Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-26
CHAMBER OF commERuE.


 A Large and Interesting Meeting |
 The Committee On Municipal Af-
 fairs Recommend n Reform I'm the |
 Appointment of Lamp Hnspector-
 The 25Oth Anniversary of New Ha-
 ven-A Lively and Spicy Rebate On
 the Derby Railroad Improvements.
 The Chamber of Commerce held it's regu- lar meeting last night, with President Dew ell in the chair. George Phelps an6 F. H.
 Sperry were voted in as new members.
 President Dewell reported that Captain 0.
 H. Townshend, who had attended the annual
 meeting of the national board of trade as a
 delegate from the New Haven chamber, was unable to be present and make his report be- cause of sickness
 A resolution was passed by the chamber, heartily approving of the objects sought by the National board of promotion in the ! movement to celebrate in 1889 the centenni- ! al of the adoption of the constitution of the I United States and the anniversary of the ! discovery of America in 1892.
 The following persons were announced by | the president as members of the committee on town and city: Henry T. Blake, Nathan Easterbrook, jr., Joel A. Sperry, George F. HoIconb, Horace H. Strong and Eli Whit ! ney, jr. The duties of this committee were set down as follows: To consider and recom- mend measures for the permanent improve ment and adornment of the city and it's sub urbs; to arrange plans therefor and to take ! action fer the promotion thereof, subject to | inc approval of the chamber.
 A resolution offered by ex-Mayor Lewis was passed to the effect that committee of ! seven be appointed by the chamber to join | the town authorities and such other commit s tees as may be appointed by other associa- | tions for the purpose of the proper celebra- \ ton of the two hundred and fftieth anniver- \ sary of the settlement of New Haven, which | is to take place on April 25 next.
 \ The committee on municipal affairs report | ed that they had organized by electing ex- | Alderman Charles L. Baldwin chairman and \ MT. Henry c. White secretary. Sub-cem- mittees had been appointed to inspect the various departments of the city, town and school governments, and several meetings Of \ the committee had been held. The first i'm provement they had to suggest was in the manner of appointing the lamp inspector. By the charter all the offices in the gift of ! the common council should be elected by ballot, but the lamp inspector was chosen by the committee on lamps without author \ ity and without the approval of the alder men, the councilmen or the mayor. The evil was one of long standing, but was one which | ought to be remedied. The committee did \ not desire to attack the officer or the salary connected with it, but simply wished to stop an illegal mode of appointment. In accord | ance with the report of the committee the following was passed unanimously:
 \ Voted That the committee on n municipal n affairs
 be authorized and instructed to call the attention or the city government to the illegal manner of ap-
 pointing its lamp inspector and to take steps to cure the legal appointment Of that officer hereafter The following resolution was then offered by Judge Sheldon relative to the Derby roads
 new scheme:
 \ Whereas, The New Haven and Derby railroad
 company is extending its road westward to connect | England railroad and has bought large quantity \ of land for new depots and shops between Cedar ! Voted That the effort now being made by this
 chamber to increase the business interests of New
 of al concerned be considered in all matters per
 taining to the interests of the city and that pen \ ny wise and pound foolish" principle should no
 longer goVern and any efforts to defeat the project l Of making one grand termination for the Derby
 road aud ils western connection in this city should be discontinued and discouraged by this chamber
 as detrimental to the best interests of the city.
 public iaterest that Hill, Lafayette and Liberty
 streets should be closed at silver street and that | Silver street be extended through to Commerce ' street, proposed by the railroad company, and
 the entire space between Silver street and the pres | ent track be utilized for terminal railroad pur- poses.
 Hon. N. D. Sperry said this was very ! important matter. The Chamber of Com merce were about to send out circulars say ing that this was the place to locate and | invitation, ready and willing to come here \ and spend million of dollars here within \ the next three years. Now shall we allow | them to do it !? Shall we look to this corpo- | ration in liberal spirit shall we attempt \ to throttle it at the outset The Consoli- \ dated railroad company has done great \ work here and no one would think of put | ting an obstacle in it's way. Now here is
 another railroad company simply asking that
 these streets be closed. It does not seem to me there can be any obiec- \ tion to this. I made these resolutions the way of their passage. It is said that New \ Haven can do nothing on account of diyid- ed public sentiment, but I do not believe ' that there is an Consolidated or an anti Derby sentiment here. Anything that is go- \ ing to benefit the city we should not antago- nize. If there are any individual property own \ CTS who will be injured by closing up these ! streets they will be fully compensated. It \ would show enterprise to go before the rail ' road commissioners when they next meet in \ this city and ~tefff them Of our action IstealaA alaAlSIayor Lewis said that the proposed change of the Derby railroad depot would be of great benefit to the city. We had been struggling for years to get the western railroad connection which is now promised. But of what use is it unless we can have desirable place to deliver freight and passengersa am in favor of closing whatever streets are necessary to secure th1s great benefit to our city. There may be individual hardships in ' bringing about this improvement, but these can be overcome by proper assessment of benefits and damages.
 Attorney John 0. Gallagher saidjn answer to MT. Sperry's remarks that he thought it would be unWise for the Chamber of Com merce to take any action without thorough investigation of all the facts in the case. No action should be taken unless due notice had been given to all the members that the sub ject was to be brought before the meeting. The subject of the resolution was not at pres ent one in which the Consolidated railroad company was a party. The participants in. the controversy were the city and certain property holders on one side and the New England railway system on the other. This struggle will not only continue before the railroad commis- sioners, but will very likely be carried into the courts. For the Chamber of Commerce to declare itselt on any matter pending be- fore commission acting in judicial capac- ity was making progress altogether too fast. T., |.