DEVASTATOR DUDLEY.

NZ Truth, Issue 172, 3 October 1908, Page 8

DEVASTATOR DUDLEY.

HOW HE " HOME-RULED " THE QUARRY BANKERS.

the Gainful Games of Australia's Governor-

General.

DUDLEY'S DESTRUCTIVE DOINGS IN THE ENGLISH

" BLACK COUNTRY. 5 '

The Mystery of the Marvellously Missing Maps.

The "Sydney Morning Herald'? and many other Australian newspapers Via Melbourne, Adelaide, and elsewhere, have &iven us (Sydney "Truth") much information about the Tory Lord who has recently arrived m this country, as the Governor-General of Australia. Some iof 'the journals have harped upon the , im"niense income that he draws from that* .unhappy gart of England' called the . Black. Country,' as if he were a b'enevo-' lent person who had done nfuch good by. being gracious enough to accept a reventfe from 'the wretched dwellers m- the Black' Country that has been termed by some, writers, aptly enough^ "enormous." Moreover; some of the newspapers, 1 and. B&ltry periodicals making a pretence of, lifeing newspapers, ate ladling out stuff to us m which Lord Dudley is ; represented *s a ••'■■■- : ■ ' . NOBLE-MINDED ALTRUIST , oozing . benevolence and beneficence at ! . every - pore. This being the condition of things witjh xegard to the GoyernotTJeneral, it becomes necessary m the fc-- < terest of tnr6), to impart to the public some information with regard to Lord. Dudley that the majority of Australian journalists are either shockingly ignorant • d£ r or else' are deliberately suppressing. ■%ft Lord Dudley be judged as . to . What he is : not as what he ought to tie, dor ,as what' he is alleged 4 to be by unjdiriithful scribblers. The tragic story ,pi Quarry. "Bank should be toM> at any rare, belote men are induced .to grovel . at the , ■shrine ,of "enormous weaith," ' some of .Vhich have, been obtained by means that destroyed, and desolated the. homes of the townsmen of Quarry' Bank/ .The Quarry . Bank business %as first ttiade" public by the English band Restoration League— an organisation conslstf ing; largely, of English Churchmen, whb deplore the evils of ground landlordism as exhibited m the rural parts off ErigJ4nd. The treasurer of this League is the, •■'■■- . ■"" , ' . ••. REV. STEWART D. /HEADLAM, 8.A., ■-;' , m.1.5.b., and; its 'secretary is Mr Frederick Verin~ aer."' The League sent out into the rural districts* a number of Red Vans, which contained representatives of the , League,., if ho made notes as to the conditions . of the; rural population. In the Red ; Van refcort for 1897, a full account, of • the Quarry Bank" 1 business was:givenj and this report was. utilised by Ji Morrison Dav-.' idson, barrister-at-law, ' m the fourth volume of <his. y Annals of Toil.'V The.report also contained photographs of „ the Stum wrougnt. m Quarry. Bant by/ the operations of Lord Dudley's agents ; ; and : these, photographs were reproduced m the London "Labor Annual" for .1899. Barrister Morrison Davidson calls- Lord Dudley "the Autocrat of the -Black Country,'' and says that 'his Lordship is able to "lay waste the dwellings of" the o ; oi'lr- of th' e Black Country with . perfect impunity because , m all he does* he hks 'law and order,'' nayi the : '•resources of '■'■ civilisation' at his. , hacks. '.^ 'fVtfd . yet," says Mortison Davidson, "this mighty potentate did not ' as one nrieht have ; expected,, 'come over? at "I3ie C.onnuest.' " Dugdale, m. his "Baronage"' (1675), quaintly says of the ninth Suttpn de Dudley that— . " .'■'-■• ', Betaking himself wholly '':*,- <V \ TO A CONCUHINE.. : tin. whom "he ,begot divers children, -lie .wasted' his estate m the support of her and them that he left not much of ■.( that fair inheritance which descended tp , him, and it so clog'd with debts ,tha# • f for the disengaging thereof, he married ; ■Frances,, his- grand-tlav.shter and heir, .'to Humble Ward, the only son^bf Wil* *liam Ward, a, wealthy goldsmith m •L v ondoai, jeweller to "idle late Queen. Apparently the title of Earl, of Dudleyf was bestowed upon the descendants of Humble Ward, the goldsmith's son, 1 - lot the name of the. present Earl .0f ..■.-Djodley, > ! who is only the second holder of the title, is William Humble Ward. rents received by the Earl of* Dud-' icy are bald 10 yield him an income pt £130,000 a year, but it is regarded as pr<> liable that this c Mmate is below the njark. The London "Daily. Telegiapih".; for May 9, 1885, declared that the Earl (the father- of the present Earl) derived m one 'year, "from his coal arid iron mines m Staffordshire not much less than one million pounds." Besides having three Vsjeats'-V in the country, the Karl has a, London residence. Again, says Barrister 1 Morrison Davidson, "Though by no means a. conspicuous paragon of piety, % he is \hA patron of thirteen livings." That is to grfy, he has, practically, the po"v.\r. to?appoint thirtfen : clergymen to clerical s iipendiary positions m charge of the souls pf the people of certain ndrishes. He is also the. owner of racehorses and? a patron* of racing,- and, for things alleged to have been done m these capacities, has been caustically criticised by l fßoV' Sievier: " .'..■••- .h.' "■:■ c The town of Dudley, Lord Dudley's own town, a place that he, with his immense Wealth, mipht easily have made the most beautiful and tOie' most healthy m the United Kingdom, is „-•'' A HELL UPON EARTH. ■Phis Red Van lecturer > was struck with terror at t ; he appearar.ee of the town, md he wa§ glad that he was able to escape from such a ; p},ace. He reports : •■'•* The Earl of Dudley is "owner*' "of most of the land,. and all-Uhat is Under the land, and most that 'is ; on the land. Wages are' low. This is a'osdlutelyAne .'worst town I; have ever been m. / The 'greater part of the /cottage property here is m a frightful- , condition. I was very glad to <irn my back on Dudley, and hope that I may 1 never have* to go there again. ' ..Now, for the matter of the demolition of the township of 'Quarry Bank. Originally, the land upc/n which the township was built was a "Chase." In the days "when George '\he Third was King," however, and mrii were returned to Parliament as- the' representatives ,of pocket boroughs, all /feorts of acts of injustice could be perpetrated by those who 3AT FOR; -THE POCKET BOROUGHS. ftVis not 'surprising, therefore, to discover that, by Act of Parliament, the Chase, - Pensett : Chase, was "enclosed" (toini people might term it stolen-; but it was quite '-'legal, 1 for it was done by Adt of Parliament).' The first Lord Dudley was given the >right to most of what was on ,tl}e surface, of the Cnase, as well as jyerytliing that wag below the surface. I^'was provided that, (m case of damage ione by undermining, not only was Jhe JLord of the Manor responsible, but ,also all the other freeholders. It appears that this provision' as '+o Ihe liabi'ity of the pther freeholders, has made ihe Compensation Clause unworkable, and, says Moririson DaVidson, r "Lord Dudley is consequently master jof the situation." In connection with) this matter ,q£ the CompensatiPn Clatise of the Act, one of the chief difficiiltjjes m the. way of its enforcement is the fact that a map required for definite ascertainment of: the boundaries of Pensett Chase is missing. In-sthe House of Commons the. following questions swe egked at itof

Home Secretary by Mr Brynmor? Jones, Q.C., M.P., concerning - i THE MISSING MAPS >- Whether ; he was aware that the Kingswinford Enclosure Act made provision that copies of the map annexed to the award of the Commissioners showing the common lands allotted under the Act should be deposited m the. parish church of Kingswinford, m the County of Stafford, and m one of her, . Majesty's Court* of Record at Westminster-; whether he:* was aware that the,' copy deposited* m the said parish cbjUrch' had disappeared, and that the .copy of the map deposited m one, of her Majesty's 'Courts at Westmiitster,-. '. and duly indexed there, could no longer •be found, and that the sole copjr naw . remaining ■ was m the hands of the : Lord,, of :the Manor of Kingswinford (Lord Dudley) ; witther he was aware- : -that,- owing to the subsidence of tlte soil at Quarry ; Bank, m the said par- . ' ishj caused by. mining operations, there .were disputed pending between the Lord- of the said.' Mamor and divers other persons which rendered access? to the said map- necessary ; and whether* under these 'Circumstances, he could sefe • his way to having a certified copy of the said map made,' and deposited m • the' record! office. ;' Barrister: ?Torrispn Davidson comments i upon these '.questions by saying, "Need it ■be said that the • vanished map is as , much a consideration as ever it was ?" ' .Thus,, we see that Lord Dudley could' not be. compelled to compensate thosfe j Whom his ; undermining operations might RUIN AND RENDER HOMELESS. As a matter of our. common Christianity speak of -ciyilisation— he might, out t>f his enormous wealth, 'have handsomely compensated all those wHose homes he destroyed,, or, better still,! he might have, refrained from undermining Quarry 1 Bank, or he might have built a new township for, those turned . out of their ' hpmes r . but Lord Dudley had the law.'on his side. So had Shylock. This, according ■'; tp the. report published by the English Land- Restoration League, and re^Ublisheditt> Barrister Morrison Davidsons' .^Annals tgol: ToU," is how Lord Dudley obtained. • h is pound of flesh :— „ After the enclosures, Lord Dudley'^ ancestors, and probably. sPme of the other freeholders, sold; jportions of the surface of what had once been' the Chase for building purposes. The little : : township 6f Quarty Bank, with its dwelling-houses, its shops, its factorieSj. j schools, churches.,' and chapels, giew up " on the slope o£ the "hill, and^^as' things 'go m the Black Country— prospered. ! Within, the last few years Lord Dudley, hag asserted his right- to mine for coal oi; iron under these buildingsmany, of them -"standing on land which his preaecessors m title sold- expressly for building purposes. Owing to the ; angle at whi6h tlie cdal lies (Atfdeg.),*. to its great- thickness (eight to ten yards), to .its comparatively small , depth below the surface ('4O or 50 yards),, and, it is -alleged, to the . NEGLECT 'OP LORD DUDLEY *.P .prop up tHe 'isurfaoe after the coal fiad been extrated, the houses of Quarry Bant/.' .-have suffered so much >. damage that the general appearance ol :the place would, sug^st a recent earthquake or ■ bombardment. The hojuses of _ Quarry Bank, where they have not fallen into utter 1 ruin, ■ may be seen m all stages., of. destruction, the walls lean- , " mg ;,' at all kinds of angles, often ci'ack- . Ed; from *top to ■ bottom, sometimes with the window-frames and glass broken into fragments witih the movements of f tne walls. People walking along the streets or. sitting m the houses can , hear the shots fired m the mines under , ;heir feet, = and feel the foundations . .shake as rKib'cPal. is brought down. In >. thb, upring of 1,897, notice was given to 710 families at oncu, numbering about spo/'sonls, that they could only con--•iiinub. to occupy their homes at the risk o.' cheir, own 'lives. . One oi the worst of the • ' CASES OF :RUIN WROUGHT by- Lord Dudley operations was that of a ; "working miner named Tristram. Public attention was. drawn to this case, m the London "Daily Chronicle" of Sep/tember 23, 1*897. Morrison Davidson deals With the case-; but says that it is' but one ."out of scores of instances of flagrant and insolent injustice which might be cited." His account is as follows: A wording miner named Tristramsome years ago, borrowed money to erect four houses at Quarry Bank, at a cost of £660. After many years of hard work he managed to pay off the ■mortgage.-. Lord Dudley's mining operations destroyed the whole of his property, and Lord Dudley's agent disclaimed • all liability for compensation, but offered him £10 (!) as an "act of grace" ! : ' Nay, his Lordship's benevolence, it would appear, eventually took a supreme for"m. In order to relieve cases of "urgent distress," he graciously de-' posited a sum (said . to amount to ' £300), undertaking, moreover, to supply iron for crampings and wood for shoring threatened houses, if the owners cared to provide tihe labor. A "munificent price to pay, truly; for the luxury of desolating a whole district, and destroying houses and businesses represenfring, m sundry instances^ the industry and savings of a lifetime ! ■ M^is6i& Davidson states that ? it is norrbnly the houses and industries, Sunday schools and chapels of the Quarry Bankers . that were ruined by Lord Dudley. : He says: — -....;' . The whole Local Government and Municipal Institutions of the township' are equally at his mercy. The District Council is being IMPOVERISHED AND STARVED by the wholesale destruction of rateable hereditaments,, while local expenses are being increased by the "crown-ing-in" of the roads. The proper drainage of the district has to await' Lord Dudley's pleasure at the risk of an epidemic. In almost every discussion at the. District Council, the dominant factor is "Lord Dudley's mining operations." The Chairman of the Kingswinford , School Board, m his recent annual review of the work of the ,board, that Lord. Dudley, even under these- painful circumstances, is riot too proud to accept money from the im- , ppverished ratepayers. The Rev. R. T. ; Stretton told the Board that— .The purchase of mines . . . cost at Bent-street School Board £570, ana at,. Quarry Bank dll^O, or a total of £2499. The Board we'rt, at present arranging the further purchase and exchange of mines at Quarry Bank at a cost of £300. 'He 'might say on -the subject that the Board and the ratepayers might, he thought, he now reasonably satisfied ' that their schools would be safe ttqm damage by the mining operations af Quarry Bank, which were 'idoing so much injury to surrounding property. It. was necessary for the Hoard $p_ secure, their schools as far as

possible from damage. Of course it was not absolutely certain that they had gained their object, but he thought the Board had done all it could m that direction.

So much for the achievements of the Earl of Dudley at Quarry Bank. It is alleged that, speaking some time ago m the House of Lords, Earl Dudley declared himself m favor of Home Rule for Ireland,, the sort of Home Rule favored by -him being, probably, the Devolution Plan put forward by Earl Dunraven on behalf of the Tory Party. No daunt -the Dublin Statutory Body proposed by Dunraven would quite satisfy the Home Rule leanings of Lord Dudley, as it would most other Tories ; but, m the light of what Loud Dudley is recorded to have done, m the Black Country, ,., God help the people of Ireland if . they had such Home Rule^ — and such landlordism ! — as would be given to them 'by that genius of the ruined township of Quarry E(ank ! Even Home Rule would cease to be admirable if it afflicted the people of Ireland' with a race of titled Shylocks.