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Taunton Courier. Bristol and Exeter Journal and Western Advertiser Wednesday 21 Jul 1915
Page 03 Column 2
LANGPORT GUARDIANS AND RURAL COUNCIL.
PARISHES IN ARREARS.
A CURIOUS POSITION.
HIGH CANCER DEATH FIGURES.
TUESDAY. - Present: Mr. W. ROWE, chairman; Rev. Preb. J. HAMLET, vice-chairman; Mrs. A. E. WARNER and Miss GRAHAM; Revs. G. de Y. ALDRIDGE and G. SAY; Messrs. C. J. HALLETT, J. S. TAYLOR. R. WORDSWORTH, E. C. B. CANNON, T. G. COGGAN, W. J. KIDDLE, S. COSSINS, E. BARRINGTON, W. S. DAWES, H. VIGAR, E. SPEARING, J. G. CHENEY, and W. R. BRADFORD; with the Clerk (Mr. E. Q. LOUCH).
AN OVERSEER DIFFICULTY. - The Clerk reported that several parishes were in arrears with their calls. - Mr. DAWES said as far as Charlton Mackrell was concerned the matter would be put right in a few days. - The Clerk said that the case of Ile Brewers called for comment. The money was in the hands of the Treasurer at the bank, yet one of the overseers refused to sign the cheque. Such a man should be made an example of, and asked that a summons should be issued against him. - Mr. SPEARING said that the Overseer was elected at a parish meeting, but he did not know that he had been notified that he was supposed to stand. - The Vice-Chairman said that the parish meeting should have notified him. - Mr. SPEARING: He says that he won't have anything to do with it. - The Vice-Chairman moved that the Overseers of all the parishes whose calls were unpaid within seven days should be summoned. It was very important that these parishes should be made to pay, as they not only gave unnecessary trouble to the Assistant Overseers and the Clerk, but gave some kind of excuse for the miserable condition into which another Union had fallen, and where several parishes had been called upon to pay an increased rate of 10 per cent. - This was carried.
NO PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT. - The Clerk produced returns which had been made to the Clerk of the Somerset and Bristol Vagrancy Committee as to accommodation at various Union Houses. He said that it was clear that the large number of casuals which came to that Union from Taunton and Bath was not due to different rations of that Union.
AN INCREASE WANTED. - An application by Mr. G. G. LOVELL, one of the relieving officers, for an increase of salary was referred to the Finance Committee.
RURAL DISTRICT COUNTIL.
Preb. J. HAMLET, chairman.
KILLED IN ACTION. - The Vice-Chairman said that one of their contractors, Percy SWAIN, of Barrington, had been killed in action. He was called up on mobilisation, and had lately been promoted to lance-corporal. That day week he had been killed in that successful encounter near Ypres. He suggested that the Council direct the Clerk to send a letter of condolence to the widow. He did not occupy an exalted position, but he had given the most that a man could give. - The Surveyor said that as far as Percy SWAIN was concerned he had never had occasion to find fault with him. - The motion was agreed to.
DISQUIETING FIGURES. - The Medical Officer of Health submitted the mortality returns for the half-year ending June 30th with regret, for the figures showed a state of things which he hoped the next half-year would modify. Births numbered 106, giving a rate of 16.45; deaths, 113 (phthisis, 8; cancer, 12; pneumonia, 15), giving a rate of 18.93. The rate of infantile mortality was 132.07. The only comment he could make on the figures was that the war had only directly influenced two deaths, and that 86 fatalities occurred at ages upwards of 45. - The Chairman said that this was not a satisfactory report, the death-rate was high, and the birth-rate low, and they could only reiterate the doctor's hope.