The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-18
BREAKERS ARE SIGHTED NOW Municipal Code Section
 on Wharf. GAN LEASE RUN 50 YEARSa Local Councilmen Are Concerned Over Wharf Proposition. They Are Awaiting With Interest seIma's Disposition Towards Bir- minsham And Gulf Steam
 ship and Navigation
 Company.
GAN LEASE RUN 50 YEARSs

Montgomery councilmen are watch ing with keen interest the operations pending between the city of Selma ana tho Birmingham and Gulf Steamship and Navigation Company. It IS nenev, ed here, one of the councilmen said yesterday, that the boat people will not tackle the Montgomery wharf proposi- fion until they have made landing at Selma" They seem to be making an effort to secure their right of land ing and any concessions that may De granted as they come up, tackling each proposition in turn.
 From Selma 1t Is stated that the boat company desires a fifty-year lease on the municipal landing there. because their bonds run for that length of time and they wish to connect the pay ments of the bonds and wharf finances so they will work out together. seima's council is reported to be de- liberating on the matter relative to ac- cepting the fifty-year lease proposi- tion and also a suggestion from coun- cilmen there of grant of twenty or twenty-five years.
 The question that is holding the in- terest of the local councilmen Is a paragraph in section e3 of the Muni- cipal Code provided by the Legislature, otherwise known as the Uniform Char ter Bill of the Legislature of 1907. The paragraph of interest in section s3 reads: 'SThe Council shall have the right to alter and change the channel of any watercourse in the police turts- diction of the city or town. and to erect and maintain wharves and erect build ings and other Improvements upon wharves and lease them. in periods not exceeding ten years. or to collect wharfage dues thereon. etc"
 That ten-year clause is where the councflmen see trouble for Selma, 1t may be arranged somehow to continue a grant from ten years to ten years. but how they will do 1t is the problem.
 At the first meeting in Selma some weeks ago. when J. M- Dewperry, wee president of the B. and c" as the boat company is now commonly known. was present, Mir. Dewberry suggested the city leasing the landing property to the boat company. the company to erect the wharf. but to allow other steamers to use it. This suggestions was met by shaking heads and did not come up again. the counciimen present at the citizens meeting proposing in- stead that the company buy its own ian.Jing at another point, and 1t was also suggested the city should help In some manner in the construction of wharf.
 Tn discussing tho matter of leasing
 
 councilmen declared, informally, that the suggestion was absurd. that they wanted the company to do business in Selma and would do all they could to help. but the idea of granting public property to the control of private oorporation was out of the question. The Selma end of the situation will be again discussed at the next council meeting there, and as yet no definite proposition Is undep advisement.
 In the bond election soon to be held here, provision is made for the build ing of q wharf. a sum being set aside to that end, but the idea of municipal property being controlled by private corporation here is said by many to be utterly out of the question. Indica- tions points to the fact that Montgom- cry will have a wharf. good wharf, and have it soon. but 1t will be the property of the city
 The Commercial Club is in receipt of a map of the drainage system of