectly valid: he has an amount of leisure which many business men have not, and when he accepts office. It is with a due regard to its responsibilities, being equally excellent in his attention to business as he is punctual in his attendance at meetings, which is more than can be said of some other members – verbum sap. With the incorporation of the Upleatham portion of Redcar comes the necessity of its being represented on the board, and Mr. Robt Lee is certainly, as far as our knowledge goes, the fittest man for the polls, and he is very likely to be returned. A handbill has been extensively circulated bearing the signatures of three would-be members, Messrs. Garbutt, Sheildon, and Wetherald. We ventured to say that this singular production, which is put forward as a manifesto on behalf of Mr. Blatherwick, is not the composition of the signatories, either jointly or severally. It would really be very unfair to charge them with the authorship, and we doubt whether the writer, whoever he is, would be able to prove his assertions. Of course, the object is to try to influence the ratepayers to support Mr. Blatherwick’s policy, by electing Messrs. Garbutt, Sheildon, and Wetherald. Mr. fouled object is to obtain a majority on the Board, so that virtually he may be master of the situation. He is represented by supporters as “fighting single-handed in the interests of every ratepayer. We believe this as it stands, for the candid consideration of those concerned. The address we allude to concludes by stating that “It is a sad thing to see our town bordering on the eve of bankruptcy through rates.” We impugn the accuracy of this statement, and next week we propose to examine the subject fully, and to place before the public facts and figures which will sure that notwithstanding the occasional mismanagement and frequent blunders of the Board, its financial condition has been steadily improving for some time past, and it can easily be proved wrong that it has benefited directly and indirectly every inhabitant, not only from a sanitary, but also from a mercantile point of view, the statistics we have in our possession will prove that the rates are gradually decreasing, and that the debt with which the town is burdened is being paid off; and if no further loans are contracted the whole debt will be cancelled in less than 20 years.