Loans. — Mr. Wagner’s offer to lend £800, and Mr. Jarman’s offer to lend £200, accepted with thanks, the said amounts being necessary for the completion of important works.
Additional Improvements. — Mr. Gant having become the Commissioners’ surveyor from the commencement of the year, he recommended the new wall to be two feet higher for 600 feet, and Hughes and Hunter had promised to do it for an additional sum of £168. At the meeting on Nov. 13th, the Surveyor submitted a plan for improved drainage, and Mr. Jesse Mann’s tender of £285 for lengthening the outlets was accepted. Twelve additional fire-plugs were ordered to be put down in different parts of the town, and the fire-engine to the overhauled and re-painted. Mr. Barnes’s employment as a constable ordered to be given up, and a contract was completed with S. J. Knight for continuing iron pillars and rails on the esplanade for £140.
The Clerk’s Duties. — At the last meeting of the year (December 26), the Clerk having made extra charges for work which the Commissioners considered was included in his salary, the clerk (W. Burton) tendered his resignation, whereupon the charges were allowed, but a resolution was passed that on the appointment of another clerk the duties should be clearly defined. Profiting by this occurrence as well as by the more than one dispute between the Town Council and their officers on the same want of explicitness, the resolution thus passed appeared to be necessary. Dr. Harwood, writing from the Clock Tower, complained of the pavement at West Double-Villa, and of the drying of clothes in the rear of the same property. In addition to the £1,000 lent by Mr. Wagner and Mr. Jarman, it was found that £700 was wanted to be borrowed to liquidate existing liabilities.
Greater Energy. — The restricted limit of their borrowing powers and the half-yearly rating being confined to a shilling[1], in the pound, disenabled the Commissioners to carry out, not only desired improvements, but also the means of protection against the action of the sea and other works of necessity. These limitations of the Local Act also many times militated against the obtaining of loans even within the prescribed limits, and had not some of the residents (among whom were the Burtons themselves) come to the rescue, the urgencies could not have been met, and the Commission must have collapsed. The prevalent belief was that as the building increased, the revenue derived from additional rates would cover the outlay on the theretofore unoccupied roads and byeways, but it was found that this additional source did not much more than equal the requirements of the new property. Under all circumstances much credit was due to -
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
