The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-15
FIRE QUENCHED
(Continued from First Page.

of, the action of the councilmen be sent to the gentlemen in Washington, say ing nothing of the a1dermen's action.
 The board then voted In concurrence with the aldermen to resc1nd its ac- tion taken on all matters referred 10 committees since January and follow ed this up by voting again to refer the same matters to the same committees, this being necessary in view of the fact | that the committees had not previously illegally appointed. Several petitions were then read and referred, among them being petition for damages | from Samuel Seer, owner of a pullolns 1 on Ashmun street, which was partlal- l ly destroyed by fire in August last. MT. | Seer claims that the fire could nave I been extinguished before it had done much damage had it not been for the fact that the city had neglected to pro- I vide a competent person to take charge of the key to the nearest fire alarm box. He stated in his petition that on the night of the fire the person Tn whose custody the key to the box was, was unable to produce it or ring the alarm for fifteen minutes after the nfe
 was discovered. He states that the
 loss to his building was s1,OoO and that
 he was so injured physically by the
 fire that he was disabled from work for
 four months and asks that he DC awarded such relief as to the court oi common council seems proper.
 A communication accompanied by al oninion was received from Corporation Counsel Ely, to whom were referred | fa1y the com l mon council in regard to the draw bridge over Mill river at Chapel stree'
 with the request that he straighte matters out and outline what actlo
 should be taken in order that the coun e cil could provide for the building or tn II bridge.
 In his opinion Mr. Ely said IN
 order had been passed by the court : common council directing the erectio J. of a drawbridge across Mill river c le Chapel street at any time, ana tf
 court of common council is the on n power under the charter that can O n der it. Therefore it will hardly e, claimed that it is consistent with u
 best interests of the citizens or Ne "a Haven to have the director Of publ
 works award contract for building
 bridge before the court Of comm'
 council has passed an order for a bridge. o- "Tt appears further that no appropri H. Istion has yet been made for the bull IA: ing of the bridge and this is necessa rs before the bridge can be built. Wh or there is a vote authorizing the issu1 sl of bonds to the amount of one hundr
 and ninety-five thousand dollars . several bridges, there is no approprl ,or tion of any particular amount for a
 particular bridge.
 "so that I am clearly of the opini on that at this time the director Of pt
 lie works has no power to make @ ct u tract for the building of a bridge acr
 Mill river on Chapel street. The stt
 reouired by section 80 of the char s seem to have been taken and hureau of compensation have repor ~. the assessment of benefits and da 7si- aoes hut it has not apparently e 'oW mated the total probable exper H which it should do under section S' a,,+ the charter.
 ent "With the knowledge of the WI oi cost and the proportion to De palo .,, the city, the court of common cou Will can act intelligently and the cha row seems to require that this knoWle
 should be before the common cou Ha- before it passes any order for brl nall or other public improvement. or "It is clear that before contracts The this bridge can be awarded the apl tal- nriation must be made, and the o1
 recurring the building of the br } It's nassed by the common council, and tart fore any new order is passed by ekly court of common council there I
 he. in the absence of unanimous
 sent. reference to a proper commi
 public hearing, etc., as in all
 matters"
 be After the reading of this opi land Councilman Shepard moved to res
 all orders and resolutions in regar polo. the Mill river drawbridge at Ch the street, passed by the common co' uth- before January 1, 1898.
 , ex- Councilman Isbell thought that The fore this motion could be voted .le in the board must either give unanil Id to consent for it's consideration or it .hout be referred to a committee for 1gest ing.
 $, on President Burton ruled, how