The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-18 00:00:00

Court of Common Council.

A Court of Common Council was holden yesterday in the
Council Chamber at Guildhall—tho Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor presiding.

THE LATE LORD MAYOR.

Upon the motion of Mr Deputy RAWTREY, a resolution
of thanks was unanimously passed to the late Lord Mayor,
Mr Alderman Lawrence, for the services he had rendered
the City in his capacity of Chief Magistrate during the past
year, for his calm and impartial administration of justice,
for the readiness with which he had presided at the unusual
number of meetings of that Court which had been convened
during his year of office, for his liberality and hospitality,
and for the frank and courteous wanner in which ho had
treated every member of the Court on all occasions ; which
it was further resolved should be written on vellum and
ornamented, and forwarded to the late Lord Mayor, and
also that the resolution should bo recorded in the minutes
of the Court.

Mr Deputy FRY brought up a report from the Improve-
ment Committee, on a reference to reconsider their report
relative to the expenditure incurred by the Commissioners
of Sewers during the years 1862 and 1863 in effecting cer-
tain street improvements, and recommending that a sum of
£l,OOO be contributed in respect of the improvements in
Bull and Mouth-street, Paternoster-row,and Upper Thames-
street. Mr Deputy Fry, in introducing the report, drew
the attention of the Court to the large sums which had
been expended in improvements in the City, and said he
had thought it right, conelUt3 cub tlav
the finances of the Corporation, to object to certain grants
beteg made which had been the subject of previous refe-
rences. It had been said that the Corporation had in years
gone by contributed largely to street improvements, but he
reminded the Court that at that time the Corporation had
the 4d coal duty to fall back upon, whereas the whole of
that duty had been laid by for years to come for other ob.
jects. Nevertheless he said the Corporation had of late
years contributed more towards improvements of the kind
referred to out of their income, minus the 4d coal duty than
they had while they were in the receipt of it; for from the
years 1801 to 1846 they had paid for public improvements
£12,820, whereas from 1845 to 1861 they had contributed
no less a sum than £32,770. The report which he brought
up recomm ended that £l,OOO should be granted with re-
spect to certain improvements, and in moving the adoption
of the report he did not ask them to agree to it, but he hoped
the Court would consider well the step it was taking before
granting the money.
Mr LAWLE Y hoped that the recommendation of the com-
mittee would not be carried. He did not think for a moment
that the financial state of the Corporation was at all despe-
rate. On the contrary, it was in a good condition, and they
had only to husband their resources and be careful over the
expenditure to remain in the same healthy condition as they
were at the present time, and he moved that the contribu-
tion of the £l,OOO be not agreed to.

Mr Deputy BONE seconded the amendment of Mr Law-
ley. He said the Corporation had plenty of money if it
were used for legitimate purposes, but ho did not think the
expenditure of £l,OOO, as recommended by tho committee,
would bo prudent. It was well known that the finances of
the corporation were never in a bettor state, but if they
were called upon to pay sums of £l,OOO for such purposes,
there would be a deficiency where there would otherwise
have been a balance. Although the Corporation had plenty
of money, there were no funds at present available for
street improvements. They wore called on to pay a share
in other improvements, and had to contribute one-tenth to
every improvement that was carried out by another body,
and ho hoped the Court would not agree to the report as far
as regarded the contribution of £l,OOO.
Mr DE JERSEY hoped the Court would agree to the re-
port, and was surprised that any discussion whatever should
have arisen upon a matter of£l,ooo to be laid out on public
improvements. The Court had granted much larger sums
without a word of opposition, and it was only at the last
Court that £17,000 was granted, in addition to what had
been already spent, for the lunatic asylum, an undertaking
which they wore not compelled to enter into. The Court
had by previous resolutions resolved to contribute some-
thing towards the improvement mentioned in the report,
and if they rejected the report they would be acting at va-,
riance with those resolutions, which he was sure they would
not think of doing.
Mr MEDWIN opposed the adoption of the report.

Mr Rudkin, Mr Saunders, and Mr Harris supported it.
Finally, the report was agreed to, upon a division, by a
large majority, and it was then referred to the Coal and Corn
and Finance Committee, to consider and report from what
fund the money was to be provided. _ _ _

Mr U. L. TAILOR brought up a report from the Mar-