Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-05
CITY HALL NOTES.
Work on the Canterbury School
House Stone Resumed.
New Officials Getting Into Gear-The
New Board to Grant Licenses.

The work of dressing the stone for the
Canterbury street school house was re-
sumed Tuesday. There are six union
men working on the job and none of the
non-union men. Superintendent Peck
told a Spy man yesterday that he didn't
krcw why the non~union men were not
working. Assistant Superintendent
Adams has passed his judgment on the
work of Lane. one of the non-union men,
and it was favorable to the workman.
But yesterday when Lane reported for
work there was no room for him. He
didn't get work all day.
The Union men declare they will strike
! if Lane is put to work, and it appears
as IL thew had successfully bulldozed the
officials in the public buildings depart
menr. While they have as much right
to employment under the civil service
rules as the union men, if they are COM
perent, thew have been fought by the
union men from the start, and the latter
have held UP the work more successfully
than if they were working for private
individuals. There is considerable crit
iicism of the management of the trouble
by the public buildings department, al
though the matter is not likely to dis
turb the tenure of office for either the
superintendent or the assistant superin-
tendent
The election of both of these officials
was held up in the board of aldermen,
Monday night, but 1t was on the preteXt
| that the report from the department
was not submitted to the last city coun-
Gil as We're most of the other annual re-
ports. Superintendent Peck has, been
very busy with city hall commission
matters and has had little time to de-
vote to getting out his report AS it was
he sent it to the council before the 18th
of the month, as this is all that he is
required to. do under the ordinances.
There was some talk early last year of
| having annual reports presented to the
| city council by the 18th of December,
| but no action was taken on the matter
except its reference to the committee
on ordinances. The committee never re-
| ported.
COMMISSIONER PRIOR.
| Wright S. Prior, the new street COM
missioner, was with ex-Street Commits
sioner Stone much of the time Tuesday,
getting an idea of the affairs and man.
agement of the office He found Mr..
| Stone very kindly disposed toward him
| and willing to aid him in every way
1 possible. The new street commissioner
has formulated no plans for the man
| agement of the department, but pro-
poses to study the situation before max
| ing any announcement in this direction.
He says that he is determined to give
Worcester as good system as any city
| has, and little better one, if possible.
| He proposes to spend more time in the
/ Office than his predecessor, and to put
4 more of the outside work on his assist
/ ant.
John f. Sallagner's friends are urg-
\ ing him for the position of assistant
/ street commissioner, in place of Mr..
4 Blaney. They claim for him that he
j is a graduate Of the Polytechnic Insti-
! tlte and a civil engineer of consider
able experience, having served six years
/ in the office of the city engineer Com
| missioner Prior, however, prefers that
Mr. Blaney shall be reelected, and as
he is the choice of the common council
caucus, he is likely to be voted for by
! the republicans Of that branch of the
/ city government on the first ballot, at
| least.
THE NEW Assessor.
George B. Hurlburt, who was elected
| as a member of the board of assessors
at the meeting of the city council, Mon
day night, will probably qualify today.
The notice of his election was sent him
yesterday ny LHo CITY ClSTh, anu tOldy
he will probably appear before City
Clerk ToWne and take the ironclad oath
of office, sby which he will bind himself
to assess property at it's full value to
the best of his knowledge, and for any
transgressions of the oath, he is liable
to a fine of $1,000. Thomas Talbot, who
was defeated for reelection, was about
the office yesterday, clearing out his
desk and preparing to remove his goods
from the office. He has been mem
/ Der of the board Is years,
THE NEW LICENSE BOARD.
The new license board will organize
Thursday afternoon in the city clerks
office. The board includes the chief of
police, the chief of the fire department
and the secretary Of the board of health.
The board was created by ordinance at
the final meeting of the city council Of
1897, and will issue licenses heretofore
granted by the board of aldermen, such
as permits for using a portion of the
street for building purposes, licenses for
auctioneerss for employment bureaus, to
keep and store and sell petroleum, to
maintain rag and junk shops and to
sell fireworks. All of these licenses have
been granted by the board Of aldermen,
and as the city grows the time of the
board meetings has largely been taken
up by these matters Several of the ap-
plicationS for the licenses have to meet
with the approval of the chief of police
or the chief of the fire department, and
as these two officials are on the new
board 1t adds but little to their duties
The meeting Thursday afternoon will be
Tor organization. W. H. Towne the new
.ear4lra4 .N