to be attached to so handsome a room in association with the purposes to which it would be applied. — Mr. T. Edwards in seconding the proposal did not see that that part of the town should be so generous as to let every good thing go from the east end to the west end of the town. Presumably, Mr. Edwards was in sympathy with himself, he having a business within a short distance from the new Market room; albeit, some years later, he, too, followed the western current of commerce. After some discussion and not a little badinage, the motion was carried.
At an adjourned meeting on April 14, it was reported that the new entrance will be 8 feet wide and consist of one flight of seven stone steps and one flight of sixteen steps, at an estimated cost of £200. The upper part of the adjoining house would be added to the next house, for which Mr. Burrell was willing to pay extra rent. Mr. West, of the Anchor, was also willing to pay rent for the Market-room at the rate of 5 per cent. on the outlay up to £600. The report was adopted.
Tenders, etc. At the next meetings tenders for the new entrance were received, and the lowest in each case was accepted, the sums being as follows: — William Manser for plastering £20; B. & H. Tree, for carpentering, £77; Fredk. White, for bricklaying, £43 10s.; Burchill and Welch, for mason’s work, £17 10s.; Joseph Brown, for painting £35 18s.; total £194 — thus six pounds below Mr. Inskipp’s estimate. The meeting adjourned to next day.
A Warning. — At the adjourned meeting on May 6th, it being known that Mrs. Kent had not moved out of the house required for the alterations, as requested, a distress warrant for £14 rent was served on her, with the proviso, that she might go, with all her goods, if she would, but the if she remained over one day her goods would be seized.
Danger. — The committee appointed the preceding evening to examine a portion of wall said to be in a dangerous state, recommended the wall to be rebuilt at a cost of £20. As against this recommendation Mr. Vidler — whose idiosyncracy was to differ from his fellows — declared that if he lived till the wall fell down, he should live longer than any man in Hastings. It was the greatest piece of humbug he ever heard of, and was only a scheme for drawing money out of people’s pockets. It even beat Aesop’s fables hollow. They had got their foot into it, and like the fox, they would soon get their body in. He was only surprised they did not want to pull the room down [several voices “We do!”]. Mr. Standen said the wall had sunk several inches, and was in a very dangerous state. This being confirmed by the architect, it was decided to rebuild the wall. But at a meeting on the 15th of May, the resolution to the rebuild the weakened south wall of the Market was rescinded, and a resolution was passed instead to reconstruct the old room so as to make it unite with the new one, thereby raising the roof of the Meat Market beneath to the level of the Fruit-market roof, the expense being roughly estimated at £150.
