The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-09
LIGHTING SCHEME WORRIES NEWTOWN
Special Town Meeting Tonor- row Evening Will Find Plen- ty of Opposition to Proposed Contract.
fspeeaa1 to rhe Farmero

ough neet1nSs IhurS0ay, aL S.SO a. Lns to take action on a proposition to light the streets of the borough by elec- tricity. is the absorbing topic among the taxpayers. The Danbury and Bethel. Street Railway company which now owns the old Houlihan-GIover charter covering the township during the past six months has brought, the electric fluid to the borough and about a score of householders have wired their homes in the main street. The company is unwilling or seems unable to extend it's lines to the side streets without help from prospective ypatrunS and thisss fact has caused ; doubt in many minds of the a,dwisability of contracting with them for public light ing of our streets. These objectors profess to see tsa colored gentleman in the woodpfIe,' somewh ere, and have been suspicious of a job. The hour of calling the meeting to fasten the. job on the borough at 9:3O a. m.s gives color to the suspicion of something wrong. The agitation among the. oo- jectors has enlisted not only the small househo1ders. but several of the business men in the street, and the borough meeting promises to be the largest held since the borough re- sumed its corporate existence about decade ago. Zhe plan of action de- cided upon by the agitators is to ad-s journ the meeting to some evening linen it will be possible to thresh the mater out fully and act upon the proposition by majority of the tax payers and not by the clique who control in the borough elections There are 90 registered voters in the bor- ough,t but no more than one-third of this number have ever taken part in the elections or other public meet ings It is propbsed now to- change this plan, and if the charter permits d d3ra11f dng following the meeting when the small property holders and working people may attend and lock out for their interests. es If the proposers sof the improvement are unwilling to give the public a chance to fully in- vestfgate the matter those opposed to the high-handed coterie of division and silence are resolved to kill the scheme But begid es! these two fac- tors in the fight are a large number of people who have mot taken sides in the fight who are genuinely interested in making the borough a more desir- able place to live in, and these have appealed to your correspondent to get a line on the matter in issue With this end in view Borough Warden Charles c. Peck was approached yes- terday from the standpodnt Of these public spirited citizens and gave out for publication the proposition from
 
 in these columns The proposition follows The company proposes ito furnish 27 or more lights of the sam ple now in front of the store of R. H. Beers & C., Main and West street. to eb placed wherever the borough deEig-s. and wiring and lights without further cost to the borough tor a yearly rental of $2o per light The service will call for 2,5o0 hours. supply for the year. and the electricity will De sup piled all night long
 The Farmer gladly publishes the terms of the proposed contract so that the taxpayers may know just what they are up against It would seem that the, handle of the jug is on the side of the borough if the voters all turn out. There is no doubt that the borough may be adequately light ed on every street for an. increase of the tax rate by one and one-third \ mills .on~ the dollar. and the company will be enabled to deal more hberal1y with the private consumers Of their product by favorable vote of the eIectorsA
 At the special town meeting, Wed nesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, the se- lectmen will present the offer Of the D. B. Beard company of Shelton in the matter of the cost of raising the Mile Hill bridge near Miss Julia Prin- d1e's facing. the abutments with con crete, building a concrete bridge five feet higher than the present bridge, and building a thirty-two inch retain ing wall for the filling in and grad ing of the two approaches : to the bridge for $75O, provided the town au- thorizes the work at once before his teams now employed on the improve This information was given out for publication today so that the tax payers would have time to digest the information in advance of the meet ing. The bridge over Pond Brook in Hanover, it is believed will cost in the board of selectmen are following prec- edent af1d seem to be willing to let the public in on any matter which affects the pocketbook of the citizens, I and while the proposition of the Messrs. Beard is not a bid according nished by them for the guidance of the town.
 The selectmen have caused the re- meyaI of James Hassett to the home of Mrs. Margaret Bradley in. North Center where he will receive the care and attention that his condition of health requires
 The High school did not have ses- siens Monday or Tuesday on account of the storm The senior department of Sandy Hook school was closed also for the same reason. Both schools in the borough had halliday sessions on Monday and Tuesday because of the small numbers Of pupils in attend ance. The arrangements made by the school board of having the factory whistles blow and the Trinity church bell ring at 7:30 a.. m. to. announce no school sessions for the day, for some unaccountable reasons fell. through and many students of the High school appeared to find no school on Tues day. It goes without saying that this was an unnecessary hardship to put the students to, who come a distance of upwards of three miles with teams to find arrival no school, and it is -I.n