Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-22

A
members being present at the time.
MT. Noble thought that the commit :
zee should accept the report. ana recon-
n,enu 'hat nothing could be found In the
I,'"' ses nade IN the Board OF Aldermen.
lie SAID he felt satisfied that the whole
'""e.'r was either a misunderstanding or
Joke and that It should be dropped
", hountree spoke briefly expressing
MS kindly feeling for the Mayor. ana said
,hat ne felt that his Honor was pro-
Daply in passion on the morning when
'ne subcommittee called upon him.
think the proposition 10 send the
Sergeaht-at-Arms after him vexed the
Mayor little" continued Mr.. Rountree.
IF we had sent some one 10 his Honor
with request that he should come be-
Tore the committee he and / could have
got together. and this whole matter
would have been one Of recollection or
impression, and could have been settled
IN a much nicer way"
Inc motion of Mr.. Jones finally pre-
vailed, and the committee announced its
readiness TO hear the report of the CITY
Accountant regarding certain information
the committee desired from the officers
OF the City Treasurer, City Tax-Collector,
and Commissioner OF the Revenue.
Mr.. Mccarthy. the Accountant ex-
was requested to get together, but that
he had found that some of these officers
appeared TO feel TO some extent that the
public had been placed under the i'm
preston that they had not provided the
committee with all the necessary Informal
tion regarding the operations OF their OFF,
ces Mr.. Rountree made a short state
ment completely generating these Off
cials from anything Of this sort. and ex-
planning the embarrassment which this
thing had caused them.
WANTED SOME SECRECY
City-Accountant Mccarthy then went on
TO say that the City Treasurer and the
Commissioner of the Revenue had given
him such assistance as they could. save
as to one feature of the Office of the Com
missioner of the Revenue, and added that
he had been requested by these gentlemen
to ask the committee not to make public
the information coming from their offices
with reference to the States affairs.
This matter provoked a great deal OF
discussion, and the committee finally, on
motion of Mr.. Rountree. decided to defer
the consideration Of the City Accountants
report until the next regular meeting. The
same action was taken upon the subject
Of continuing the examination of the af-
fair of the offices of the City Treasurer.
City Tax Collector, and Commissioner of
the Revenue.
At this juncture Mr.. Noble made a few
appropriate remarks regarding the resig-
nation Of Mr.. Rountree. He said that he
felt sure that Mr.. Rountree's retirement
from the committee would mean very
serious loss to that body. The MARSHALL
Ward member moved that Mr.. Rountree
be earnestly requested not to resign, at
least until after the Committee on Re
trenchment and Reform had completed its
labors.
Messrs. Jones and Harrelson made time
ly and complimentary remarks, urging MIR.
Rountree to remain in the Council and
upon the committee. and Mr.. Ebel FOL
lowed with a complimentary speech about
Mr. Rountree's service upon the commit
tee. and said that Mayor Taylor had told
him he would veto Mr.. Rountree's resig-
nation if it reached him. Mr.. Jones said
he would certainly vote against it in the
Council.
The motion of Mr.. Noble was adopted,
and Mr.. Rountree expressed his thanks
to the committee for the kind words
which they had spoken about him, and
said that he had under consideration the
many requests sfrom friends and ac-
auaintances to withdraw his letter or
resignation.
The committee then adjourned until
next Thursday night.
COMMITTEE MEETING.
A regular meeting of the Committee on
Grounds and Buildings was held at
o'clock last evening in Room No. 3 OF
the city Hall. Those in attendance were
Messrs. John NJ. King. j. II. Lawder. J.
r. Neal, II. w. Rountree, r. 7. Briggs.
The bills and pay-rolls for the half month
were approved, and some other routine
business was transacted.