Morning journal and courier., 1885-01-16
RoaRD oE pUsIIc woRKs

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS. A Hearing On The Rails Of Horse Railroads As Laid 5n The City Complimentary Resolutions Fem dered MT. Pond, The Retiring Member Of The Board-Other Mat l ters.
 | A special meeting of the Board of Public l Works was held last evening. The meeting was called to hear the petition of Julius | Tyler and others in regard to the laying of ! T and center bearing rails by horse railroads, | which the petitioners claimed was a great l damage to vehicles that were obliged to cross | said track.
 1 All the members of the Board were pres
 ent His Honor Mayor Holcomb presiding. l The first witness for the petitioners was | George M. Grant, of the firm of Chatfeld & | Grant. He said he considered the rail | spoken of as very dangerous when placed so | high as they are above the level of the street. When crossed by wagon, if the driver was not very careful, the wheels would be l wrenched and the wagon would receive other l damage. He thought the old style of rails l were the safest.
 F. A. Munson said he had had considera- | ble trouble with the center bearing rails. | With the old rails he could drive over easily, | but with the center bearing rails it is very hard, both to get into the track and get out | of it. The rail is especially damaging to l light wagons The rails have been laid too 1 high and should be taken up and laid over. ] All the trouble is that the pavements are not as high as the rail, as they should be. | MT. Augur, of Augur & Futile, said the rail
 on Chapel street below Union street was very bad indeed and could not be crossed without great danger to wagons. | Selectman Julius Tyler thought these center | bearing rails ought not to be laid in the | center of the city under any consideration. David Morton said that he could not drive over these rails with heavy load without slipping and sometimes the horses cannot l draw the load over them.
 s. s. Dobson said there was hardly a street ! in the city where the center bearing rails gre that cah be driven over with safety. Charles Smith, of the New Haven Baking company said that in crowded streets it was almost impossible to get across the track at right angles. Your wheels will slip along and there is great danger of accident.
 Charles Audley said that during the past
 year he had had several carriages damaged by these tracks.
 F. s. Andrew said that he had suffered
 considerably by center bearing rails and had
 ordered his drivers to keep away from them
 much possible.
 Frank Bushnell, of Bushnell & Dewen,
 said that his firm had suffered in front of
 their store when their wagons had backed up
 to the sidewalk.
 w. H. Bristol said his firm had suffered a
 loss of over $2O0 the past year by these center
 bearing rails.
 c. c. Blatchley, representing the State
 street horse railroad, said the T rails were
 the best, but the community were up in arms against them. The next best is the center
 bearing rails if they were put down properly.
 Most of the trouble, he said, was on State street, south of Chapel, where the Philadel- phia fiat rail is laid and about which most of the complaints made.
 H. B. Ives, president of the Fair Haven and Westville road, said that in laying the rails last summer they dld it precisely as they were told to do by the city and had the pavement come up even with the rail. There some places where the stones have settled down. Plumbers dig under the tracks and do not set the stones back they find them, and in consequence they settle and leave the bad places. We fix these places, said MT. Ives, at once and the bad places in the road now will be fixed the frost is out of the ground.
 Superintendent Doyle said that the Fair Haven and Westville road had followed in- structions to the letter in laying the rails. He said also that hr Ives had always had repairs promptly made when informed that they were needed.
 w W. Ward, of the West Haven road, said that in some streets in New York city the center bearing rails were higher than in this city. In Meadow street the soil kept washing away and they could not keep them in repair until the pavement was laid. Then if the T rail was put in they .could pave right up to it flat.
 Cornelius Pierpont, of the Shelton avenue road, thought the center bearing rail the best if properly laid. He said he had heard no complaints since the rail was laid on his road.
 No formal vote was taken, but it was un- derstood that Superintendent Doyle should see that tho companies keep the roadway outside and near the rails in good repair. l William E. Thompson applied for the posi- tion of sidewalk inspector, which was order l ed on file.
 Mayor Holcomb called attention to the 1 stone crusher, which he considered g. great l
 pense to the city, and it seemed to him as |
 here were more stones crushed than they |
 use in ten years. He said the engine |
 very poor one, nearly worn out and | O. -. to be fixed. The Mayors suggestions 1 were referred to the Committee on Stone 1 Crusher
 City Engineer Hill said that a fence should l be built on the river side on Farnam drive i from Orange street to Rock Lane. The city engineer ordered to have the fence built |
 It was voted to instruct the corporation counsel to draw Q bill for presentation to ,he legislature making West river as straight sned tine boundary line between the city and own as agreed upon before said river was 
 The Board went into executive session to consider the appointment of a sidewalk in 'pector. After looking over the charter hey concluded that there was no provision Il it for such an officer. but that the duties must be performed under the direction of the superintendent of streets as at present They xpressed themselves as perfectly satisfied with the work of Mr. Tho1npscn, who is at present. acting in such capacity, and the mployment of hin. by hlr. Doyle was satis- actory to the Board.
 After executive session Mir Crawford said 1 had only been on this Board one year, and s this was the last night that MT Pond | would meet with them, he desired to express lis regrets that they were to part with so ble and efficient a member.
 MT. Feldman said that he very much re- | retted to part with MT. Pond, with whom e had been associated in this branch of the { ity government for so long a time. MT. 'ond had served the city faithfully and well i nd his opinions hs had always regarded 1 I cry highly in all matters connected with the I fairs of this Board. In conclusion Mir g eldman moved 0 resolution expressing the l { egret of the Board in losing the very valua- I le services of MT. Pond as a member of this oard e MT. Stackpole, Mayor Holcomb and MT. ilbert all endorsed heartily the remarks of $ IT. Feldman.
 The clerk was instructed to have the reso- itions sent to Mir. Pond. MT. Pond thanked the Board for their kind l lpressions of regard for him. He said he ad been 8 member of the Board seven years, I Id been elected president of the Board for fl ree years and felt as though he had served e e city without fee or reward as long as he " lght to. He said he retired with the kind c 9st feelings toward every member of the u bard and toward all the employees and was . ad to know that similar feelings were enter as ined toward himself e HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESs. - he Annual Donation Day Bad | oi FRut Ro~ l