and finding that the difference between them was only £7 10s, they recommended the Board to pay that amount and allow the wall to stand.
Board Work unfairly distributed.
In moving the adoption of the Finance Committee’s report at the Council meeting of January 6th, Mr. Poole said he would take the opportunity of saying that a large amount of dissatisfaction existed among the tradesmen of the town with the manner in which the work in connection of the Board was given out. He thought it would be better to adopt the plan of the Board of Guardians, where a list of tradesmen was presented every quarter or half year and the persons to whom orders were to be given during the quarter were selected by the Board in rotation. He had himself occasion to complain before he became a member of the Council, for he did not think that he had his fair share of the work. He had heard many similar complaints from others, and he thought it would be much more satisfactory to the ratepayers, if the course he recommended were adopted. A recommendation was given to the Finance Committee to consider the subject. The writer of this history can personally attest the accuracy of Mr. Poole’s remarks. Residing, as he did, in the Local Board’s district, he received a three month order for the work in alphabetic rotation with other printers, and at the end of the period when a cheque for the amount of his bill was handed to him, he was complimented by Mr. Hide, the Assistant Town Clerk, who said “We have had from you the best work and materials, and at the lowest price; whilst from Mr. Knight we got the worst work and materials at a much higher price.” This kind of honest servitude did not secure to him who was thus complimented a renewed order when it should have come again to his turn. Instead of which the work was given to a German named Burg, whose charges were so exorbitant that – as he himself confessed to the writer – he had to reduced(sic) the total to nearly half.
Building Plans.
From the Town Clerk’s explanation at the January meeting, it appeared that a new rule in reference to building plans had been adopted. Previously they had been passed by the committee, and did not appear in the minute book, which gave rise to some irregularities.
The Roads Committee, on May 4th reported that they had approved of plans for three new houses in Robertson terrace, two cottages in -
