agree with the act of the Council in offering Dissenting members 3s. as a fee while the church minister was paid at the rate of 7/6. The motion being put, after Ald. Ginners reply, it was negatived by nine to five. (See page 63 for a solution of the difficulty).
Sale and Gas Act
At the meeting on January 6th, the Clerk, having explained that the preliminaries required by the Act for regulating measures for the Sale of Gas had been carried out, its adoption was agreed to, and referred to the Roads and Lighting Committee. On the 6th of April this committee reported that in consequence of the imperfect working of the Act and by the advice of the Lords of the Treasury, they recommended the Board to defer the appointment of an Inspector. The recommendation was adopted. On the 4th of May the Clerk stated that he had received a letter that morning to the effect that no alteration was likely to be made either in the list of things required or the prices, except in the official stamp, which was under consideration by the Lords of the Treasury.
Gas or Air-shafts, which?
No more was heard that year about appointing a gas inspector, but the gas itself appeared to have got into bad odour in a double sense. At the November meeting, the Inspector of Nuisances said that having had his attention drawn to the bad effluvia in the Priory Valley, he had visited the Gas Works, and there found everything well and cleanly kept. His opinion was that the bad smells came from the shafts of the drainage culvert, of which there were 12; also that the old course of the Priory stream was in a foul codition(sic). Acting on this report , it was resolved that several of the air-shafts should be closed, and that the owners of property abutting on the stream between the Gas Works and Goods station road (now Station road) should be requested to cleanse the portions that bounded their property. This did not, however remove Coun. Picknell’s belief, which he had expressed at a previous meeting, that the odours arose from the Gas Works. Coun. Howell coincided in this opinion, and stated that since he mentioned the subject he had received complaints from the inhabitants of the Long Fields [St. Mary’s Terrace], who said they frequently experienced the same unpleasant smell. He would like to know whether the Gas Company had room to cool their coke without throwing water over it. He was convinced that the smell was that of coke vapour, and he hoped the Gas Company would endeavour to find a remedy.
Sale of Ashes.
At the meeting on the 6th of January, the Roads’ Committee recommended that Mr. Mitchell’s tender of £10 12s per 1000 bushels of ashes be accepted, and this recommendation was adopted.
