The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-11-08

. yeeuts Awaited With Great Interest.
At a special meeting of the board
of aldermen, held yesterday morning
shortly after 10 o'clock in the mayor
office al the city hall, the board agreed
Inv unanimous vote to break of all
negotiations with the Clarendon
Waterworks Company for the pur-
chase of their plant, until an lnVesll-
cation is made as to the net earnings
of he property, under present con-
ditions.
The boards action was in the form
of the following resolution, offered by
Alderman French and unanimously
adopted:
Resolved, By the board Of alder
men. that the resolution passed by
this board on the 25th OF October,
agreeing to the purchase of the plant
of the Clarendon Waterworks Com
Dany. at a price therein stated, which
resolution was ~cOncurred in by the
board of audit and finance at their
meeting held October 2Sth, with a
modification afterwards passed by the
board of aldermen, to wit at their
meeting of said date, be and is here
rescinded and made void
Following the adoption of the above
A<NutiOn. a further resolution, pro-
nd for the investigation into tie
earnings of the plant, was introduced
aur1 unanimously adopted, this being
as Hlows:
"ResOlved, That a special committee
of citizens, composed Of Col. Walker
Taylor and Messrs. c.. w. Worth and
NJ. w. jacob, be requested to inVestI~
gate the present earning capacity or
the Clarendon Waterworks Company
and reporC back to this board the
result Of their findings, with recon-
mendatfOns as to III action shail
be taken, and that the city clerk n
treasurer be instructed to send Epe
Clarendon WaterwOrks Company a
c0pv of this resolution with the re-
quest that they allow these gentlemen
to make this investigation, and that
the committee be authorized ii neceS-
sary, to employ an accountant at the
nxuepse of the city, and that these be
reimbursed for any expense made by
,SS% ~'''s"' to the SAID '"'s>''S".
The above resolutions were adopted
after considerable discussion, much
time having Deer consumed in the
consideration of the proper phraseol-
ogv OF the first resolution, when when
first Dassed by the board provided only
for q suspension of the offer maze Dy
the city. Later this was recOnsldereo
and on advice of the city attorne!
the resolution as printed above was
adopted.
This action of the board Of alder
mon means a break between the cit!
and the Clarendon WaterWorks Com
pany at least for the present n o
if is hoped that the committee az
nointed to further investigate Tt
matter will make some recommends
tion that can be followed to the mu
tuaI satisfaction and advantage OF Dol
parties concerned.
Preceding the meeting of the aide
men there was heated discussion 81
tween Hon. John D.. Bellamy, Couns'
for the Clarendon Company and SUI
erintendent w. F. Robertson II tn;
company with several of the city on
Gals and they resented in strong lal
euage any intimatiOn that deceptiC
had been used by the, company in Il
NEGOTIATIONS carried on with the CT
The city representatives freely q
mitted that they did lot believe tn
theDhad been wilfully misintorm
as to facts. but they argued that thl
agreement with the company had be
based on a misrepresentation of t
facts and this being so they Won
insist that the offer made to the co
pany be rescinded and that futu
negotiations be based on c n
status of affairs.
At the meeting yesterday mornl
which was called to order by May
Springer, all the aldermen except
Rathjen were present. In attendai
there were also Col. Walker Tay
and Messrs C. w. Worth and nj.
jacob, water commissioners, Charm
McQueen and Messrs. Yates and
Nair of the board of audit and final
Cty Attorney Marsden Bellamy,
r and George Rountree, Esq, whose
. gal advice had been sought
Alderman Bolles, at the request
the y told Of the finding by
water commission of the fact that
net earnings Of the Clarendon c,
pany were only about $4,000 inst