Page:Item 9 1861.pdf/78

Council as well as his friend Mr. Putland, and as he had had the honour of holding an uninterrupted seat for two years and sixteen days longer than Mr. Putland, he, as the oldest member of the Council thought he was entitled to an opinion on the subject. [The introduction of this avowal, with Mr. Putland’s interjaculatory comments, caused considerable amusement amongst the Council who were aware that the point had before been contested as to which of the two was the oldest member. The real facts were these:- On the 13th of August, 1837, Mr. Will Ginner was elected for the East Ward in the place of Mr. Wm. Thorpe, who was then a bankrupt, and Mr. Stephen Putland was elected at the same time for the West Ward, in the place of Mr. Wm. Mantel Eldridge, who was also a bankrupt. Mr. Putland was re-elected on the following 1st of November, and Mr. Ginner was re-elected in Nov. 1838. At a later period Mr. Putland resigned the office of Councillor to take that of Surveyor, and after resigning the latter office, was again returned to the Council. Mr. Ginner was also for a short time un-returned to the Council. It would seem, therefore, that whilst Mr. Putland was the longest time connected with the Council, Mr. Ginner was the longest time a member of the Council.] In continuation, Ald. Ginner remarked that he was not one of those who thought the Town Hall should always be kept there; for, the time might come when the business of the town would be more important, but he certainly thought there was no need of a new Hall at present. – Coun. Kenwood thought all who were not prejudiced would admit that a new Hall was required. Mr. Ginner had candidly said that he did not think the Town Hall could always remain where it was, and that it must be removed sooner or later, and as he (the speaker) understood that the motion was to look for a site only, on that ground he should give it his support. – Coun. Wingfield thought that the motion had been made at a bad time. He must do his duty, and vote against the motion. – Coun. Gausden said it appeared to him that the greatest objection to the motion was the outlay. Mr. Bromley had said there was no outlay which would bring less benefits to the borough than that arising from a new Town Hall. He would draw that gentleman’s attention to the outlay for the water-works. For these, a very large sum had been laid out, but what was the return? A very small one, indeed! He must say on the point of East and West, the gentlemen of the West could not be complained of. The East had not only voted the money away against the wishes of the West, but they had done so with very arbitrary power – namely that the residents in Eversfield place would be compelled to pay the water-rate whether they took the water or not. The representatives of the West Ward had not resisted this regulation because they thought the new water-works would benefit -