Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-06

rs Wilmington a city? Has IL beer
city? or will 1t be a city?" we're the
three questions which kept the county
board of supervisors busy yesterday
while attorneys representing petition
ers for new incorporation of the town
and other attorneys representing par
ties opposed to the Incorporation
argued exhaustively on every possible
phase of the case.
The questions were left in doubt
however, for 1t was decided to continue
the matter for further investigation
and the fate of the little oceanside town
will be decided Thursday.
More than hundred members of the
opposing factions were In the super.
visors' hall yesterday when the peti.
tion was taken under consideration and
every man in the room had his owr
opinion of how the questions should
be handled and most of them insisted
on being allowed to explain their
methods to the supervisors.
AS the petition had been carried ovei
from prior meeting so that the opin-
ion of the district attorney might be
heard Deputy District Attorney Hart.
ley Shaw was the first attorney to be
granted hearing.
Says Town Is Incorporated
Attorney Shaw read carefully pre-
pared opinion regarding the law, ir
which he, as representative of the dis
trict attorney, ordered the supervisors
to deny the petition for a new incor.
poration of the city of Wilmington.
Il have been very careful in going
into this matter" said Attorney Shaw
'and to look up all the data in the
case. | have written to attorneys who
handled the proposed petition before.
II find that Wilmington was incor-
porated as a city of the sixth class in
1872 and that by a law of the legislat-
ure the Incorporation was repealed in
1887.
THE objections to the petition for
new Incorporation are these: That the
former Incorporation was repealed
under special act which was uncon-
stitutional and that the present pro.
posed Incorporation, covering the same
territory Of the first, is unnecessary be.
cause the city has never been legally
disincorporated.
"If the repeating act was unconsti-
tutional, as / believe it was, then 1t is
the duty of the governor to appoint
officers to govern the city"
Presents Residents Side
Many instances were cited and sew
eral similar cases brought forward to
substantiata the opinion of Attorney
Shaw and then the supervisors were
strongly advised to deny the petition
as the city was still a city and a new
Incorporation was unnecessary.
AS to the question of whether any
action should be taken TO prevent Long
Beach from anneXing Wilmington ter
ritory the supervisors were warned tc
leave that phase of the petition alone
as it was none of their business.
A lengthy brief was then read by
Senator Savage, who represented prop
erty owners of Wilmington. In his
brief Mr.. Savage showed the inten-
tions of the proposed incorporate and
set forth his objection to the advice
offered by the district attorneys office
Look back to the assessment
books" said the senator. land you will
there find that the county has been
taxing Wilmington as though it were
n town and not an Incorporated city
The county has been maintaining roads
there under the same laws that gov
ern towns.
"As to the argument advanced that
Los Angeles wanted Wilmington to
maintain free harbor. let me ask how
many feet of that harbor front is now
vacant. 1t is nearly all taken.
Appears for Bannings
There has been a great deal said