The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-14
WATER CONTRACT HEARING
4 LIVELY SESSION OF THE WATER
 COMMITTEE LAST NIGHT.

The Room Was Packed With Larg,
 Crowd of Citizsns-somo Favorot | Muntcipal Ownership of the Water
 Works and Others Favored a Thre, | Year Contract With the Water Com
 pany-Mnss Meeting of Citizens Pro posed--Old Town Meeting Methods. 1 The water committee last night held l Its first hearing on the matter of re. newal of the city's water contract with 1 the New Haven Water company. Un- der this contract, which was entered in-
 to ten years ago and which expires in the spring, the city pays $20000 per
 year to the water company for water used by the city government. The com- mittee room was crowded with citizens. At the hearing last night David Dag
 gett, secretary of the water company,
 and Attorney George D. Watrous and
 James T. Moran, were present repre-
 senting the company. At the opening
 of the hearing several citizens asked
 if any proposition had been submitted
 by the company, and they were inforn-
 ed that none had been submitted B.
 H. Douglass appeared and said that
 the New Haven Water company was
 furnishing fine supply of pure water
 and that few cities in the country had purer water supply than New Haven.
 He said that talk about the big divi-
 oF oil bosh and that only 3A per cent. was paid. A little later Eugene c. Hill asked what was the capitalization of the company and was informed that 1t was $2,5OO,O00 and that the par value of the shares was $50. MT. Hill by in- query elicited the further information that the dividend in cash was S3 or 8 per cent. on the par value. After do- ing some figuring he announced that the city paid one-tenth of this dividend in the annual payment of $20,000
 Colonel c. W. Pickett suggested that the city get water used for public pur- poses free and that in consideration of this the city eliminate from the water contract the present provision that the city may at any time purchase the wa ter companys plant. The elimination of this latter privilege he thought would be worth something to the water Colonel Pickett also spoke in favor of making contract for twenty five years instead of the shorter period of one year. His remarks were ap- plauded and formed the basis for many of the suggestions made by citizens who were heard afterward. He thought that the whole matter should be con- sldered from a fair and business-like point of view.
 At the request of some of those pres ent Attorney Watrous and Moran ex- plained certain provisions of the pres ent contract and then by request As sistant City Clerk Martin read the con- tract
 William Trueman did not favor the twenty-five year contract and spoke in favor of municipal owner ship, quoting extensively to show that it was the better system. In case a contract was made he did not think that it should be for more than two or three years. He said that with the ad- vance of modern ideas it might be de- sired here to establish a municipal water works, and thought that a twen- ty-five year contract might hamper the out of this idea.
 Attorney George M. Wallace spoke at length upon the question of renewal of the contract. He was in favor of mak- ing a contract for not more than two or three years, or at least for a period no longer than after the close of the coming constitutional convention, and the next session of the legislature. He said that the use of the streets was worth a great deal to the water com oany and then spoke in favor of the taxation of franchises. He referred to he income derived by other cites from hat source and said that franchises Ire valuable assets and that people 'ver all the world were beginning to