The people of Middlesborough, Ky., and Middlesborough property owners living elsewhere are making strenuous efforts to induce the Middlesborough Town Lands Co. to reappoint Mr. A. A. Arthur to the active management of the company’s affairs. Ever since the termination of Mr. Arthur’s management the town has been in a state of virtual stagnation, and it is believed that Mr. Arthur alone can rescue it from collapse and restore it to its former condition of growth and prosperity.
Several delegations of citizens and property owners have called on the company’s present commissioner at Middlesborough, Mr. Lionel H. Graham, of London, and urged him to bring about the appointment of Mr. Arthur. On February 17, a mass meeting was held, at which the following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, By the people of Middlesborough in mass meeting assembled, that the opportunity presented by Mr. L. H. Graham, who is now in our midst as the representative of the stockholders of the Town Lands Co., seeking information and encouragement for the guidance of his associates, be seized, and that we, the citizens and property owners of Middlesborough, who have borne the brunt of all the troubles of past two and one-half years, and have witnessed and studied both administrations, and who have been with the stockholders in prosperity and adversity, respectfully but emphatically ask a return to the old original plan of administering the affairs of the Town Lands Co.
Resolved, That we know that all the great and valuable resources upon which the city was started still exist; we have seen railroads brought to us and great enterprises created in our midst. The necessities of a city have been established, all legitimate expenditures have been made and nothing now remains to be done to re-establish credit, activity and progress, but the appointment of a leader, a wise and liberal man, one of intelligence, wide experience, integrity and extended connections, one in whom we can place great confidence.
Resolved, That in Mr. A. A. Arthur, creator and projector of Middlesborough and all the adjacent territory, we find such a man. None other has so great an interest. We will stand by him and we believe and know that he alone can pull you, the stockholders, and us, the citizens, out of the abject state in which we now are.
Resolved, That we most heartily ask for and will most cordially approve the reappointment of Mr. A. A. Arthur to the active management of the Middlesborough Town Lands Co.; we believe that he can rescue this city from ruin, and the sooner the management is placed in his hands the sooner will confidence be restored and values be re-established.
Resolved, That the interests of the Town Lands Co. are alike the interests of the city and the citizens thereof; one cannot prosper without the other, hence the citizens and property owners are profoundly earnest in their desire to see Mr. Arthur restored to power, as they believe that his restoration will give new life not only to Middlesborough but to Southeastern Kentucky as well, and that we will enter upon a career of unexampled prosperity.
The Annual Fair at New Berne, N. C.
The annual fair of the East Carolina Industrial Association was held in New Berne on February 19th to 23d, inclusive, and was formally opened by Gov. Carr with a sterling address, in which he referred to the tidewater region as the garden spot of the continent, enumerating its resources and estimating their economic value, present and prospective. The exhibit, as a whole, was a surprise to home visitors as well as strangers, especially in marine, agricultural and mechanical products. Its mineral exhibit was remarkable in respect to native ores and precious stones. Thirty-one counties in the State are mining gold at a profit. Nuggets were shown which were valued at $52 and upwards. Eighty-five varieties of commercial woods were shown. There was a great variety of building stones. Tomato plants six inches high, garden peas three inches high, and strawberry blossoms were shown. The department of ladies’ work was superlative. Dairy products were meagre, only three samples of butter being shown. There was a great variety of feed in bales—native grasses, stock peas and corn fodder. Fine samples of wool and blankets were exhibited. The same blankets took a premium at Chicago. Some fine Southdown sheep from the Tucker farm near Raleigh were on view. There were some fine Jersey, Devon and Alderney cattle, and superior Berkshire and Red Jersey pigs and fat hogs, running up to 600 pounds in weight.
The fish and oyster exhibit, with the nets and apparatus, is always a prominent feature of the annual expositions, and was well sustained. Roe shad were remarkably fine.