New Britain herald., 1917-02-10

Curtis at the special meeting of the I common council last evening succeed ed in spiking the guns of the admin ! mittee and the council is the question members of the council and citizens are asking today. During the clos ing minutes of the session last night, after having previously gone on rec ord as declaring that with the eXcep- l tion of the city court matters the pro- posed charter changes, should they not be passed, would not impose on i the city any loss. the astute council man from the third succeeded in put ting through a referendum motion. His motion was that the proposed charter amendments be sent to the legislature, to be referred to the com- mittee on cities and boroughs., with the appended request that if that body approves of the changes they refer them back to the city of New Britain for referendum vote.
 Hall Suspects Joker.
 Representative Edward Hall stated last night, and his opinion was similar to that of several other member of the council, that he believes the action of the council last night will mean the absolute throwing out of the char ter amendments. His opinion is that when the committee on cities and boroughs receives the amendments and sees the request for referen- dunn appended they will refuse to con- sider the questions pro or con, but will dismiss the entire matter, thus making the proposed amendments inn possible. Previously, to- a question from Councilman Curtis, Representa- tive Hall explained that the chief req son that the charter revision commit tee had decided to send the proposed amendments to the legislature for rat iiication instead of voting on them here under the home rule bill was economy. A special city election would be a costly thing, he said. Councilman Curtis then thought up his referendum motion.
 The meeting last night was sched- uled for the specific purpose of dis cussing the charter amendments, but during. the two hours that the ses- sion lasted the members discussed al- most everything under the sun in ad- dition to the amendments. Council man Charles May again launched forth into his pet argument against bipartisan boards and accused Mayor G. A. Quigley of appointing men be- cause of political intrigues rather than for their ability. Councilman G. M. Landers advised the councilman to be specific and mention names in justice to tlTe absent mayor so he would know of the attack and Alderman Paonessa called Councilman May out of order and asked the council to refuse to per init him to prolong his harangue along those lines. Councilman A. F. Spencer, with special permission, also called Councilman May to order and advised the members to cease pro- miscuous arguments and attend to the proposed business before them. Councilman A. F. Eichstaedt also de- plored the insistent wrangling and asked the council to keep within the parliamentary rules
 Alderman M. Irving Jester, acting mayor, presided at the meeting and the first n>R tier taken up was the re- port of theTboard of finance and taxa tioh showing the transfer of funds from various departments amounting to $23,932.5O. The action was ap-
 
 men and aldermen was received from the New Britain TuQher society to at tend their annual masquerade next Tuesday evening. A vote of thanks was passed on vote of Alderman V. B. Chamberlain.
 The safety board was given the au- thority to purchase a pen punching register for the police department fQlPQrQnh CVCtn" nc+ included in the present estimates. Clerk A. B. Magnell explained that the present system for recording the officers calls is about twenty years old and is frequently out of order, rendering the telegraph system useless at these times. It was also voted to suspend the civil service rules that Dr. Charles R. Witte, slaughter house inspector, may be given authority as a supernumerary policeman. This is so that the doctor can act in connec- tion with his duties in any section of the city.
 Requests of the policemen and fire men for increases in pay were re- ferred to the salary committee. The safety board recommended that the policemen be divided into four grades of one year each, the salary to be s2.T5. $500, $325 and $50. It also recommended that the salary of the chief of police be made $1,9O0, the captain, s1,700 and sergeants, $1,45O. In the fire department the board sug- gested salaries as follows: Chief s1.- TOO: assistant chief, $500; captain s3.5O per day; Eeutenants, s3.3O per day. first year men, $2.7O per day: second year, $290, and third wear. $3.15
 Things Begin to Happen.
 Things began to happen when the hrst proposed charter amendment was read. 1t provides for the changing of the dates of estimates, having them submitted in February rather