In 1911 the four Turns (Traboe, Trelan, Tregarne
and Bean) were still in existence for
administration purposes. Each of them had an
Overseer elected by the Council; their normal
term of office was two years and to provide
continuity two were elected each alternate year.
There was a degree of competition for the posts
from both members and non-members of the council.
At this time the Clerk, Mr R.Coad, was Clerk,
Assistant Overseer and Rate Collector, a
combination of functions that seems to haved
evolved from convenience.
We do not know when he
was appointed clerk, but it was before 1904
because in that year he was appointed Assistant
Overseer in addition; the Rate Collectorship was
added in 1910. In April 1914 he broached what he
describes as "an unpopular subject" for
ratepayers and said that on the meeting following
his appointment as Collector, the Council
deducted £5 from his salary (we don't
know what his salary was as the minutes of the
years before 1911 have been lost).
He went on to
explain that he had compared what he was
receiving with that paid to other Collectors in
other parishes of the same size in the Union and
he found that he was being paid about half as
much as they were. "He confidently left the
matter in the Council's hands". How well
he later felt his confidence to have been placed
we do not know, but the Council agreed to raise
his salary by £10.
To cover their expenses the Parish Council issued
a precept on the Overseers for certain sums which
they were then responsible for raising from the
ratepayers in their Turn. This was in addition to
the main demand for money which was from the
Union (effectively the Meneage Workhouse). In
1911 the Union Call was for £252.10s.0d.
per half year and the rate was set at 2/6d in the
pound on buildings and other hereditaments.
Not many records of the Overseers' meetings
appear in the Minutes Book, but on the 30th
August 1911 the Clerk reported that he had
collected £821.13s.9d. Of this £505
went to the Union.
Human nature does not change fundamentally and
the demands were not always met at once. At that
same meeting it was resolved to send Final
Notices to eighteen parishioners amongst whom are
some distinguished names best left in the dusty
obscurity of the Minutes Book. Some of the
advantages of local government that was really
local can be seen by the fact that a fortnight
later all but six had paid up. The threat of
being summonsed resulted in five paying up before
the end of the second fortnight; the one
remaining recalcitrant was to be
"interviewed". Nothing more is heard of
the arrears either in that or subsequent
years.
It is interesting to compare this with the
present-day rate of recovery of overdue Poll Tax
bills; on 12th November 1993 Kerrier District
Council was still owed £3,128,000 on a tax
which ceased to exist at the begining of
April.
The Overseers occasionally excused parishioners
their rates for the half or whole year because of
illness. In 1917 they found themselves in a
position of considerable difficulty because of
the unexpectedly large number of unoccupied
properties in the Parish and they were unable to
discharge their liabilities. The Council accepted
their reasons for "making the lower
rate" and sympathised with their
position.
The War was then at its most devastating and
there is no need to look further for the reason
for depopulation, but the "lowest rate"
imposed looks like a merciful interpretation in
favour of some families where the bread-winner
was at the Front or killed.
The general impression of a much more personal
and humane system than that under which we now
live. It was stable, comprehensible and
administered at first-hand, none of which is true
today.
However the burden was not light. Comparing the
cost of living from one age to another is always
fraught with difficulty, but a few examples of
cost can help: -
Insurance (of employees) in 1911 was
£1-10-0 and in 1992 £235-71
Path trimming (for the year) in 1911 was
£16-5-0 and in 1992
£2,483-74
These figures (covering the only equivalent
expenses) make £800 per annum look quite
terrifying, but they are really only useful as
showing that things a enormously different; no
direct comparison is possible - agencies of
collection and delivery have changed out of
recognition. There was, for example, nothing to
compare in scale with the Department of Social
Security.
Overseers disappeared in 1927 when the new Rating
Act came into effect, henceforth Helston Rural
District Council set and collected the rates. Two
Parish Council members were elected every two
years to represent the Parish interests at
meetings in which the rate was being set.
The
Parish Council's direct responsibility ended
when it had informed the District of its
requirements, much as it does today.
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