Round About Conisborough – Roads, Houses, Thaw, Mr Williams and School Fees

December 1923

Mexborough & Swinton Times, December 08/12/1923

Round About Conisboro´


County Roads & Pathways


Good progress is being made with the remaking of the county roads in Conisbrough, and the work is being done with a thoroughness which perhaps has locally never before been attempted. A good proportion of the Doncaster and Tinsley main road has hitherto been unprovided with surface water drainage and the same remark applies to the road from Brook Square to Burcroft Hill, but this defect is now being remedied, with the result, that we shall have a very greatly improved main road when the work in hand is completed.

There are complaints heard about the pathway in Doncaster Road but the present unsatisfactory condition is almost inevitable as I am told it would have been wasteful to complete the footpath before the road was finished for the heavy steam rollers at work on the road would in all probability have damaged any asphalt that was laid on the footpaths, owing to lateral pressure. Let us admit that the county surveyors know their work a good deal better than their amateur critics. No doubt the users of the footpath are put to some inconvenience, but I think they may be sure that the work is being carried out as expeditiously as the circumstances allow.

The other day I read an article by a noted engineer who was pleading for roads being made as picturesque as possible, and he advanced the novel contention that ugly roads led to scorching, the idea being that motorists wanted to get over them as quickly as they could. I wondered whether the same desire was induced by the olfactory organ being unpleasantly affected instead of the eye. If so the stretch of road from Clifton Hill to Mount Pleasant would be a good place to test the theory.

The Thaw


The thaw that set in during the early morning of last Saturday was very disappointing to skaters, for many had made plans to spend the half-holiday on the ice, and though the thaw was not so thorough as to affect safety yet it made the surface so wet and sloppy that a fall would have meant soaked clothing and consequent risk to health.

School Fees


A case heard at the Dover County Court recently, will no doubt be of interest to all parents of children attending a Secondary School, who entered into an agreement with a County Authority when school fees were lower, and have subsequently been required to pay a higher fee. A parent sued the Kent Education Committee to recover fees paid in excess of the fee charged when his daughter first went to the High School, at which date he covenanted to keep the child at school for a term of some years, and he contended this agreement was binding, and that the fees could not be increased. Judgement was in his favour, and if it stands the County must return to him all fees he has paid in excess of the original fee. In this locality there must be numbers of people in the same position as the Dover parent, but it would be premature to take any action for I understand the ruling in this case is to be challenged in the High Court by the Board of Education.


Mr Williams


A very well attended meeting in support of Mr. William´s candidature was held in the Picture Hall on Sunday evening. Mr. Ellis Brooke was in the hair, but his duties were very light for the proceedings were as orderly and decorous as anyone could wish. The meeting commenced at 7 o´clock and closed at 9.30. There were speakers from Barnsley and Bradford who kept the interest of the audience until the arrival of the Labour candidate. Mr. Williams outlined his policy which was evidently quite satisfactory to the great majority of his audience. It is worth noting that Mr. Williams expressed the hope that those present would attend Captain Reynolds´s meeting later in the week, and would listen to him as courteously and attentively as they had that evening listened to him.


Housing Scheme


The severe weather of the last few weeks cannot fail to have delayed to some extent work on the housing scheme which is now nearing completion. A beginning has not yet been made on the second batch of 80 houses though I understand that some of the necessary preliminary work in the matter of roads and sewers has been put in hand.

I think our local Council are to be congratulated on the price at which they have been able to let the contract for the second batch of houses, viz: £356 for the non-parlour, and £364 for the parlour type judging by the figures which other authorities have had to pay. Greenwich is to pay £453 for houses similar to our parlour type: Swindon is paying an average price of £446. Clewer, near Windsor, is building 32 houses, the average case being £477; and Fleetwood has contracted for non-parlour houses at £374, and parlour houses at £445. All these contracts were given out about the same time as the Conisbrough contract was settled.

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