there was a difference in the time of closing the boxes at St. Leonards and Hastings, which gave the latter the advantage of a few minutes; but there was a convenience in having two chief offices – one in each town – which the one-office advocates entirely ignored, and their opponents appeared to have overlooked. If letters had to be posted by persons residing between the two offices, or money-orders or stamps had to be purchased, or other postal business had to be transacted, it could be done at the Hastings office if nearest or if the party was going eastward either on business or pleasure; or at St. Leonards if that office was nearest, or the same party wanted to go westward for any other purpose.
But the Postal question – the most heated and the most unfortunate contention between the two town(sic) for several years – was a mere subterfuge; a subtle design to get, if possible, the Postmaster to do, indirectly what could not be effected by any other means, morally or legally. There was a St. Leonards township and there was a St. Leonards outside community – a Burton founded town and a people’s erected town – a town by Act of Parliament and a town by prescription; but all under the appellation of St. Leonards or St. Leonards-on-sea. Both of these were in the Borough of Hastings but not in the town of Hastings. One section or district was in the jurisdiction of a Board of Commissioners and the other was under the management of officials appointed by the vestries. Both of them grew up together and were so knitted by ‘commercial, parochial, geographical, social and family ties that nothing but a despotic act of the legislature could have separated them, and which were it even possible to obtain, would have thrown those inhabitants and their belongings into chaotic confusion. When the Town Council moved for the introduction of the Health of Towns’ Act – an act that was in every way permissive – every possible attempt was made to force the district within the jurisdiction of the St. Leonards Commissioners into union with Hastings for that purpose. This was successfully resisted by the Commissioners and the inhabitants over whom they had rule; but the other section of the St. Leonards inhabitants who had an undisturbed and undisturbable possessoy(sic) title of between twenty and thirty years to the name of St. Leonards, had no local Act by which they could borrow money for sanitary purposes and other necessary improvements, and they therefore readily threw in their lot with Hastings for the application of the Health of Towns’ Act. This they could do by mutual consent; and so could Ore, Fairlight, Bexhill, Battle, or any other place, situated either within or without the borough of Hastings, if all parties were so agreed; but there was no clause in that Act which gave power to change the name of such towns or districts. Mr. Ross, however, appeared to believe that -
