THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1910, 4 December 1874, Page 3

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the Thames Borough Council was held last evening, at the chambers. Present—His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Ehrenfried, Brown, Wilson, Anthony, Butt. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

Valuations : ispoied,—The following letter was then readJ. E. Macdonald, Nsq., Grahamstown. My dear sir,— Your favour of the 25th, re the rating by the Thames Borough Council, I received this morning, and have since consulted with the directory of tho various companies thereon. 1 am instructed to inform you, in the event of the Borough Council refusing to further reduce the assessment, to let the mutter bo decided by the Court. They think that tho limit to which you were instructed by telegram to consent to, very much in excess of what they should in fairness bo rated at, and it was only agreed to that an appeal to tho Court might be avoided. With reference to the assessment of the Imperial Crown and Caledonian mines, the respective directories think that large reductions should be made. _ In regard to the Imperial Crown, is it right that both those who have built on tho surface and the company should be rated for tho. same ground?—l am, &c., Ciiauus Totem,." Mr lihrenl'ried said lie thought they ought not to submit to any further reduction. The Council ought to know their position He would move that the cases should bo allowed to go to Court.—Mr Butt said the Council had met tho companies in a spirit of fairness and jusiice The assessors had valued theno batteries at the same rate as tho others on the (ieid, and if they confuted to further reiiucLioaa they would have to make reductions on the whole of l ho batteries in proporUqiu Xkey IwdbeUsdet IM iMta go

•o Court, and allow the Eesident Magis[rate to tako the responsibility of deciding. They had consented to make reductions, in order to avoid going to Court, and he thought the companies ought to have met them.-Mr Butt said bethought the Council should stand on therato as made, as the offer to reduce had been made without prejudice, Ihey had, he thought, gone as far as could reasonably _be expected. It would not be fair to the other butteries or to the ratepayers, or to those who were lending them money, if they made any further reductions.—Mr Ehrenfried ■iaid an impression had got abroad that I lie Council had to deal with men who could do very much what they liked in this country. It would be well for them io, see their position.-Mr Brown said that not a single local battery owner had appealed against the rate.-Mr Butt said he bad no personal feeling. He did not know who owned those batteries.—Mr Ehrenfried said the companies had dealt with them in'apparently tho same spirit as the Imperial Crown, had shown with reference to the water, and seemingly tlicy wished to dictate what the Council were to do.—lt was then agreed to unanimously, that the Council should inform the solicitor f"r the companies that they could not, in justice and fairness, reduco the rates any further.—The Council then adjourned. [Ihe following were the original assessments on the companies, and the amounts which tho Council wero willing to reduco to: — Caledonian Gr.M.C.,original assessment, £1,300-offered to be reduced to £936; Imperial Crown, £850—£676; Golden Crown, £625— £416;. Kuranui, £1,086 -£'780; on the engine-house of Tookey G.M. Co,', £400 to £300; and of the United Pumping Association-, £,1460 to £800.]