The herald., 1898-02-01
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1. 1898.
WATER COMMITTEES REPORT

:. The Herald prints elsewhere thli
morning the full text of the report of th'
water supply committee to the city
council. together with the reply of Cit!
Attorney Dunn and Lee & Scott, th'
city's special counsel, to the request ol
The water supply committee for advice
and suggestions.
q The city's legal advisers say, among
other things:
In our Judgment the council up to
this time has taken all the steps ad-
- visable from a legal standpoint in the
matter of the taking over by the city
of the waterworks and plant now in
the possession of the city water COM
pany, under the terms of the existing
contract and lease between the COM
pany's predecessor and the city.
This is an ample, unequivocal endorse
ment of the position taken by this pa
per, which has all along maintained that
nothing had been legally left undone to
protect the rights of the city in the wa
ter controversy. The statement of the
city's counsel is not one that may be i'm
peached by anybody.
Here is another extract from the opin-
ion of the counsel:
We recall but one instance in which
our advice has been disregarded. and
that. was when the council required
from us, against our protest, a formal
opinion upon the validity of the water
contract and lease. Our opinion was
based upon our firm conviction that,
in contest of this character. where the
vital interests of the city are at stake.
it is a suicidal policy to inform our OPP
ponents of the position and plans
adopted for the maintaining of the
cty's rights by premature announce
ment or discussion of the same.
That is exactly the ground taken by
The Herald, which urged the city coun-
Gil not to help the water company by
making the citys position and policy
known, by forcing its counsel to publicly
announce an opinion upon the matter
in question, against their judgment as
lawyers and in direct opposition to the
dictates of common sense and good busi-
ness judgment.
The statement of the city's legal ad-
yisers is a strong rebuke to the council
for needing the demands of an ill-bal-
anced and hot-headed minority.
The report of the water supply COM
mittee is a complete history of the steps
taken by the committee since its organ
ization, January 4, 1897.
January IL, the committee, which is
composed of Counclmen Nickel, Toll
and Blanchard, was instructed to con-
fer with the city engineer and report to
the council as to the best procedure for
acquiring a water plant to be owned by
the city. Later in the same session Mr..
Grider introduced motion that the city
engineer make complete plans of an en-
tirely new, adequate system and report
the cost of such a system. The commit
tee considered that the Grider resolu-
ton was fully covered by the Blanchard
resolution, and that in any event the
Blanchard resolution was entitled to
precedence.
January Is the city engineer reported
provided sufficient to give an approx
mate cost Of new system of water
works for from $500 to $1,000. 1t was then
recommended to the council that the
city engineer be instructed to prepare
an approximate estimate of the cost of
complete water works for the city, and
that the committee be empowered to
open negotiations with the water COM
pany looking to the requirement by the
city of the existing plant
January 20 the report of the commit
tee was approved by the council and the
preliminary preparations We're entered
upon.
February 25 letters were mailed to the
Los Angeles City Water company, High
land Water company and the West Side
Water company, asking those corpora
tions to cooperate with the city in the
requirement by the latter of their plants.
March 4, the West Side company said
it would not sell.
March 8, the Los Angeles City Water
company said it would sell.
March 13, the Highland Water com.
pany signified it's willingness to consult
with the committee.
March 30, a joint meeting of the watel
supply committee and representative,
of the Los Angeles City Water COM
pany was held. Mr.. Mott said the wa.