The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-03-22
WATER CONTRACT ILLEGAL
SUPREME COURT HOLDS 1T WAS
MADE WITHOUT AUTHORITY.
Water Works Counsel Says the Liti-
CATION Win Be Carried to the
Federal COurts-City Will
Put in New System,

Put in New System,
The litigation that has been in prog
ress between the City of Dawson and
she Dawson Waterworks Company, in an
effort on the part of the city to annul
the twenty-year contract which was en-
tered into between them in 1891, prom
Uses to soon be at an end, at least so far
as the state courts are concerned.
The supreme court has banded down
it's third decision in the case, and this
time the lower court is reversed and the
contract, for the first time, is declared
illegal. All of the justices concurred in
toe decision.
The gist of the decision is that with
out the preliminary sanction of a popu-
lar vote municipal corporation cannot
contract for supply of water on the
credit of the city for longer period
than one year, and a contract which by
its terms is to run for twenty years, each
years supply to be paid for semi-annu-
ally from year TO year, is operative from
year to year so long as neither party re-
nOuuces or repudiateS it.
The only question that is now to be
to pay the water company for the water
which has been used during the four
years of litigation. The court intimates
that the city will be liable for the water
used during this time, but says that the
amount to he paid is matter to be de-
cided by jury. On this point the de-
cisiOn reads:
"While contract for longer space
of time 10 illegal, yet where the other
parties to such contract have complied
with their part by erecting plant at
great expense in order to furnish the
city with water the city is liable for the
amount stipulated in the contract for
each year that it received the benefits
thereof. The evidence conflicting as to
whether during the years for which COM
pensation is claimed by the water compa-
ny tor water furnished to the city the lat
ter received the benefit to be derived
under the contract in such way as to
make it liable to pay the annual rental
stipulated therein, the case should have
been submitted to the jury under proper
instructions, and it was error to direct a
verdict for the plaintiff :"
The contract calls for g, 900 yearly.
and if the full amount has to be paid
the city will have to plank down $4,000
of its cash to the water company. 1t is
claimed, however, that the city will be
able to show that that amount would be
an exorbitant price for the service rem
dered, and that a much smaller sum
would be a reasonable and just compen-
sation.
The city voted $25 900 worth of bonds
for the erection of a new system of wa
terworks soon after the litigation was
begun, and Mayor Cheatham informs
The News that steps will be taken at
once t. issue these bonds and give the
city better water supply.
II the owners of the present works
will sell them at a reasonable price the
city will buy and improve them; if not,
an entirely new system will be put in.
The water system is owned by Phila-
delphia parties, and Judge j q. Parks,
their local counsel, says that the litiga-
tion will be carried to the. federal courts,
and to the United States supreme court
If necessary