but amusing joke. He was travelling from London with a young man named Fred. Tyhurst who had come home from a sea voyage, and as the coach - or, more accurately, the Royal Blue Van - approached Hastings via the new entrance, now known as Cambridge road, a small wager was laid with Tyhurst that in consequence of the altered appearance of the place he would pass over the Priory water without observing the bridge. "No, no!" said the young man, "the thing is impossible for me; I am too familiar with the old bridge for that." His confidence, indeed, was so great that he offered to double the bet. The Priory farm-house, cow-lodge and granary were passed on the left, Mr. Savage's weather-boarded hut on wheels and Mr. Long's blacksmith's shop (where Mr. Watson's bazaar now is[a]) were passed on the right, and the middle of York buildings (then a row of tile-fronted houses, but now a line of handsome shops) was reached, while the ship-building yard of Messrs. Ransom and ridley (sic) was in full view. The hitherto too confident Fred., losing heart, then appealed to the coachman with "I say, Jim, where's the bridge?" "What bridge?" responded Hammond. "Why, the bridge, the Priory bridge!" ejaculated the young man. "Pulled down, long ago!" shouted the coachman; at which the laugh went briskly round among all the "upper-deck" passengers, whilst the "knowing-one (no closing quotation marks) declined to pay the lost wager, on the plea that it was "a dead take in."
But, let me see! whither am I wending, or to what destination am I being led by the associations which almost involuntarily crowd upon my memory? I began this chapter with some account of the private gardens at St. Leonards, passing on to the market gardens at Hastings. From gardens I got to roads, from roads to turnpikes, from turnpikes to stage-coaches, from stage-coaches to the Royal Blue Van, and the priory bridge anecdote in connection with it. But in alluding to the drivers of the coaches I made a digression towards the "foggy" reminiscences of an old Hastinger, ere I had quite done with coaching affairs. It was on the 4th of September, that a lady from London to St. Leonards on the Regulator coach, had her clothes cut and her pocket emptied of £25 in gold and notes. The robbery was supposed to have been perpetrated by two "gents" who booked their places for the coach at Tunbridge Wells; but no proof could be given, and no charge therefore could be laid. Previously to that occurrence, the touting system, which was an intolerable nuisance in St. Leonards, led one of the touters to mount the Dispatch coach at the Tivoli, on its down journey to St. Leonards, to importune the passengers. As he would not desist when politely remonstrated with, a gentleman knocked off his hat, which caused him to get down to recover it. The coach drove on, and the gentleman, on arriving at the house he had taken, very properly forbade his family to deal with the tradesman whom the touter represented. This system was carried on for some years, it being no uncommon thing to see the tradesmen's assistants besieging the lodging-houses on the arrival of families, and even rushing into the rooms. In some cases fighting was resorted to between the rival trades, and on more than one occasion the parties appeared before the magistrates to "square accounts." Two tradesmen are still living who were respectively, plaintiff and defendant in a case of assault arising out of the reprehensible system of touting, the "pains and penalties" falling rather heavily upon the aggressor. Happily, such scenes have long passed away; and were any attempt made to renew them, I imagine the police would soon show the efficacy of their institution. But it might be asked where were the police in 1838, and the reply might be, anywhere or nowhere for they were not sufficiently numerous to be everywhere. Yet, strange as the statement may now seem to be, it was gravely proposed to lessen their number. At a Council meeting on the 3rd of April, Mr. Putland renewed his proposition to immediately reduce the police force from thirteen to nine. He was of opinion that nine-tenths of the population regarded the force as being too numerous. The taxes, he declared had reached such an enormous pitch that they could no longer be borne. [Yes! 4d. in the £, and since then over 2/-.]
The poor had been half starved during the winter, and the Guardians had no power to relieve them. Mr. Putland's motion was supported by Dr. MacCabe, and Messrs. Yates, Thwaites, Emary and Ginner; but it was defeated by the opposing votes of Messrs. Deudney, Foster, Shadwell, Brisco, Mannington, Ranking, Ransom, Farncomb, and Harman. Notwithstanding that five of the majority were magistrates, and as such, ought to have known something of the necessity for an efficient police force, Mr. Putland expressed his determination to repeat his motion before the Watch Committee.
Whether, in conformity with his threat, Mr. Putland ever moved the Watch committee to recommend the reduction of the Police force, I have no means of knowing, but I believe he did not again bring the subject before the Council as it was then constituted, nor after the 1st of November, when he might have supposed there would be a still larger majority against him. The new Councilmen were Messrs. Edlin and Farncombe, for the West Ward, and Messre. (sic) W. Ginner, G. Clement, John Bayley, jun., and Anthony Harvey, jun., for the East Ward. At the Council meeting on the 9th, Dr. Mc Cabe (sic) (a Liberal) and Dr. Ranking (a Conservative) were both proposed for the mayoralty, and as they obtained an equal number of votes, the casting vote of the retiring Mayor (Mr. James Emary) was given to Mc Cabe.
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "Notes", but no corresponding <references group="Notes"/> tag was found
