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SWANSEA COKPORATION MEETINGS.…

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SWANSEA COKPORATION MEETINGS. The monthly meeting of the Council of this town was held at the Guildhall, on Wednesday. There were pre- sent the Mayor (Mr. W. H. Brown) in the chair; Alder- men Jenkin, Richardson, Phillips, and Strick Council- lors J. J. Jenkins, Thos. Powell, J. Buse, T. Hopkins, T. Harry, James Livings:on, Philip Rogers, Jas. Rogers, J. L Evans, T. Ford, M. Moxham, W. H. Forester, and T. Davies. Tiio minutes of the Watch Committee were adopted, on the motion of the Mayor they contained no matter of special interest. PROPERTY COMMITTEE. Mr. Alderman Richardson moved the adoption of the report of the Property Committee, mid referred to the chief matters of interest which it contained. The first had reference to the alterations in the Guildhall. He mentioned last month that the Committee had called a special meeting of its members, and had requesaed the architect to attend it. in order to consider the suggestions which had been made by the Chairman of Quarter Ses- sions and the members of the bar in regard to the arrangements of the Criminal Court. That meeting had been held the suggestions which had been made were canvassed, and most of them had been acted; upon and he believed himself, and he thought the Committee una- nimously believed, that the Court was now as well fitted for its purpose as perhaps any in the kingdom. It had been suggested by one of the members of the Committee that it would be convenient if a gallery were erected on the east side of the Crown Court for the use of members of the Corporation the suggestion commended itselt to the judgment of the whole Committee, and by their direction the gallery had been erected at a cost of £ 4.:>. It would be necessary to furnish the rooms for the J udges and the Grand Jury, and as time was pressing the Com- mittee were going on with this work. He could pionuse that every attention should be given to it, and that it should be carried out with a due regard both to economy and to the comfort and convenience of the Judges and others for whose use the rooms were intended. Some difficulty had arisen with Sir John Morris, the owner of the land, with respect to the piece of ground selected as the site for the police-station at Morriston and the matter had been referred to the atch Committee. If satisfactory arrangements could not be made, it would be necessary to look out for another site. Some time ago a plan was laid before the Local Board for the laying out of a new road at the south-west side of the town, to be called Argyle-street. It was now recommended that something should be done with regard to it, and the Committee recommended that that portion which be- longed to the Corporation should be made, and that the other parties who had land adjoining should be called upon to do their part. Mr. Alderman Jenkin seconded the motion for the adoption of the minutes. Mr. Hopkins wished to know if the Property Committee was in any way a privileged committee. If other com- mittees wanted to spend money they were required to bring up a report and get the sanction of the Council but the Property Committee had ordered the erection of the new gallery in the Criminal Court, at a cost of £V¡, and also other works in the Town-Clerk's office, to the amount of £:¿4, entirely upon their own responsibility, and without asking for the assent of the Council. Mr. Alderman Richardson There was no time to get it. The Mayor thought Mr. Hopkins was entitled to an answer to his question before the discussion proceeded further. The Property Committee was not a privileged committee; it had no power to spend money on its own responsibility and without the sanction of the Board. But his impression was that there was a resolution of the Board authorising the Committee to carry out such alter- ations with regard to the Court as they deemed advisable. He would ask the Town-Clerk whether it was so or not. The Town-Clerk It was so but I don't think it ex- tended so far as to the addition of a gallery. Mr Philip Rogers said his impression was that it did extend to the gallery—the words, he thought, were, all necessary works." Mr. Alderman Richardson said he was quite sure that those who looked at the great improvement caused by the second gallery would not grudge the additional expense of £45; and he hoped Mr. Hopkins would long live to enjoy the pleasure of sitting in it as a member of the Town Council. The motion was adopted. MARKET ANI) QUAY COMMITTEE. Mr. Alderman Phillips moved the adoption of the report of this committee. The market receipts for the past month amounted to about the average. The quay dues were in arrear to the extent of £ï38, and the Town- Clerk had been instructed to take proceedings against all defaulters. The Market Inspector had brought a charge of breach of the market regulations against one of the butchers of the town, which had failel at the hearing before the magistrates he had been instructed not again to take proceedings in any case which involved a point of law without the approval of the Town-Clerk. It would be remembered that the committee had directed the surveyor to prepare a plan for the erection of a shed for the Fish-market, at the south-east side of the maiket. A plan was prepared accordingly, and on Saturday last the committee met in the market and looked at the pro- posed site. The result was that they came to the con- elusion that it would be unadvisable to erect a shed as proposed, as it would materially affect the uniformity of the market, and they decided to recommend the adoption of the shed formerly used as a fish-market. The expense which would be involved in fitting it up for the purpose would only be £10 or so. Mr. Rogers seconded, and the motion was carried. FINANCE COMMITTEE. Mr. Moxham moved the adoption of the minutes of this of receipts fofthe month ^Pas" £ Yl'+ife'ii, fchft. Ji.nipunt about i:70 less, than the previous month. Mr. Livingston seconded the resolution, and the minutes passed. THE CENSUS. The Mayor said he had received a letter from the Registrar-General on the subject of the census that was to be taken in April next, containing certain suggestions to the Corporation as to the assistance which would be rendered to the enumerators by having the whole of the houses carefully numbered and arranged throughout the borough. This had been done to a great extent, but the whole were not yet complete, and it would be advisable to have it done before the census was taken. Mr. Harry said there were none of the houses numbered in the outlying districts. The Mayor moved the desirability of carrying out the suggestion of the Registrar-General, and that the atten- tion of the Surveyor be directed to the matter with the view of carrying it out. 1 Mr. Hopkins seconded, and the resolution passed. DUTIES AND SALARIES COMMITTEE. The Duties, Salaries, and General Expenditure Com- mittee, appointed two years previously, now brought up their final report.. i r .n The Mayor moved that the consideration of the reports, both as regarded the Council, the Local Board, and the Burial Board, should be deferred until the other business had been disposed of, and that then the whole should be discussed together. This would be more convenient than I to discuss each one separately. Mr. Alderman Jenkin moved That the report be referred to the following committees, viz., the Watch, the Property, the Quay, and the Finance Committees, with a request that they will consider the several matters contained in the report, or such as may be within the province and under the control of those committees re- spectively, and report to a meeting of the Council to be specially convened for that purpose." He thought that this would be the best plan to pursue, as it would enable the Council to consider the question with all the materials before them. Mr. Alderman Richardson seconded the motion. After a little conversation the motion was negatived, and it was agreed that the report should be considered at the close of the present meeting. This concluded the business of the Council, and the members then sat as a LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH. WORKS AND NUISANCES COMMITTEE. The Town-Clerk read the minutes of this Committee, the following being the one of chief public interest :— The Town-Clerk was instructed to convey the follow- ing resolution to the Council: Resolved, that this com- mittee recommend that application be made to the Council for payment from the surplus income of the borough of all expenses henceforward to be incurred in the laying down of public pennant pitching," Mr. Powell, in moving the adoption of the minutes, referred to various matters contained therein. The Committee found that they could not do anything with regard to the footbridge at Morriston, it being the pri- vate property of the Duke of Beaufort. It was very desirable that something should be done to put it in a safe and proper state, and he was very sorry that the Committee had no power to deal with it. The question of the Morriston footpaths had been deferred, and would come before the County Roads Board in a short time. A suggestion had been made in the Committee that the Board should require that in all cases of private improve- ments in future Caithness stone should be used instead of native stone for paving, &c., before the houses. It seemed to be admitted that Caithness stone was best adapted for the purpose, but considering the heavy burdens to which 1 the ratepayers were already subject, the committee did not think it would be fair to insist upon this expensive stone being used. Mr. Hopkins seconded the motion. Mr. Moxham spoke strongly in favour of the proposal Mr. Moxham spoke strongly in "favour of the proposal for compelling the use of Caithness instead of native stone. 11 Mr. P. Rogers expressed his opinion that if care were ex- exercised in its selection, native stone was almost or quite I equal to any other. Mr. Harry, referring to the foot-bridge at Morriston, said he supposed the committee had the power to compel it to be taken down and to build another. He thought that 1 to do this would be much better than to permit it to remain as it was. < Mr. Buse asked who was responsible for the state of the < pavement under the railway bridge in Wind-street. It 1 was a disgrace to the place. 1 The Surveyor said that the railway company had charge of the pavement there.. f The Mayor said that portion of the report which recom- 1 mended that the expense of the pennant pitching of the] town should be recouped out of the surplus income of the 1 Corporation had his hearty support. It was true there was 1 a questoin in the mind of the Solicitor-General, to whom the t point had been referred by the Town Clerk, as to whether euch an application would be a strictly legal application; but considering that the utmost which that learned gentleman could say was that the consideration of the case left some doubt in his mind as to whether or 1 not the fund in question was legally applicable to the purpose proposed, he thought they would be justi- fied in giving themselves the benefit of the doubt (hear, hear,) and charging matters of this kind, which were for the permanent improvement of the town, upon the revenues of the Corporation instead of upon the rate. Mr. Livingston said if it were legal to act in this manner ] the sower they did so and relieved the ratepayers by « charging works of this sort upon the Corporal ion income, the better. It was of the utmost importance that all pos- sible relief should be given. He wished to know from the Town Clerk whether it were legal to do so or not. The Town Clerk I can only say that the Solicitor- General has doubts as to its legality in the face of that I cannot give an opinion. The matter then dropped and the motion was agreed to. THE EXTENSION OF SEWERAGE QUESTION. The "Water and Sewers' Committee laid before the Board the following report which had been prepared at their re- quest by the Surveyor:— To the IVater and Sewers Committee. GENTLEMEN,— EXTENSION OF SEWERAGE WORKS IN THE BOROUGH. On the 27th December last I laid before you plans and estimate for an extension of additional sewerage works in the Borough, on the same principle that has been carried out in other parts of the district, viz., with main sewers in the streets and subord nate sewers for the back drainage of blocks of houses. You then instructed me to report on the relative ex- penses of draining the same districts by a system of sewers in the main streets only—the houses to be ,¡ r lined into the sewers either separately underneath the houses or by com- bined private drains. The saving of cost to the Board in carrying out the public sewers according to the latter system is shewn in a tabulated form below but the increase of cost to owners of property in connecting the dr inage of their houses will much exceed that amount • in addition to which, houses drained in this manner will, in their sanitary condition, be much inferior to those drained into subordinate sewers at the back. fhe following is the table above referred to :— DISTRICT Main it Sulxlte Main Sewers Sewers. only. £ s. d. £ s. d. Morriston 10,400 0 0 6,861 0 0 Landore 9.860 0 0 7,776 0 0 Town 10,475 0 0 7,878 0 0 Viviantown and Pentre 6.000 0 0 4,952 0 0 Ihmlet of St. Thomas 4,466 0 0 3,887 0 0 Foxhole 3,166 0 0 2,702 0 0 Gwyndy 2,930 0 0 2,381 0 0 Total £ 47,297 0 0 36,437 0 0 I am, Gentlemen, your obedient Servant, EDW. COUSINS, Swansea, 24th Jan., 1871. Borough Engineer. With reference to the report of the Surveyor, the Committee came to the following resolution That the Committee is fully impressed with the desirability of extending the main drainage of the district; but in view of the heavy burdens already existing hesitated to recom- mend such extension." Mr. Ford moved the adoption of the minute. As the Board were aware, numerous applications had from time to time been received from various parts of the borough for an extension of the drainage, but the committee con- sidered it to be their duty not to recommend the expen- diture of any more money upon the works until they had had a full knowledge of the whole question and an estimate of the probable cost of carrying out and com- pleting the work. As lie had mentioned at a previous meeting, a plan had been under the consideration of the committee which it had been suggested would lessen considerably the cost of extending the sewerage. The proposal was that instead of having in future subordinate drains in addition to the mains for each street, the latter only should be extended, and the houses should in future be drained directly into the main sewer. This was not recommended as being so efficient a plan as the one hitherto in use, but it would be very considerably less expensive. It ought not to be forgotten, when the cost of the sewerage works and the burdens which they im- posed upon the public were spoken of, that a great deal of the work which in other towns was thrown upon the owners of houses was in Swansea done at the expense of the town. It would be seen from the report of the com- mittee that although they clearly perceived and fully recognised the great advantages which would arise from the carrying out of the work, they yet did not see their way clear—taking into consideration the heavy taxation to which the town was already subject-to recommend it at present. They did not think it would be right that they should take upon themselves the responsibility of deciding either way they had simply resolved to lay the matter before the Board and the ratepayers and leave them to say what they thought ought to be done under the circumstances the committee merely did not recom- mend the extension of the mains at present. Having been asked by Mr. Hopkins to give the statistics of the water works, he had made it his business to obtain the exact figures, and would now lay them before the Board. The total receipts for the year 1870 had been £7472, and the payments had been £ 3431, or nearly half. He had taken some trouble to ascertain how this large expendi- ture arose. He found that £ 1240 of it went for rates, taxes, and tithes. Of this amount only JE932 properly belonged to the year, the remainder was arrears from the previous year with a small item for tithes. There was an item of kl92 8s. 3d. for income tax. This was the amount which was really due for two years, but in con- sequence of the change which had been made in the sys- tem of collection it all came out of that year. The works in 1865 were rated at £ 1000 a year, whereas in 1870 they were rated at 92904, thus showing that the revenue from them was increasing very rapidly, and that they would pay a good dividend were it not that experses which did not properly belong to their management, and over which the committee had no control had increased in a corresponding ratio. If they took the receipts^ for ;t^ for the proportion of rates and taxes which did not pro- perly belong to the year, together with the extra expenses which were not likely to occur again, and the coinpensa- tion to the millers and simply charged the works with the expenses of the staff, the ordinary repairs, the cur- rent expenses of labour and material, &c., they would find a balance of revenue representing nearly 4 per cent. upon the capital. (Hear, hear.) He wished the Board to understand that lie took as the capital the £ 124,000 expended upon the Blaennant-ddu and Lliw reservoirs and the distributing mains for bringing the water into the town, leaving out of the account the £ 40,000 which had been spent upon the old works, because no portion of the present supply of the town was derived from them. He thought 4 per cent, was a very fair return. (Hear, hear.) It had been frequently said that the works would pay much better if they were in the hands of a private com- pany. (" Hear, hear," from Mr. Mt>xham.) He thought otherwise. Bearing in mind the large amount which, if the works had not been in the hands of the Board, they would have had to pay for the water required for flushing sewers, extinguishing fires, and other sanitary and public purposes, he thought a return of 4 per cent, -or even of 3.j—was a very satisfactory result, and that there need not be any great outcry against the works. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Alderman Jenkin seconded the motion. He said the committee had unanimously decided not to do any part of the district unless they did the whole, including those outlying parts the people of which had been so long contributing to the rates, and had not yet received their share of the drainage. The statistics produced by Mr. Ford showed how carefully he had gone into the matter, and from what he had himself seen of them, the figures were very correct. It seemed to him (Mr. Jenkin) that the cost of the construction of the subordinate sewers had been thrust upon the ratepayers unjustly if the burden had been laid upon the owners of property about one third of the expense would have been saved to the rates. It was especially hard upon those who did not derive any benefit from the subordinate drains. He differed from the opinion which had been expressed by the surveyor that if they were to disconnect the subor- dinate drains and compel house owners to drain into the main sewer the town would not be in so healthy a state as it was at present. This system had been carried out in various towns of the Midland district of the country -Birmingham, for instance—where the outlet was not so favourable as in Swansea, and yet the death-rate was scarcely if at all higher. Mr. Alderman Phillips thought the Board had made a grand mistake in commencing the sewerage system in the town if they did not mean to complete it. Mr. James Rogers said he thought the Board exceeded its duty in constructing subordinate drainage at all in the town. It was an expenditure which should have fallen upon the owners of property. He felt that, with a debt of £ 200,000 upon their shoulders, and the rates so high as they were, they could not very well expeiidt.30,000 in the extension of the drainage. Mr. Moxham said they were paying over £ 7,000 a year, principal and interest, for the money borrowed for the waterworks, and he did not see how they were paying so wonderfully well. Mr. Powell said he was sorry the Board could not do its duty to the outlying districts, which ought to have the same attention paid them as the town proper. He should like to know when the Water and Sewers Committee wohld be able to recommend the same to be done in Morriston as had been done in the town. He confessed he should hesitate to recommend any additional expenditure, but considering that the people of Morris- ton paid their quota towards the cost it seemed unfair that they were to have none of the advantages. '« Mr. Philip Rogers said that if they borrowed the money, and carried out the drainage, and added another shilling rate to the already overpowering number, they would break the backs of the ratepayers outright. The Mayor quite agreed with the committee; he thought at the present time they did well in not recom- mending the expenditure of £ 50,000. Mr. Alderman Strick said there could be no doubt that an apparent injustice was done to the people of the out- lying districts in determining not to proceed with the work recommended by the surveyor. It was true they were heavily taxed, he did not suppose there was any town in the kingdom which was more so, and it was difficult to decide what ought to be done. The only course he could suggest was that the ratepayers of the outlying districts should have a public meeting among themselves and try the question whether or no it was their wish that the works should be gone on with. If by a considerable majority they decided in the affirmative, and were willing to accept the additional rate of 6d. in the pound which it would involve, he thought the Board would be bound in justice to accede to their wishes. He did not think the town ratepayers ought to have a voice in the matter they had had their cake and eaten it. Mr. Buse said that if the ratepayers of Morriston re- solved in public meeting that the work should be done, and were willing to pay 6d. in the pound for it, the Board would have no hesitation in carrying out the work. Mr. James Rogers said it would take a shilling rate if the work were carried out. Mr. Strick said that supposing the works were only ex- tended to the outlying districts, a rate of 6d. in the pound would be sufficient. Mr. Harry thought that instead of giving the Morriston people the option of having the sewage and paying an additional Gd, in the pound, it would be better to give them the option of going without the works and having 5d. in the pound struck off their rates. The Mayor would venture to say that the work would be carried out at once, if the ratepayers of Morriston and the outlying districts would only ask for it to be done. Mr. James Rogers said that there was good natural drainage at Morriston and the outlying districts, and the work was not so necessary as in a populous town. He did not say there was no ground for grumbling, but he thought they had better grumble a little longer rather than increase the rates. After some further discussion, the minutes passed, as did also the minutes of the Fire Brigade Committee. FINANCE. The minutes of the Finance Committee contained, among others the following As to borrowing. Re- ferring to a resolution of this Board, dated the 14th of April, 1870, by which this committee was empowered to do the acts therein mentioned in reference to borrowing on the security of the general district rates, it was reo solved that the committee recommenrl that theabovepower be extended so as not to restrict or fetter the periods of repayment of principal, and that the rate of interest to be paid be not more than JM per cent, per annum. The attention of the committee having been directed to the alleged irregularity and inaccuracy of the assessment for the relief of the poor in this borough,—resolved That this committee is of opinion that snch assessment does not afford a fit criterion for making a general district rate for this borough, and consider that the valuation ought to be made by a person to be appointed by ths board for that purpose, and therefore recommend that the necessary steps be forthwith taken for obtaining such valuation. Mr. Jenkin, in moving the adoption of the report, said he thought the amounts which had been received by the collector on account of rates shewed that he had been diligent in his duties, and-as successful as could reason- ably be expected. The arrears at present amounted to B6,786, which included a considerable sum— £ 500—due from one ratepayer—the Harbour Trust. As regarded the water rents, he found that there was a balance of about £1,300 still due. Referring to the recommendation above quoted, with respect to the borrowing powers of the Corporation, he said the object was to make, if possi- ble, such arrangements as would enable them to extend the period of re-payinent to the utmost limit allowed by the Act. The committee asked the Council to em- power them to borrow sums for any length of time and, if they could not make better terms, up to the rate of 5 per cent. interest. He hoped this recommendation would receive the s motion of the committee because he believed the effect woul(1 be to reduce the rates very con- siderably—to an extent he believed of not far short of one rate in the year, though of course he did not pledge himself to the precise amount. There was a sum of £70û due to the Board on account of private improvements, and there did not seem any reason why that sum-or such proportion of it as was recoverable—should not be got in. The matter had been for a long time in abeyance and the committee thought an effort should now be made to enforce payment. They, therefore, recommended that the town clerk's attention be directed to the subject and that he—with the assistance of the surveyor and collector -be instructed to furnish them with particulars as to the amounts due and the best mode of compelling a settlement There was another matter of considerable importance referred to in the report and that was the inequalities of the valuation lists. All the members of the Board who read the public papers were no doubt aware that there had been many complaints on this sub- ject for some time past. It would appear from instances cited—whether they were correctly stated he did not know—that the inequality was something extraordinary that in certain cases property was rated at its full value while other property in the same locality was very decidedly underated. (Hear, hear ) Now the position of the Board was this the 55th clause of the Local Go- vernment Act enacted tlia if there was no assessment by reference to which the annual value of the property could be estimated the poor rate assessment should be followed, unless in the judgment of the Local Board it was an unfit criterion, in which case the valuatirn was to be made by a person appointed by the Local Board for that purpos— Now looking at the inequalities which were said to existe. and no doubt did exist—in the valuation of the property within the borough at present, the committee did not con- sider that the parochial assessment could be considered a fair criterion, and they therefore recommended that the alternative course prescribed by the Act should be adopted, and a person appointed to make a special valuation for the purposes of the Board. It would probably be asked what the expense which would be thus incurred would be ? He confessed that he was not then in a p sition to answer the question, but he apprehended it could not be anything very considerable, nothing like sufficient to out- weigh the advantages whijh would arise from having a fair and equal assessment. Mr. Davies seconded the adoption of the report. Mr. Alderman Phillips observed that the parochial assessment was about to be revised and he hoped equalised, and he thought it would be better for the Board to defer taking action and incurring expense in the matter until it was seen whether the assessment so revised would not be sufficiently correct for the purposes of the Local Board rate. He hoped Mr. Jenkin would not press this part of the report at present. Mr. J. Rogers said that he had pledged himself to the burgesses to do his best to reduce the rates; indeed it was for the very purposes of trying to do something towards this end that he sought for a seat at the Board. He found that the Lords Commissioners proposed to lend money to School Boards at 3.J per cent. interest to be repaid in 50 years and he thought if strong action were taken by the Board, assisted by the people out of doors, similarly advantageous terms might possiblybe obtained in regard to the money which had been borrowed by the Board for sanitary and other purposes. by the Board to obtain from the Government "easier terms of repayment the member for the borough had assisted them to bring the matter before the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being, and if any gentleman was anxious to have details upon the subject he did not think they would ever have a better opportunity than the pre- sent. (Mr. Dillwyn, M.P., had a short time previously entered the council chamber.) For his own part he had little hope that they would be able, by any amount of pressure which they could bring to bear, to induce the authorities to accept 3A per cent, when the Board had already undertaken to pay 5. Mr. Livingston was surprised that any member of the Board was desirous of deferring the revaluation of the property within the borough. A simple glance at the present list was sufficient to satisfy anybody that cases of flagrant injustice (he would not use a milder term) ex- isted at the present time, and he knew no other method of getting rid of the evil than that of having a revalua- tion at once. He held in his hand a list which he had ascertained to be correct, and upon which he would make a few remarks. He really felt that upon matters of im- portance like this it was their duty to say plainly what they thought; it would have been well if there had been less reticence and more plain speaking in the past—it might have prevented much of the unpleasantness of which they now had to complain. He found from the list- Mr. Strick suggested that it would not be fair, and would be needless, to call public attention to any parti- ;ular names if a new valuation was to be made. Mr. Livingston said if he was satisfied that a new valuation would be made he would not mention the names but if they might judge of the future from the [Pst he should have no confidence in any valuation which was made by the Board of Guardians. He would act upon Mr. Strick's suggestion, and refrain from mentioning names on that occasion but he wished to say that in future, wherever he discovered a clear case of injustice to the poor ratepayers, he would name it publicly at the Board. He hoped the Board would decide, that not a moment should be lost in revaluing the property of Swansea. Mr. Moxham supported the recommendation of the committee. Mr. Strick thought the cost of the proposed revaluation aught to be known to and well considered by the Board, before they decided upon making it. He moved that that portion of the report referring to the subject should be deferred for further consideration. Mr. J. J. Jenkins seconded the amendment. If they should not be satisfied with the new valuation which was ibout to be made by the Board of Guardians, it would then be time enough for that Board to make one for themselves. Mr. Buse also thought it would be better to wait and see what the Guardians did before sanctioning the large outlay which might possibly be incurred in carrying out the plan proposed. Mr. Livingston remarked that some of the most glaring instances of underrating were in the cases of property belonging to members of the Board of Guardians. He thought it would be unwise to wait a day longer in the hope of getting a satisfactory valuation from them. He appealed to the members present whether it was not their duty to take the step proposed in justice to the poor ratepayers, who were for the most part rated up to the bilt, as the saying was, and who were always the first to be summoned for nonpayment. His conviction was that if the assessment were corrected and equalised there would be a saving to the ratepayers generally to the smiount of at least half a rate a year. Mr. Phillips said that if the property of the town were rated "up to the hilt," there would probably be at least i hundred appeals aeainst it, the valuer would have to be called on to support his estimate in every instance, great expense would be caused, and the effect would be to increase the rates rather than reduce them. Mr. Ford said it appeared that all the most flagrant :ases of inequality were known to members of the com- mittee. Why not correct these without going to the expense of making a new valuation altogether ? Mr. Jenkin said that the Board had no power to act in this manner if they did not follow the assessment for the poor-rate, they were bound to appoint a valuer of their own. After a little further conversation the Board divided, when there appeared for the amendment ten, against it five. It was therefore carried. The remainder of the report was adopted. A NEW RATE. Estimates for a new rate of Is. in the pound were brought up. The Mayor, in moving that the estimates be adopted, said nothing more to say than the finances of the Board required that a rate should be made. Mr. Alderman Jenkin seconded the motion. Mr. Harry moved as an amendment, That it is the opinion of the Board that no new Local Board rate be made till the present arrears collected." Mr. Livingston said he would second the amendment "or the sake of having the opportunity of saying a few words on the matter. According to the showing of the Finance Committee, there was no less than JE:7,000 of irrears. It might be interesting to the Board to know how some of their neighbours managed in this respect. He had made enquiries, and found that in Cardiff the irrears due when they made their January rate were jE251 Lis. 3d.! (Hear, hear.) He learnt from Mr. Brenton, Lhat some of the most important bodies in the town of Swansea owed heavy arrears, and he thought it was unfair to the ratepayers who had already paid to make another rate while those large sums remained outstanding. lie had said at the public meeting held some time ago, and he now repeated it, that lie would protest against every new rate until these arrears were got in. Mr. James Rogers I should like to see the amendment carried if it were, we should not have any more Local Board rates for a long time. (Laughter.) The amendment was put and rejected, the mover and seconder only voting in its favour. The motion for the adoption of the estimates was then carried. CAITHNESS STONE. Mr. Moxham moved the following resolution :—"That in future all paving, kerbing, and channeling of private streets be executed by the owners of the property with either Caithness or native stone at their option but that if they neglect to do so the Board shall have the work done with Caithness stone, and charge the owners with the cost of the work." lie produced many testimo- nies in proof of the great superiority of Caithness stone for such purposes. The cost of Caithness stoue was 5s. 2d., and that of native stone 3s. lid. a yard. The motion was not seconded, and consequently fell to the giound. THE DUTIES AND SALARIES COMMITTEE. It being now three o'clock, and the member* having sat for four hours, it was resolved that the consideration of this report should be deferred to a special meeting to be held on Wednesday next. The meeting then closed.

THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

-------------GT'OMSPOMIINTT.

THE COUNCIL MEETING.

A SCHOOLMASTER'S GRIEVANCES.

SHERIFFS FOE 2871.

[No title]

PARIS HAS F ALL EN! .J

Family Notices

SWANSEA HOSPIT L.