pay a new rate before they knew how the old one was spent. Was there any sinking fund, and if so, how was it being applied to the late Commissioners’ debt? The Clerk stated that there was an available sum at the Bank for that purpose of £394. It was therefore resolved, on the motion of Coun. Harvey, that £400 be applied to the reduction of such debt, and that Mr. Aubert receive notice that he would be required to take that amount in three months’ time.
The Drainage Plans. — The Surveyor (Mr. S. Putland) produced some plans, which he said were not yet ready, but were well forward. The weather of the last two months would have prevented any man working out of doors. He had found it necessary to take the levels of every house, which he did not expect at first. Coun. Harvey said he began to despair of getting the plans. They had now been 16 months in office, had levied heavy rates, and the ratepayers expected long ago to have seen the drainage taken in hand. The plans were not now ready, as promised, and he feared they would lose the whole of next year through these delays. The Surveyor’s duties appeared to be so arduous that he could not get on with them. If the Surveyor attended to those duties more, instead of being so constantly absent from them in attending other places, he would perhaps get on better [These remarks probably had reference to Mr. Putland’s religious and political proclivities and activity as opposed to those of Mr. Harvey]. The Health of Towns Act required to be expeditiously carried out, and the Surveyor should either do the plans or give them to someone else.
The Surveyor Explains. Again the Surveyor explained that the weather had been bad, and such a condition he thought was fortunate, for if an attempt had been made to carry out the drainage, it would have been extremely hazardous. For the purpose of forwarding the plans he had endeavoured to get assistance, but the preparation of railway plans for the Parliamentary Sessions had employed so many hands that he had been unable to get efficient assistance. If anyone could point out a suitable person, he should be happy to have him. He would just say that the Public Health Act had already done much for the cleanliness of the town. When asked where he found it, he said, on the previous day, he found the Bourne cleaner than he had seen it before. [If the Surveyor had lived close to the Bourne for nearly three years, as the present writer had done, he would have known that the rain which he complained of, was the sole agent in cleansing the Bourne, and that though the increase of water at first put the stream in a turbid condition, it soon after became more than ordinarily pellucid.] He wanted a map of the Priory Brook on the same scale as the large plan. The borough map was of no use to him. — Coun. Williams, without wishing to say one word in disparagement of the practical knowledge of their Surveyor, thought it was evident that he had begun without knowing how much was required of him. He now said that without a particular map he could not go on with his scheme of drainage. Most people thought the drainage of the town was one of the chief reasons why the Board of Health was required. He thought the Surveyor had put a new feature on the case. — Mr. Gant having been sent for, respecting the map, he attended, and said the Priory culvert could be put on the map in a few minutes, even while the Council were sitting. It -
