Testimonial it was originally intended for the Rev. T. P. Sproule to be the Incumbent of St. Mary Magdalen Church, but the Rev. W. W. Hume being afterwards regarded as the more suitable minister for such district, and Mr. Sproule preferring the living at Scaldwell, the change was thus made. But the parishioners of St. Leonards and St. Mary Magdalen, to mark their appreciation of their late curate’s three years’ ministrations, sent on to Scaldwell a substantial testimonial in the form of a silver service.
Railway Companies Importuned
A meeting was held on the 17th of August for the purpose of memorialising the railway companies for better accommodation, at which it was resolved “That Hastings, compared with Ramsgate, Margate, Dover, Brighton and the Isle of Wight, was less served than it should be, both as to speed and charges, and the town was therefore seriously injured”. The mover of the resolution (Mr. Harman) said it would be foolish to dictate to the two companies, as they had entered into a compact, which enabled the directors to defy them in such a course.
The Rev. W. W. Hume said they must be careful not to make a wrong step, for the least slip would be taken advantage of to throw them over. Though he had only been in the borough three years, he believed that during the last five years very important changes had taken place, many improvements made and speculations entered into, with the hope that there would be a great increase of visitors when the railways were opened. This expectation had led to large outlays in the erection of princely houses and handsome shops.
Almost all the gaps between Hastings and St. Leonards had been filled up; but houses without tenants were useless. Excursion trains had been named as being wanted. The idea naturally attached to such a phrase was one of temporary accommodation, which was very pleasing to a certain class, who were not exactly such as will confer on the town a lasting good. What was really wanted was a cheap fast train all through the year [Loud applause]. A train to start at a business-like hour in the morning, and return at a good time in the evening. He thought they should ask for that in a civil but earnest manner. He moved a resolution to that effect.
Another Memorial
Soon after the memorial had been sent to the railway companies another grievance was ventilated, and a petition thereupon was presented to the House of Commons, praying that the tax for lodging-houses might be made the same as that for shops. The equitable principle embodied in this petition needed no debating, but it was many years before it was conceded in a practicable form.
