Morning journal and courier., 1886-02-04

Special to the JOURNAL AND COURIER: The first hearing on the proposed scheme 1 for the consolidation of the town and city | governments of New Haven took place this
 afternoon at the Capitol before the Commit
 tee on Cities and Boroughs. Among the
 prominent citizens of New Haven present
 were Selectmen Tyler, Reynolds, Feldman,
 Treat, Bsecher and Brown, Attorneys s. K. I Baldwin, w. K. Townsend, Henry o. White
 and William H. Ely, Captain Charles H. | Townsend, George H. Townsend, Henry c. | Rowe, Major H. H. Strong, W. J. Atwater,
 Hon. James Gallagher, L. W. Beecher, A. | N. filling, M. E. Terrill, Joel A. Sperry l Eli Whitney, R. P. Cowles and others. The
 larger number of these gentlemen were
 counted as in opposition to the proposed l plan.
 The hearing was opened by Attorney | White for the petitioners, who stated that
 the bill was for extending the city limits over
 the town and bringing all under one govern | ment. He then gave an outline in brief of
 the different sections of the bill which cor
 responds in substance with the bill as pub
 lished in the daily papers, S. E. Baldwin was the first to testify. He ] said he had been interested a good many years as taxpayer in getting the taxes re- ! duced in New Haven, and he saw no better | way than in consolidating the town and city governments. New Haven was formerly a l colony large as the State of Connecticut. | It was condensed in area from time to time
 and in 1794 the city government was | formed. There are at present about 76, 900 | ack 1 T ,OOO are embraced within the city limits | Those who live within the town limits do so as rule to escape taxation. They live in l the town proper and have all the benefits of the city without paying any portion of it's ! taxes. don't blame these gentlemen, like | the Townsends and others, for objecting to | consolidation, for it is for their interest to \ do so. My great reason for the proposed
 change is that it will largely lessen the
 expenses. Now the roads in the | town have to be kept in repair and the whole town ! has to help pay for it.
 The city in fact pays the larger part of these | expenses. So in regard to the support of | the town poor, the city has to pay the great | bulk of the cost. So far as the town roads
 are concerned, while the city has to pay for | keeping them in repair it receives no benefit 1 therefrom
 Take our town meetings. Formerly busi- | ness was carried on in these meetings in an | orderly way and the best men would be | there Now if anyone wants to get a job | through they will get their friends out and carry any measure they please As it is now | the Selectmen run the town meetings. They | prepare the votes they want passed, select | their own hairman and run things about as
 they please. Again they increase
 out any regard to the constitution, vote themselves salaries right contrary | to vote of the town meeting and do many | other things that they ought not to do Again, when the registrar of births, mar
 riages and deaths is found defaulter, they do not call town meeting and depose him.
 but they compromise the matter with the reg istrar. Again, the town places in the hands of the town agent SITS, 900 to expend, and it
 is a great power to put in any mans hands; it | is great temptation, too, to place any man in, as he can purchase supplies where he | pleases, and of course he always has friends Again, the expense of caring for the town | poor has grown in thirty years from S10,- | 900 to 0,000. We believe that if this
 matter was left in the hands of
 responsible man, like the Mayor, the expense would be very considerably less. In 1862 l the town agent and his clerk got S2, ,O9O for | their services; whereas now the expenses for | the town agent and his clerks are about S6,- | 800. I was asked to-day what the objections were to consolidation and confessed that I | did not know, except that few gentlemen | living on the outskirts would have their taxes | increased. A consolidation bill was drawn | last year which was not satisfactory to these gentlemen who appear here to-day, because | it was too complicated. Now we come with | new bill less complicated and they object | to that, or will, I suppose. We think the proposed bill is about as it should be- and | we hope it will meet with the favorable con- sideratiOn of the committee, l In reply to MT. Hotchkss, Mr. Baldwin | said while people who lived outside the city limits and came into town to do business had perfect right to do so, yet it was manifest 1 ly unjust, because they had privileges in the city that they did not pay for. MT. Hotchkiss asked Mir. Baldwin if it was not fact that five out of seven of the mem- bers Of the Board of Selectmen were resi- dents of the city, and if the town agent was not resident of the city and always had been. MT. Baldwin said he believed that this true.
 MT. Hotchkiss continued: ''Do you not | know, MI. Baldwin. that 95 per cent. of the persons receiving aid from the town are residents of the city?'' MT. Baldwin, do not know that this is so."
 | "Do you wish this committee to under stand that the Selectmen are hiring men to | work on the road for their political infiu- 1 ence?'
 | "Do you think that men who have been l employed by the town those who could 1 have obtained work elsewhere?' l 'EI think so."
 1 "Hsve you ever investigated the matter | yourself:'' l ''Not any particular case'' 1 ''Do you think the Selectmen are ere ating l paupers by employing those poor persons to \ work on the roads?;
 l q do most certainly" l "Mr. Baldwin, is it not fact that those
 roads on the east side, south of the village of Fair Haven, are used principally by people | living in the city of New Haven, for pleasure driving?'
 ''They are used somewhat for that purpose,
 1 presume"
 'tDo you knew who the Board of Public Works are who are to spend this money der your plan, or whom you would have spend it instead of the SelectmenF' ''1 don't know any of them" "Do you not know that at least three of
 that Board are not taxpayers at all?'' q don't know it."
 | MT. Hotchkiss questioned Mir. Baldwin in regard to the town meeting one year ago and 1 asked him if he considered that that meeting l was run by the friends of the Selectmen | After pressing him for an answer, MT. Bald l win fiually admitted that ''that meeting was l packed by the Taxpayers association" This l answer created laugh on the other side. 1 "You said there was town meeting | spell ago when only the Selectmen were | present. Can you tell when it wass" | ''No, don't recollect now" | 'Are you not aware'th that the meeting you l refer to was called for the purpose of voting l 5000 for vaccination purposes, and that it was held in large room in City Hall and not in the Selectmen's roomF' l Possibly so."
 1 'Do you want it understood that the town
 of New Haven lost anything pecuniarily by
 not turning Dr. Doherty out of office per
 emptorily p
 l ''No, but think he should have been
 turned @t for the moral effect it would
 have had, instead of allowing him to re- ] sign"
 l ''Now, MT. Baldwin, do you know of any
 complaint being made that MT. Reynolds
 was in the habit of buying goods where it l would do his friends the most good 9 | "Yes"
 "When was this a''
 | ''Well, two or three years ago." | By whom?'
 EI prefer not to say"