Council Meeting – 28th May 1896

Thursday, May 28th, 1896

Nineteenth meeting of the Parish Council held in the School Room, Great Longstone, Thursday, May 28th, 1896.

Present: H.A. Spanton (in the Chair), Messrs Buzzard, Eyre, J. Johnson, S. Johnson, and T. Shimwell (Clerk).

The minutes of the last meeting held on the 16th April were read and confirmed.

William Wright’s Charity (108)
The following letter, which had been received by Mr Spanton, was laid before the meeting:

Charity Commission
17 April 1896

C.31650

Sir,

Adverting to your letter of the 20th February last, I am to inform you that instructions have now been given for the revision of the draft scheme in this case, so as to provide that:
(1) The owner of Longstone Hall, if a descendant of the founder, shall be an ex officio Trustee of the Charity.
(2) The accumulation of income of the educational share of the Charity shall be invested, and the dividends applied for the purposes of Clause 21 of the Scheme.
(3) The benefits of Clause 21 shall be confined to boys, in accordance with the founder’s will.
(4) The Vicar of Ashford shall be a Trustee for the Ashford share of the Charity, in addition to the two nominees of this Parish Council.

The Commissioners are unable to accept the other suggestions made by the Parish Council.

I am to add that technical education and education higher than elementary, given by the Schoolmaster out of school hours, would not, in the view of the Commissioners, fall within Section 21 of the proposed Scheme.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
J. Holford

H.A. Spanton Esq.,
Great Longstone, Bakewell.

Telegraphs
The following letter, in reply to one sent by Mr Bates, late Chairman of the Council, was laid before the meeting:

General Post Office
20 April 1896

Reg. No. 88,939

Sir,

With reference to your letter of the 3rd ultimo, I am directed by the Postmaster General to acquaint you, for the information of the Longstone Parish Council, that the question of establishing a Telegraph Office at Great Longstone, Bakewell, has received careful consideration; but, as it is estimated that the revenue from telegraph business would not pay the working expenses, he is precluded by Treasury Regulations from authorising the extension, except under guarantee.

If the necessary wayleaves over the route, in respect of which his calculations have been made, are not withheld, on application being made for them by this Department, the guarantee required would be £24 a year.

This agreement would be for seven years; but, if at the end of that time the office should not be self-supporting, it would be necessary to ask for a renewal. This sum guaranteed need not be lodged with the Department, but, at the end of each year, the guarantors would have to make good any deficiency in the revenue of the office, which revenue would be calculated on the actual value, exclusive of porterage, of all inland messages transmitted from the office. The value of foreign telegrams, and of telegrams sent from other places, would not, however, be taken into account.

This Department would not propose to close the Telegraph Office at the Railway Station in the event of the proposed extension to the Post Office being carried out.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
C.G. Hall

Arthur Bates Esq.

Upon consideration of the foregoing letter, it was on the motion of Mr S. Johnson, seconded by Mr Buzzard, resolved unanimously that the Parish Council could not at present entertain the matter.

Payments
It was resolved that cheques be drawn for the following accounts:

Award
The Clerk produced the Award in which he pointed out several things affecting the Parish, but the matter was deferred.

Proposed Water Supply
It was reported that Mr Faith was preparing a scheme for a water supply for Great Longstone. As the Council thought this unnecessary, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Eyre seconded by Mr Spanton, that a deputation of the Council wait upon Mr Martin, Agent to the Duke of Devonshire, to confer with him on the subject. The Clerk to make the appointment with Mr Martin.

It was also decided that a memorial be drawn up, to be signed by the Ratepayers, for presentation to the Rural District Council, asking them to stay proceedings in this matter until the sewerage has been improved.

James Orr
Chairman
June 25th, 1896

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In the Wider World – The Age of the Telegraph

When the Council discussed a proposal to establish a telegraph office in the village, Britain was in the midst of a communications revolution. By the 1890s, the telegraph network linked almost every town in the country and connected Britain to the rest of the world by undersea cables. For small rural communities like Great Longstone, gaining a local telegraph office meant instant contact with markets, railway stations, and news agencies — a dramatic change from the days when messages took hours or days to travel by messenger or post.