As one of such Board, I am responsible only to the extent of my individual vote for its expenditure; but here again the writer endeavours only to deceive.
The Rates under the Dudley Town Act Commissioners and the Board for the Repair of the Highways were during the following years as under:
Town Rate.—1847-1848-1849, 2s. in the Pound. 1850-1851-1852, 1s. 6d. in the Pound.
Highway Rate, for the above Six years, 10d. in the Pound.
Under the Board of Health the Rates already granted are—
A General and District Rate, in lieu of old Town Rate, of 1s. in the Pound.
A Highway Rate of 10d. in the Pound. These will be more than sufficient to meet the expenditure heretofore paid out of the Town and Highway Rates.
The writer wishes to make you believe that the cost of Salaries is entirely additional under the present Board.
He knows that this is not the case, and he also knows that the amount payable under the Board of Health, under this head, will be less, including Professional Charges, than under the Town Commissioners.
The writer would deceive you as to the amounts to be paid for Drainage, &c., and the desirability of such expenditure. I cannot say at present what this expenditure may amount to; but the largest amount—efficiently expended in Drainage—will be the most economical to the Parish, when the saving to the Poor Rates, from the prevention of disease and death, is taken into account. Upon this point, let me again quote the words of the Medical Gentleman already alluded to (not the Officer of Health):—“The inhabitants of this Town are ill prepared to withstand the onslaught of Cholera, which would be brought to our very doors by living in such a tainted and impure atmosphere as that which exists in the very centre of the Town.”