The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-04
THE CITY FINANCIERS MET.
FINAL MEETING or LAST KE4R'S
 BOARD or FINANCE.

Approved the Telephone Bill of Deputy
 Harbor Master Dowe-Police Investiga-
 ting Committee Bills Referred to Police
 BOard-Advertising Bills.
 The final meeting of the board of fin ance of 1894 was held yesterday after noon in the city hall, Mayor Hendrick presiding. The members present were Aldermen Foley Shanley and Galla- gher and Councilmen Parish and Dur ant, The weekly pay rolls of the sev- eral departments of the city government were approved as follows; Public works $1,178.O1, fire $1,74871, police $S,2SS.7S and health STA.
 After the usual weekly pay rolls had been disposed of the much disputed bill, amounting to $1S75, for use of tele- phone in the house of Deputy Harbor Master Captain D. s. Dove was taken up and finally disposed of. The bill has been before three previous meetings of the board, but Mayor Sargent objected to the payment of the bill, and so the matter went over The ground taken by the ex-mayor was that the bill was a private bill and should not be paid by either the city or state. Some of the other members of the board refused to sign the bill, claiming that the office was a state office, that the deputy har- Dor master was appointed by the gov ernor, and that therefore the bill should be paid by the state.
 Yesterday the members of the board did not waste any time discussing the matter, and the bill received the neces- sary four signatures and will be paid by the city.
 Next came up the consideration of the two bills of expense incurred by the po- lice Investigating committee. At the meeting of the police commissioners Tuesday night the bills were referred to the board of finance without being ap- proved by the police board. One of these bills was for $497 for the services of a stenographer at the hearings of the committee and the other was for $11.62 for Sergeant Cowles' expenses in going to New York, as explained on the bill, to look up testimony for the police Investigating committee and Cor oner Mix.
 When these bills were reached Coun- cilman Durant argued at length against the city paying the whole of the bills, and said that he believed that the state should pay at least a portion of the bill, inasmuch as it appeared that that part of the work was done for the coroner, who is a state official.
 Ex-Mayor Sargent was also present to explain anything necessary in con nection with the bill. Alderman Shan ley inquired whether or not the investi- gation had been legally ordered, and to this question the ex-mayor replied that it had been voted by the police com missioners and that every city board had right to investigate it's own af- fairs.
 To this statement Alderman Foley re- piled that he for one did not believe in buying cat in the meal, that the people did not know anything about what the committee had done, and he did not believe in approving the bill un- til after the results of the investigation had been made public. Other members of the board also expressed themselves in reference to the bill, after which it was voted to refef the bills back to the police commissioners for their approval or disapproval
 Next the members of the board took up the bills of the several newspapers for printing the items in the city esti- mates. When this item was reached City Auditor Brown objected to the bills of some of the papers on the ground that they were higher in rates than that charged for other advertising, He claimed that owing to the introduction of typesetting machinery the cost of setting up the advertisements should be less than last year. The members of the board decided to lay the bills on the table until the next monthly meet ing.