to try an experiment with a mixture of stone and flint. Application granted.
The Sea-Wall. The surveyor having prepared plans for raising the sea-wall at Stratford place and White-rock place, at an estimate of £83, wished the tenders to come in at once, as the work would facilitate his operations on the road. Coun. Williams and Coun. Harvey objected to the Surveyor’s application as being out of order. Coun. Rock deemed it necessary for the matter to go before a committee, as part of the parade belonged to the Crown. Motion carried accordingly.
The Market Hall. — Mr. James Ives having tendered £197 11s. for the hire of the Market, and Mr. Saunders, the previous lessee, £190, the latter was accepted. Mr. Ives being a Liberal in politics the rejection of his — the highest — tender, was afterwards a sore subject with those in the Council who professed the same views.
Duke of Wellington’s Death. — On the demise of the Duke, as Lord Warden, on the 14th of September, the Council held a meeting, at which a desire was expressed to pay every possible respect to the memory of the illustrious deceased, and it was suggested that a meeting of the Ports should be held. That no time might be lost, the Mayor at once drove over to Rye to see the Mayor (Mr. E. S. Banks), who being Speaker that year, had the power of calling the Ports together. On the request being made, the Mayor of Rye positively refused to do so, saying he was not aware of his being Speaker, or if he was, he should not write or give himself any trouble about the matter; “and so you have got your answer; some people think it an honour to be Mayor, but I don’t; it has been thrust upon me. The Duke was a very good man, I dare say; he is dead now, so why make any fuss? Let them bury him; I know what these undertakings are”. The Mayor of Hastings (Mr. Hickes) said he came not as a private individual, but as Mayor of the Chief port, to request the Speaker to do his duty. The reply was “If I refuse, what then?”
The Mayor’s Report. — At a special meeting of the Council on the 1st of October, the Clerk read a report from the Mayor, officially announcing the death of the Lord Warden as a national calamity. As Mayor of the Premier Port he went to Rye with Coun. Ross on the 17th ult., to request the Speaker to call a meeting of the Ports for considering what course the latter should pursue. But the Speaker refused to assert his authority or otherwise to interfere. On the day after, the Mayor of Romney, with Mr. Stringer, the Cinque Ports Solicitor, waited upon the Town Clerk of Rye (Mr. Dawes), who told them that Rye would take no active part in the matter. It was then arranged at Rye that the Solicitor should go to London to obtain an interview with Lord Derby. The Mayor of Romney and the Solicitor then came on to Hastings and saw the Town Clerk, who considered it advisable that the Solicitor should proceed on a mission to Lord Derby if the Speaker would not take any active part in the matter. The Mayor of Romney then returned to Rye, when the Speaker -
