Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1855-08-23

And II IL further enacted by the auth"rlty
aforesaid, That after the rebuilding of the
said Wharf, and building of the said Hotel
shall be completed, the persons who shall
be Trustees, as aforesaid, shall give sulh'
cient Bonds 10 the Town Treasurer of the
town OF Newpori, for the faithful perform
ance Of their Trust and shall annually
render to the Town Council of the said
Town of Newport, true and just account
OF the rents, prof'., charges and repairs Of
the said Wharf and Hotel, and of the APP
preparation Of the neat Profits As aforesaid.
and in case Of vacancy, in the Death, res
gnation, or otherwise, of any Of the Trus-
tees aforesaid, the pei son or persons ap-
pointed TO succeed to such vacancy or va
cances, shall be chosen by majority OF tie
votes Of the surviving Trustees Provided,
nevertheless, That no such choice shall be
made until the said Trustees shall be re-
duced TO a less number than twen,y.one |;
which is always TO be the number of Trus-
tees, as aforesaid"
Public or Free Schools ia the only use to
which the surplus income of the wharf
and the hotel can, by the FORGING instru-
ment, be Appropriated. That part of the
wharf to be rebuilt was west from GravelIy
Point, and over no other part Of it vas any
jurisdiction given to the Trustees. The
Trustees were first to rebuild the section of
it as specified, and second a hotel.-
The latter, the gentlemen Trustees OF 1900
did not do. Every one will see that if they
found it TO be either impractcable or i'll
expedient, they should have stated the case
10 the Town Council, and given the bonds
as required in the act. And every citizen
after reading the above instrument very
naturally inquiries, Why does The city tax
on $4,000 wharf properly, in place Of re-
ceying its entire revenue, seeing there is
no appropriation made IRON the income for
Schools There has been such an ndeti-
mite understanding respecting their rights
in the wharf among the Trustees them.
selves for the last half century, that few,
Il any Of them, have given the premises
their personal or special examination. How
the gentlemen who have been in possess.
ion of this valuable property for so many
years have devoted The income Of the whar',
have not inquired; although it has been
said that for some few years school was
sus stained by lhem, situated on Washington
street. But before that was done, they
SHOULD have given bonds TO the town, as is
prescribed in their paper from the General
Assembly. So far as The present Trustees
are involve d, as per their own v,tc, no
Trustee is 10 receive hereafter any com.
pensatlon for his services as such. And ii
is due to them that it be recorded, that
they have very essentially improved, not
only the western part of the wharf, but also
The entire length of it, distance of nearly
one half mile; particularly by curbng and
laying brick side walk on the north side
from Thames street to the landing and
also by erecting large and co,nmolious
building at the head for the accommo Ia ion
OF passengers and freight. The question
Is asked, What is to be done with the income
in future, now that the wharf is in so good
condition but with this matter, it is the
pr vince OF others both to reply and to deter
mine. The new building, hove yer, to
which have just referred, should have
been placed either north or south of the
thirty feet road, which road the Town re-
CURED in t cir deed OF the premises in IT.
80, and whica deed is tn, only d"el that
the records of The Clerks Office record OF
the Long Wharf that have been able to
find, that it should forever be pit free
ana clear Of buildings and other encum-
brances for the better landing OF all sor $
tf wood &c." and "I l.g v ssel &C."
1t should be borne in mind that, at the
very time, ,and that without any notification,
so far as my researches go, to the Propre-
tors, and without any legal action being
had TO dispossess them OF their warranted
estate, when the act of the Trustees was
obtained in 1895, that the Propretors of
The Long Wharf were in full possession OF
the premises, and that they remained 50 Tor
three years afterwards. Had the Legisla-
ture been aware of this fact, they would
hardly have legslatcd upon premises then
in the hands of other men, And this being
true, would they not have reversed their
legislation, had they been appIsed Of it !?
There can be no question but that th'
w.Iarf was forfeited but the town had not
then so declared. Nor, that the public
sympathy was not in favor of the Trustees
Of 1895, for they nunmbercd thirty y-,ix
men, many OF whom were the gentlemen
Of wealth, talent, ard influence Of the
town, and tho Proprie,ors were in the main
from different class and every one hence
can conceive how difficult il must have been
for any TO withstand such a body aud
especially as that part Of the wharf was
then prostraled, and they were a mere vol
untary organization tor the purposes named
| in their instrument. The Trustees there
fore, neither pctitioned for an act Of incor-
poraion in the beginning; nor have they
\ ever obtained one since. And ther, fore
Il aa,,in il 4. that "a q. sucb tho Trus LA Va