The daily gazette., 1883-05-25

Lne house OF hepfebenJdIlVesi anu bu' bii
so amended passed both houses OF the Cen
eral Assembly and became law on April
''It is therefore evident that the present
charter of the city of Wilmington, under
which alone all its officers, including the
present Council, obtain and exercise all the
powers they possess, contains no provisions
whatever giving them or any of them the
slightest power or control over the water
supply of the city of Wilmington, and the
will of the General Assembly in relation to
this subject is fully and expressly contained
in the act Of April IS, 1888, creating the
Board of Water Commissioners and invest
ing them with plenary powers of control
| over the whole subject.
"In conclusion l respectfully submit that
the act of April IS, 1888, entitled AN Act
to Ests bish a Board of Water Commis-
sioners Tor the City of Wilmington and for
other purposes Is a constitutional exercise
| of power by the General Assembly, and is
entitled to respect and obedience as such. p
After the reading of the opinion, by lhe
City Solicitor, Mr.. johnson moved that it lie
accepted and filed.
| Mr.. Garrett moved as an amendment that
1t be referred to the Law Committee.
| Mr.. Baugh could see no reason for re-
ferring it to the Law Committee unless 1t
/
President Conrad said this reference would
| probably settle the opinion.
The motion then prevailed.
Mr.. Smith presented bill of $5 from Mr..
| Beecher, which the latter had paid for a
| copy of g. NJ. Hopkins map of Wilmington,
which he had purchased for the Clerks
Office.
Mr.. Garrett objected for the reason that
the parties who got up the map had pro-
cured all their material for the work from
| the Water and Surveying Departments of
the city, and to want to sell the map to the
| city he thought exceedingly mean.
Mr.. Beecher said he ordered the map be-
cause he knew there was not city map in
any Of the city offices, and one was badly
needed.
| Council, however, by decisive vote, re-
| fused to allow the bill.
| Mr.. Newell asked why the Chief Engineer
| did not pay attention to grades in the Elev-
| enth ward as he had been requested to do
several months ago. He said he had seen
some of the assistants in the Surveying De
partment sitting in the office doing nothing,
and thought they might have been working
in the Eleventh ward, if nowhere else.
Mr.. Bailey declared the Chief Surveyor
and his assistants were the hardest worked
employees of the city, and Mr.. Garrett, chair
man of the Opening Streets Committee
said the work was being done as rapidly as
possible.
Chief Engineer Conwell was called upon
| and stated that he had devoted all possible
time to the Eleventh ward section, even to
the neglect of other sections, and
that the plans were now pretty
well worked up, with all grades that
could be now established ready
for the approval of Council. He thought
however, that before establishing grades
the city should get possession Of the beds
of all the streets that would be affected.
Mr.. Quinn, of the Second ward, here
arose to a question of privilege, and as II
had been reported that he intended to make
the "greatest effort of his life," the large
audience present craned their necksin cage
attention. The gist of his remarks, how
ever, was that he was an honest man, an(
though he frequently got drunk he haC
never been accused of blacking his Wife'
eyes.
Mr.. Blake-But you've been accused
of running her out of the house with {
pistol.
Mr.. Quinn-That's lie, an unmitigated
lie.
Mr.. Blackwell, your neighbors say So
Mr.. Talley offered resolution authorizing
the Finance Committee to adjust the aasess-
ment for paving Van Buren street, as some
of the parties wanted to pay their bills
Adopted.
The bill of VIM. Simmons, S429 IA, fol
resetting curb and fixing pavements on East
Seventh street, was passed and charged tc
the appropriation for sewers.
The resignation of Lea Pusey, assistant
inspector of the Eastern precinct, Seventh
ward, was accepted and IL. W. Zeblel
elected to fill the vacancy.
A proposal was read from johnson &
Miles, offering to construct sewer oVel
Shipley Run, about so feet southwest o
Maryland avenue for S2,7lS. Referred TO tn
Street COMMITTEES.
nv. Baugh said he wished to announce. by
authority of the Citg Solicitor, thai Mr.
Quinu's statement that he (the Split tori
had said the new city cha: ter was q
"botched-up joD' was an unwarrAnted
falsehood.
Mr.. Talley said that as business engage
ments would soon take him away from the
city this would be his last Council meeting
and in parting from his colleagues he de
sired to say that he had no animostN
towards any member and he believed no mem
Der had any ill-feelings towards him. Durin.
his service of two years and ten months h
had striven to do his duty as he saw it, an'
though others occasionally saw it in differ
ent light, he always did what he believed +
be right. He closed by inviting his fellow
members to accompany him to Farra
Lewis ice cream saloon, for refreshments.
Mr.. Baugh asked Council, after havin
heard the opinion of the City Solicitor, t
reconsider its reasonable action of las
week in passing Water Department bills an'
pay-rolls, aud allow them to go before th
Water Commission, the only body dull
authorized to act upon them.
Without taking any action on this reques
Council adjourHed.