The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1881-01-28

I'd will be our village officers, or will n ney
Y. lot have to be elected2 A plausible
H. argument can be made for either of thes
nt three courses. Circumstances may aris
m where IL will be Of the most vital impor
to lance that the village government shal
ia be of unquestioned and unquestlonabl'
legality. The village does not want tt
N make itself bone for the lawyers to pick
- 1t had better wait two years till aftel
y another session of the legislature, rather
than run such risk. There are Other
!" legal snarls in the matter, such as the
20 question whether the acceptance by a
It mere vote of meeting can be binding
y when the legislature required the accept
r ance of "ma jority of The voters of the
Y village" saying nothing about a meeting
n Postponement is the best policy in this
10 case.
= The Hinsdale Bridge.
Citizens of Hinsdae have already made
y petition to the seectmen of that town to
,, lay out the bridge over the Connecticut as
u public highway. If the seectmen refuse
to do it, as they possibly may, application
will then be made to the supreme court at
the April term to appoint commissioners to
go on and appraise the property and de-
clare it free, as the law of New Hampshire
: provides. There is no possible question
bnt that this may be done if the authori-
ties of New Hampshire so desire The fol-
lowing extract from the charter proves it
And be il further enacted. That at the end Of
every 10 years after the setting up OF any toll
gate OF account Of any expenditures upon ,said
road and the prodts arising therefrom shall be
laid before the Judges of the Supreme Coart Of
Judicature under forfeiture Of the privileges Of
this Act in future: and II the net profits for the
said 10 years shall exceed ~ per cent per annum
the said Court may reduce the future toll so far
IS that it may not exceed Ia per cent and If the
profits shall not amount to per cent. the said
Court may raise the toll that it shall not be less
than nor more than IL per cent.
And be 1t further enacted, That If in 10 years
the said road and bridge shall not be completed
according TO the provisions in this act every part
and clause thereof shall be null and void Pro-
at any time after the expiration Of 40 years from
the passing of this act, repay the proprle.ors of
said road and bridge, the amount OF the sum eX-
pended by them thereon with the II per cent. per
annum in addition thereto, dedscting the toll
actually received by the proprietors aud in that
case the said road and bridge shall be to all
intents and purposes the property of tho state OF
New Hampshire, anything to the contrary in this
act Notwithstanding.
As we have before pointed out, the first
provision has been wllfully violated, as
have been also the specifications regarding
tolls, the keeping of record books, etc.
The franchise is forfeited, or may be so de-
clared by the courts, and all that is neces- |
saro is to pay Waites estate an equitable
sum for what he has invested in the prop
erty, probably not a very large sum, when
| the receipts come to be deducted. Even
| if there had been no violation and forfeit
ure, it is expressly provided that the State
can take back the property again, when
ever it chooses by paying such equitable
sum.
Saturday we received from Clerk of the
Court Farrar the following copy of the last
statement of receipts and expenditures, of
the corporation-made II years ago, instead
OF once every ten years as the charter en-
phatically directs to protect the public from
just such extortion in tolls as has been
practised. Furthermore Mr. Farrar states
that this statement was sent without any
intmation what was to be done with it, or
why it was made, and SO it has never been
properly filed or recorded.
Jansary, A ID 1854
Report ofthe Receipts, B1 penses and Profits OF
the Hinsdals Bridge Corporation to the Supreme
Court Of New Hampshire for the past ton years,
as required by Act of Incorporation passed June
II, a. 1909.
Capital Stock, tl7,406 %
u per cent. annual interest is 20sS 90
Gross Receipts for the years past 1882 II
Expenses for ten years past, 1875 90
Net prents for ten past years, s,lo7 81
Annual net profits, average, SO 70
Not quite per cent.
CHARLES CHAPLIN, Treasurer. t
A true copy. Attest Il. FARRAR, Clerk,
Though but few were present, the Bat
terry and Guard lyceum had very inter-
esting discussion on the Irish question, I
Tuesday evening. Col. l.. X. Fuller |
opened with a brief summary of Irish !
history, abiding to their ancient pro- Il
fciency in the arts and sciences, as illus I
trating the capacity of the people for self b
government if only fair chanc were b
given them, and the incubus of English s
oppression removed. |. W. Goodner fol- il
had shown themselves unfit for self gov fl
eminent from the time that the Spanish g
settlers landed on their shores and that
the people were in as abject misery as 4.
1ow long before the English conquest. "
}. Ii. Davenport, +. III. Foster and II. j. r,
Davenport, who were present. were then 1 r
INTO speaking, and the former ! :,
Explained, rather crudely the laws of IL IL
ntall, land tenure auu taxation, which u
titled agricultural progress and kept the u
people bound down in poverty, and u
claimed that revolution, even with ter N
.ibe blood baptism like that of the a
French revolution, would make the peo- ~
lie prosperous and happy, if it could y
only crea a proprietary peasanlry like ~
that of France. The two latter argued u
that remedy for the present woes was y
not to be sought in independence bu Il
through English legislation that the y
misery of Ireland was due to over popu-
ation, and the high rents to the natural II
laws of trade G. NJ. Highly collated 81
and presented facts and statistics Of Irish g
government, during their independence .
aud revolts, to show that they were III q .
fit to rule themselves, though he com .
plimented, as did Mr.. Good ner, Irish
character in America. L. f. Shields
closed in really forceful and earnest
little speech claiming that Ireland had
as mucn capacity, craftsmanship and
moral vigor exemplified in her O'Con- ,,
lells Currans, Grattans, Pdrnells, Shlws, -
md Sullivans, as any country in the
world, and paralleIing her struggles with
hose of our forefathers in the revolu- !,
ion. The question for next Tuesday u
evening is, Ought the Railways and p
Telegraph lines to be placed under Gov IL
eminent cqntrol?o u
Mr.. Editor: Have the public no a.
claims upon the railroads for decent de "
Dot accommodation Since the late ~
forms, in fact nearly all winter, the ~
now around the passenger depot has SO
,een SO bad that n team cannot drive up =
o 1t and any one gong to the depot I'll
With team is in danger of being cap aa
lied or run away with. 1t is the most
isgraceful place about town and if agi- 70
alton will remedy it | hope you will
cep it up all winter, or until remedied.
CITIZEN. VI
Statement From w. IL, Alexander.
1t will be remembered that last Sep
ember when complaints were ofen da
made about the sale of liquors ! w
made proposition to the people to buy ID
nd sell all they wished for fifteen days U.
nd then stop. That answered my pur-
ose fully and we got through 1880 with at
ut presenting one person for trial. da
nevertheless liquor nuisance has ex-
'ted in the extreme south part of the On,
ilage for years, which no law would mi
each, until the late nuisance act which
as supposed TO meet such cases as this =
nat most shameful of all gatherings at OF
on saturday night, was COM \.
sed of ten S rangers. Trendall, the ]
egro, John Sugland from Vernon, and ere
life, with cider, wine and whiskey on SOL
and. The party WIS now complete with
e exception of the gin left at Sug. IN
nd's, two miles away. Trenda'l plac- We
g his overcoat and gloves on one of the ba,
~ Co. tl, i'll 20, l.