The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-09

the testimony of the nine witnesses called for the company at last nights meeting which was ad- journed at II o'clock until 6 o'clock next Monday night.
 Under examination and croSs-ex- animation the witnesses testified as to the financial, technical and gem eral production phases of the U. s. Time Corp, under direct question: ing of the company attorney, W. w, Qager and were submitted to point cd questioning by the attorney for the townspeople, a resident of Mid dlebury himself, Francis J. McDon- ald.
 Financial Picture
 MT. Mcdonald, as cross examiner, endeavored to clarify tho company'S financial structure as to stockhold- CTS and share holdings and had even subpoenaed such records only to have been denied their access by company officials.
 Both Atty. Edward T. Carmody, secretary of the company, appearing as its principal witness and John M. Ivory, Vice-president and treas urer, testified there were l45 stock holders of the concern with Thomas Olson, chairman of the board con- troller of 5l per cent of the stock. Percentage of holdings in amounts Of 10, 3, ?, and shares were held by Waterbury residents. However officials declined to name all stock holders.
 Mir. Ivory testified as to what was termed the company's sound finan- cial position stating that there was Q working capital at this time of over $2,0O0,0OO; the working capital being the margin between liabilities and assets of the concern. No dividends have been paid to common stockholders by the com pany since its inception, 1t was brought out in roSs-eXaminatton by Atty. Mcdonald, although divi- dends had been paid to the pre- ferred holders consistently.
 Four army representatives were present last night two Of whom sub mitted to questioning as witnesses. Major. William II. BaSsett, chief of the ammunition branch of the Springfield Ordnance Department deprecated the alarm of residents of the town relative to the danger from possible explosions in the proposed magazine building the company seeks to build.
 Col. George Asnip, Frankfort, Ar. senal, Pa.. a crisp, precise speaker stated he was of the belief that only the U. s. Time Corp, could prop crly handle such urgently critical work as the combined assembly and loading of the fuses under ques- tion. He stated he was of the be- lief that no further delay should bc permitted in construction of the buildings inasmuch as ''one fuse made today is more valuable than 20OO two months from now"
 Sub-Let Contract
 The latter Statemiet brought forth the question from a town- resident If 1t would not be better under such conditions to let out the contract to company. compara- ble to the U. s. Time. with iacili- ties already established so that the two or three months period of con- struction here would not have to be met2
 Residents of Straits-Turnpikc on which the plant IS located displayed considerable concern as to the dan- gers of housing explosives in that area. John Beckley of the Austin engineering company testified that no more than enough powder which could be contained in a brief-case would be housed in the proposed magazine building which effected the question from Atty. Mcdonald as to why building with specifications calling for housing five tons Of ex- plosives was being requested. The only answer was that the Safety and Security division of the Army had drawn up the specifications.
 Atty. Mcdonald brought out that he had subpoenaed Joachim Lehm- kuhl of the company, but the papers were not delivered because Mir. Lehmkuhl was on "skiing" trip m Canada at this time. The latter was identified by MT Carmody as president of the company, who could be replaced should he leave this country. MT. Ivory was identified as second in charge to MT. Lehmkuhl, The ability of the plant to safely care for any industrial sewage which might be incurred was eX- plained by John E. Harrigan. plant facility engineer, and Donald A. Hilliard. industrial engineer. Will liam Vanderhaut. engineer of the Austin Co.,, Lexington. Mass. tes- tified that the fuse loading plant would be non-combustible. and that architectural plans of the present plant show that a second-fioor ad- diti0n was intended when the plans were drawn. John Beckley. engi- neer of the Austin Co.,, also backed the contention that the magazines would not create a hazard.
 Adequate Water Supply
 The fact that the company has sufficient water supplies to cope with any possible fire was brought out in testimony by Hubert E. Stoddard. engineer of the stephen B. Church Co.,. Seymour.
 Members of the zoning board of appeals before whom the testimony was given last night were: W. P. Ferguson. chairman; Robert c. Fenn. Charles Delaney, Lawrence Duryee. Mrs. Charles Harper and Charles Delaney. Atty. J. Warren Upson was present as counsel for the board.
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