Council Meeting – 30th July 1896
Thursday, July 30th, 1896
Twenty-first meeting of the Parish Council held in the School Room, Great Longstone, on Thursday, July 30th, 1896.
Present: Mr H.A. Spanton in the Chair; Messrs C.H. Buzzard, Jos. Johnson, S. Johnson, A.W.S. Eyre, and T. Shimwell, Clerk.
The minutes of the meeting held on the 25th June were read and confirmed.
Hernstone Lane Head Charity
Mr Spanton stated to the meeting that he had, as directed at the last meeting of the Council, written to the Charity Commissioners respecting the above charity, and had received the following letter in reply:
Charity Commission
25 July 1896
Hernstone Lane Head Charity
Sir,
Adverting to your letter of the 4th instant, I am directed to state that the Commissioners are of opinion that the circumstances of the case will be met if Mr John Thornhill will pay the sum of £22. 10. 0 and thus restore to the Charity its original endowment. The Commissioners have therefore, upon consideration of your letter, caused a communication to be addressed to Mr Thornhill’s Solicitor to this effect.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
D.R. Fearon
H.A. Spanton, Esq.
County Rates
The Clerk reported that he had attended a meeting of the Committee appointed to revise the County Rate Basis held at the County Offices, St. Mary’s Gate, Derby, on the 10th July, when, after stating his objections, the Committee reduced the amount from £7901 Property Tax Assessment to £7290.
The Council unanimously resolved that the sum of seven shillings and sixpence be allowed to the Clerk for his expenses to Derby.
Proposed Water Supply
Messrs James Orr and S. Johnson were unanimously appointed a deputation to attend before the Rural District Council to oppose the proposed scheme for a water supply for this place.
James Orr
Chairman
Aug. 27th, 1896
In the Wider World – County Government and Reform
When the Clerk travelled to Derby to discuss the County Rate, he was engaging with one of the newest layers of English local administration. County Councils had only existed since 1889, and much of their early work focused on taxation, highways, and the oversight of rural districts. The effort to ensure fair assessment of Great Longstone’s property tax shows how even small parishes were affected by the broader modernisation of local government finances.
