THE controversy over whether to build a funicular railway up the side of the Worcestershire Beacon got national attention 100 years ago, judging by the Gazette.

"For some days past the correspondence column of The Times has been flooded with letters from a number of well-known Malvern residents in opposition to the hill railway, and the leading journal thought the question of sufficient public importance to send a special correspondent to investigate the pros and cons on the spot.

"His article is a very fair one, and, in my opinion, he sums up the situation in a far more impartial spirit than some of the scheme's opponents. In fact, two of The Times's correspondents referred to the possibility of the pollution of the town's water supply, if the project is carried out.

"It is a great pity that such letters were ever penned, as they cannot be otherwise than injurious in Malvern, for many reading them without a knowledge of the true facts would be likely to draw a wrong conclusion.

"It was therefore a wise step on the part of the council to clear the air. The statement of our surveyor that contamination of the water supply was impossible, ought to reassure timid people who may have been alarmed at the indiscreet statement made by two of Malvern's residents in their communications to The Thunderer.

"The writers were sharply taken to task by the Council. but criticism of their letters is by no means confined to the Municipal fathers. Not only the hotel and lodging-house keepers, but many well-to-do residents who have spoken to me, have resented their publication."