The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-03-15
A COMBINATION OF DEALS
MA FOR FARNSWO so CHAR4C-
 FERRIES zHE COMMON COUNCIL.

The Hearing on Charter Amendments
 Before Cities and Boroughs Commitfec
 in Acknowledgement to Allow
 Clerk of City Court to Keen Eees-
 Methods of the Board of Financc Dis.
 cussed-Amendments Considered. Yesterday afternoon New Haven had
 an inning before the legislative commit
 tee on cities and boroughs. The occa-
 sion was the beginning of the commits
 tee hearings on the bills for amend-
 ments to the city charter, and when the
 hearing opened at o'clock a large del-
 egation of New Haven citizens was
 present, among them being Mayor
 Farnsworth, Postmaster James A.
 Howarth, President Anderson of the
 board of councilmen, Joseph R. Man
 ming, City Sheriff Bunce, Corporation
 Counsel w. H. Ely, John w. Alling, William s. Pardee, ID. L. Isbell, clerk
 of the city court; Judge Bishop, James Y. Moran, Eli Whitney, Representative James P. Bree, Senator Callahan, AL
 dermen Chillingworth, Donovan and Corcoran, R. H. Tyner, William c. Foote and Marcus Smith.
 The first matter taken up was house
 bill No. 25, for an act amending section
 I'll of the city charter, regarding fees of the clerk of the city court. The
 amendment seeks to provide that the
 clerk of the court shall receive fees
 which, under the present charter pro-
 vision, would be turned into the city treasury after April next.
 Attorney R. H. Tyner read the pro-
 posed amendment and made an argu-
 ment in favor of 1t. He held that the intention of the framers of the charter
 was that the clerk of the city court should receive salary of $2,25O net, the
 amount mentioned in the charter. He said: "There is clerk of the court and an assistant clerk and the charter pro- vides for only one assistant. But the volume of business in the city court has so increased that it is now neces- sary to employ other assistants, and this the clerk has done and paid tho cost out of his own pocket, paying second assistant $7O0 or $75O He could afford that if he got his salary of $2,25es and fees besides, but under the charter, if no amendment is passed, the clerks salary will be cut, after April l. down to $1,200 or $1,500. We claim that an official who has the responsibility of a clerk of the city court, who looks out for all the fines, a large amount-a manE who must have certain qualifications to make him efficient--should receive a glar- ger salary than that.
 When the legislature two years ago adopted this charter it was the inten- tion that the clerk should receive $2.26O net over and above all expenses. They said that the fees should go to the city treasurer, about $1,200, but they did not take into consideration the fact that business in the New Haven city court has increased during the last ten years. so that to-day 5000 to 5000 criminal cases are disposed of there every year. g From my experience as assistant clerk of the court for eighteen months know that no two men in the city of New Ha- ven can perform all the work that must be done by the clerk of the city court. I know that when the volume of busi- ness was not so great as it is now the clerk was obliged to work there even- ings, and I know that a former clerk spent the majority of his Sundays there in the office looking after the business of the court. You should not ask that a clerk should come into the office and perform those duties for S1,200 or $1,50O per year, and we ask that a sufficient sum be added so that he shall have $2,250 per year net, and the fees in civil cases will about make up what he has t0 spend for extra help"
 Mr. Tyner also said that many law- yers could not pay the fees when they were. due and that if the clerk was obliged to turn over fees to the city treasury he must pay them outl of his own pocket and trust the lawyers or else demand immediate payment from them. This, he said, would tend to drive business away from the city court.
 Corporation Counsel Ely said that he had no personal interest in the matter under discussion, but that he had duty to perform for the city, whether he liked it. or not. He thought that there was already charter provision for all clerk hire so that the clerk of he city court need not pay for neces- sary clerk hire out of his own pocket. He said: "It goes without saying, that f the income from fees goes to the Jerk of the court instead of to the city t will take so much from the city treasury. If s2,250 is not enough then K the salary and let the city furnish he necessary clerk hire and then If the ity can make anything out of the city ourt, let it do so. If lawyers can't get he necessary fees out of their clients, hall the city pay them? Shall the city upport a court for people who want litigation, without getting any pay for t?"
 Judge Bishop and Representative 3ree spoke in favor. of the proposed amendment.
 House bill Mo- 53, which contains q arge number of proposed charter was next taken up. .mong the amendments is one to ex end the time which the Court of com- non council now has for going over he estimates after they are submitted y the board of finance. At the end of ast year the common council had but hree days to look over the estimates. Alderman Chillingworth first spoke in avor of the amendment. c. s. Curtis f the board of finance spoke against 1t. Ie said: There seems to be a disposi- G.,I fo. yxyfth Ln ny%1 rE