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RHYL URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.

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RHYL URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL. THE TRAMWAY QUESTION. A POSTPONEMENT. A special meeting of the Rhyl Urban District Council was held at the Council Chamber, Town JHaH, on Tuesday night, for the purpose of deal. iag with the minutes of the Electric Light Com- mittee with regard to the agreement for the sup- ply of the current by the Council to the Rhyl and Prestatyn Light Railway Company. There were present Mr. E. P. Jones (in the chair), Messrs. J. H. Ellis, P. Mostyn Williams, Thos. V-'hitley, H. A. Tilby. T. D. Jones, John Frim- ston, A. Maltby, J. W. Jones, and J. A. Will. iams, with the Clerk (Mr. A. Rowlands), the Solicitor (Mr D. C. Radcliffe;, the Surveyor (Mr A. A. Goodall), and the Sanitary Inspector (Mr. R. J. Hughes). The agreement as finally settled by the com- mittee was read. The principal alterations were the elimination of the penalty clause, and the substitution of the penalty clause as provided in the Rhyl Electric Lighting Order, the fixing of the price for the energy at lid. per unit up 4 to 150,000, and ld. for any quantity above that, instead of making an uniform charge of ld. when the total consumption reaches 250,000 units. The transformers and boosters were to be placed at a point by or near the Westminster Hotel instead of at the Generating Station as proposed by the Company, the responsibility of the Council to cease with the delivering of the current at the feeder-box near the Westminster Hotel. A clause was added to the effect that the Company were not to cut up the streets of the town without the consent of the Council between the 1st of May and the 1st of October ia any year. Mr. P. Mostyn Williams formally proposed, and Mr. Thomas Whitley seconded, the con- firmation of the minutes. oJ The Clerk read a letter which he had just received from Mr. Warwick Webb stating that if the Council were seriously afraid of the gener- ating plant not being in working order by the 1st of August, he was willing to advice his clients to defer the supply of current and the completion of the railway until April, 1902. He could not, however, advice his clients to accept any modification of the terms arranged witn the Council as to the price of the current, .and was astonished at the suggestion thai: there should be any alteration. He thought he was riht in saying that so far as the Company were concerned they had not in ?nv way sought :o depart from the arrangements made last April. Mr. A. Maltby said that April, 1902, seemed to him to be a very long time. Personally, he had not seen anything himself to hinder them supplying the current early next season. If the tramway was not to be completed until April the Council were laying out capital frcm twelve ic. eighteen months earlier than the" need to have done. He expressed the hope that some .arrangement would be made bv which the tram- way would start earlier. Mr. John Frimston thought the suggestion that the completion should be fixed for April. 1902, was a reasonable one, as they had all along been doubtful whether they would be able to supply the current by August next vear. If they hurried the thing now it would mean that in order to try and get ready for a portion of the season the Company would be cutting open the streets while the season was on. It must be remembered that the Council were undertaking new works, and it would take some time for their staff, however experienced, to get used to them. At the start the machinery was certain to give them a good deal of trouble. It was, therefore, <iesira.hle that they should have sumcient time to give the works a good trial before they sup- plied the current to the Light Railway Company. Mr. H. A. Titby said that there had been ser. ious delay on the part of someone in regard to this matter. They were undertaking a big ex. penditure, a large amount of which wag laid out specially to supply the current to this Company. To provide for this outlay they had been calcu- lating on a revenue of JBl.lOO from the Light Railway Company, and they were infoimed that JB600 or JB700 of this would be actual profit to the Council. The result of delaying this thing for twelve months was that they "lost that pront for the nisi year, and they were placing an additional fourpence on the rates of the town simply because the Council would not buck Tip," and realise that they had got to complete these work:, by a certain date. As an amend- ment he proposed that the date on which the current should be supplied should be the 1st of January, t902. He thought there ought to be a Itttle spirit of energy infused into the carrying out of these works, for no body of business men would attempt to carry this work cut as it had been carried out during the last two years. They were going to spend something' like JB27.000 on the Electric Light Works, and they would never have contemplated such an outlay were it not for the prospect of this income from the Light Railway Company. Mr. J. W. Jones seconded the amendment He said he believed that the Company would agree to it. Besides securing an mcome for the Council three months earlier, it would :;i ve sample time for the tramway and the electric light works to be thoroughly tested before the pressure of the summer tramc, and will also give the residents an opportunity of appreciating the conveniences of a system of tramways. In reply to a question, the Surveyor said that the buildings could be completed ready for the machinery in two months, and the whole work would be completed in seven months. Mr. J. H. Ellis said he thought the Council would see the force of accepting the suggestion that the. date for supplying the current should be April, 1902, for there were several things that .might happen to prevent them being ready by the stipulated time. It was all very well for the Surveyor to say that the buildings would he ready in two months. A contract costing bet- ween JE6,000 and JE7,000 could not be completed in two months, otherwise the tender must be very mach in excess of what the actual cost will be. It would take some time before thbir machinery was in proper working order, fheu duty was to complete their scheme as perfecl!y as possible, so as to be ready for the Company by the 1st of April. 1902, in order that there inight be no prospect of the Council being mulc- ted in any penalties. He was surprised at Mr. Tilby's proposition that they should fix the date as the 1st of Jan., 1902. Very few people would T-tse the tramways during that period of the year. He thought they should start the tramwav when there was some prospect of its being a success, .and not at a time of the year when the co'tj weather would make traffic < almost impossible. Mr. Thomas Whitlev said it was entirety the fault of the Council that the Company were .net ready to take the supply early next year. It was, therefcre, most unfair and unjust to ask the Company to begin running their tramways in January when they could not be expected to @st any tranic. He pointed out that they had not as yet even let the contract for the buildings' and he had some idea of the time it would take -tc. complete those buildings. He thought the proposal that the time for the supply of the current should be nxed for the 1st of April, 1902, was a reasonable one. Mr. Mostyn Wilhams sajd that the T'amway Company had undertaken to have their system ready for working bv the 1st of April, ;1901 and the Council thought they would have been ready to supply them by that date. An onen'n? in April would be a sort of introduction to thf season at Rhyl. But afterwards it was sugges- ted that they would not be able to supply the current until the 1st of June, and nnallv the 1st of August was mentioned as the earliest date. The Company reluctantly agreed to the 1st of August, although they would not profit muer by starting so late in the season. The Com- pany, seeing that there was considerable cloill-l- as to whether they should be able to finish the works by the 1st of August, 1901. and the Co'm- cil not being prepared to agree that the penalty clause should be enforced from that date, ha'' expressed their readiness to assist in the matte- by delaying the completion of the tramway un- til the 1st of April. 1902. In the event of the Council not being ready to supply thp current until October or November, he asked what would be the good of opening the railway -during that period. In fact. it was part of their agreement with the Company that they were r.ot to cut open the streets during the summer months, and in order to be ready to open in January as proposed by Mr. Tilbv. they wnulf' have to do this. They were certain to be readv to supply current to/lighting the town by Oc- tober, so that thev would derive some rpvenn- from the lighting," and he was told that there was every prospect that they should nave con- sumers to the extent of 5,000 lights Mr. H. A. Tilby said that was pure conjec- ture. Mr. Mostyn Williams said that of course il- was an estimate, but they were assured by onr who had Cdnv.ssed the town :he.t thaI r.rnL'e. of lights was likely to be taken. He Lcu,;ht t was exceedingly unfair to ask the Ccmp r.y to be ready to take current in the midd e <f winier, and he thought they ought to meet them „ :.ey had met the Council. On being put to the vote, Mr. Tilby's amend- ment was defeated by eight votes to t.v ..nd the Ise of Aph), 1902, was agreed to. During the consideration of the c''a' ses. Mr. John Frimston expressed the hope that the altered price would be insisted upon. He was given to understand that their .own engirt eers had strongly advised them not tc se'l the current for anything less than twopence per unit. The same engineers were aàvl<n a neighbouring town where the price of t cur rent was fixed at twopence per unit, <'r'd the Company were to take a minimum of 1-:9 ""00 units in the year Anything above 15)000 "-as to be charged for at Ae rate of lid Tn that town coal was cheaper than it was at R' Mr. Thomas Whitley disputed the t"r:'nt of Mr. Frimston that their engineers had "ed them not to sell the current at less tl-n.,i 'wo pence per unit. They asked him his ad"'ce. '.nd he said that at the prices at which thev -?-pd to sell the current to the Company they could make a profit of between JB500 and P,6()() The Clerk stated that the Light Railway 0' der M'ouM come up for confirmation before thr. Board of Trade on Friday. As they 're aware, he h3d lodged an objection to tl,e rr1í and the Council's objection would be be.,A,ri on Friday. He hqr) sent to the Board of Tr- 'f" a statement of the Council's objection; which w,,t- to the effect that the Company were seeking to obtain the supply of current at s.n unfair p-e. and to impose impossible conditions. The Council, therefore, asked that the Board of Trade should postpone giving their crc-o"t to the order until the Council and 1he Como.ny had come to terms. Mr. A. I.. Ctews took exception to tr-e <-t t". ment that the Company were seeking to r},>;n current at an unfair price. He thought it was absolutely untrue to say anything of the kind. The Council and the Company had agreed to a price, and it had been accepted all alon? by both parties until the last moment. Of course, if after further consideration the Council crme to the conclusion that the price they had ri(Tin- allv agreed upon was too low, and that they were not justified in selling the current at so low a price, they might make that representa- tion. But because they had c- to "hat in- clusion it was most improper to charge the Com- pany with trying to obtain the current at an unfair price. The Company had come t a straightforward arrangement w'th the C-T,ril, and they were satisfied with that arrangement, and wished to adhere to it. The Clerk said that the word unfair was per- haps an unfortunate one, and he -would explain it to Mr. Warwick Webb. A Ion? discussion afterwards ensued as to whether a deputation should be sent to Lordon to appear before the Board of Trade. It was eventuallv agreed to send the Town CleT-I- --id Mr. Ra(i(-I;ffe, with power to arrange an inter- view with Mr. Warwick Webh but not to d-'T-'rt from the terms of the agreement as settled bv the Counri1. In the event of Mr. War-ck Webb not agreeing, the deputation were to -ap- pear before the Board of Trade, and ask fo- a postponement to the confirmation of the order. THE ELECTRIC LIGHT BUILDINGS. The Electric Light Committee recommended the acceptance of the tender of Messrs. Thorn- ton and 'Sons for JC6,225 for the erection of the refuse-destructor and electric light buildings.. chimney, inclined roadway, &c., th): being the lowest of the three tenders received. Mr. Tbos. Whitley had gone through the quantities, and had recommended the accep.ince of th tender, and he was accorded a -,otc of thanks for the trouble he had taken. The committee's recommendation Aas agr-ed to.

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