Reminiscences of Rotherham
by G. Gummer, J.P.
« « prevconsists not so much in talent as in energy,In Mr. Spurley Hey’s case there was plenty of the former and a superabundance of the latter. There are other instances of Rotherham being the stopping to more lucrative positions, one of which was our first whole- time Town Clerk,Mr. Hampton Copnell, who left the town to take up the clerkship of the County Council of Nottingham. He was followed a few years later by his successor, Mr. W. J. Board, who also accepted the position of Town Clerk to the City of Nottingham.
I am not sure as to the number, but there must have been at one time or another at least thirty chief constables in the country who had part of their training in the Rotherham Police Force, the most notable case being that of Sir R. Peacock, C.C., at Manchester.
A FEW PARTICULARS REGARDING EDUCATION
It seems appropriate here to refer to the £ s, d. side of education in 1878 and 1926. The figures are startling and make one wonder whether we really get full value for this huge expenditure In 1878 the teachers employed by the School Board were 15 in number, costing in salaries £679 per annum, an average of £45. To-day we are paying over £94,000 per annum, or an average of about £209, including part-time and student teachers.Of course, there is a great difference in the number of children on the rolls in 1878 there were less than 1000, to-day there are 14,600. There is a surprising increase in the number of the officials employed and the salaries paid. Fifty years ago the sum of £294 per annum sufficed to pay salaries of a clerk and staff; now the salaries for office staff total up to £3712, for medical staff £1763, and for care takers £4320 per annum. We are expending on elementary and higher education £140,000 Per annum, against £1221 fifty years ago. Whilst a 4d. rate then sufficed, to-day we are paying over 3s, 6d
AN ECONOMY COMMITTEE
It is strange how witty some members think themselves if they are able to ridicule the ideas of others. With the object of economising the work of the officials, my father, in the early eighties, inaugurated a committee for the purpose of improving the organisation of the municipal staff and to deal with their salaries and duties. This he named The Consolidation of Officials’ Duties and Salaries Committee. A high-sounding title like this certainly invited ridicule. Ald. Neill at once labelled it the Conglomeration Committee, whilst Councillor Mark Davy thought a more appropriate name would be the Gummeration Committee, and another would-be-wit insisted on calling it Gummer’s Baby, and by this name it became known, Babies require delicate handling, but this one never got it. It was early discovered to have bitten off more than it could chew, aad quickly came to an untimely end. The salaries it proposed dealing with included that of the Borough Surveyor, who at the time onlv received £250 per annum for his services, and also the Town Clerk’s stipend of £300 per annum.Evidently there was some dissatisfaction amongst the ratepayers, and protest meetings were held in College Yard respecting the salary paid to the surveyor. One of these was convened by a man called Wade, a tailor, known for his eccentricities, and was presided over by a well known bibulous character of the name of Tommy Burns. A second meeting seems to have been a more serious affair It had by way of a contrast from the previous one, a chairman named Ben Tyler. one of those men who think themselves much cleverer than they really are, and who often meet themselves coming back. Tyler had recently come to the front owing to his advocacy of the cause of Horton, the Tichborne claimant, and by taking the chair at the public meetings held in support of these claims. To the ratepayers of to-day it seems somewhat ludicrous to protest against salaries of £250 for a Borough Surveyor and £300 for a Town Clerk We are paying £1100 and £1750 to the officials now holding these positions. next »
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