question of increasing salaries was becoming a serious one; for, lately they had an increase applied for almost every month. To this there was a general exclamation of Hear, Hear!
A New Town Hall: to Seek for a Site. In the debate on this question the pros and cons are given at greater length than those in some other matters – firstly, because some historical points were introduced; and, secondly, because the advocates for the retention of the old Hall in High street were all (with one exception) tradesmen who lived within a short distance of the same, and two or three of them close to it. That one fact speaks for itself without further comment. The same persons had opposed the removal of the beggarly Post Office from George street to more convenient premises westward of the old site.
Coun. Howell said he had placed this entry on record in consequence of what occurred at the previous meeting. He could see that the sites for such a building were being fast filled up, and that if the borough continued to increase as it had done during the last few years and the most eligible sites were built upon, the Council would have to purchase a site at great cost; whilst if selected now it might be obtained on low terms. A Town Hall was built on the site of the present one in 1700, and that time it was placed where it should be, in the centre of the borough. Thirteen years after that, it was on record that the population was 1638; and, as a matter of course, the rateable value of the property must have been very small. That hall was pulled down and the present one was built in 1823. The number of inhabitants had increased round the centre of the town, which had only extended itself slightly towards the west, and not to the great distance it had now. In 1823 the population was 6,051, and the existing building might have been adequate to the requirements of the then size of the borough; but since that time the borough had largely and materially increased in a particular direction. In fact, the inhabitants and business of the borough had been going west. The present Hall, too, was quite inadequate for the business of Justice. The magistrates had no convenience for retiring, and there was not a room where the business of a grand jury could be carried on in a fair manner. Such being the case he thought the time had arrived for them to consider whether a site for a new Town Hall should not be selected. All improvements hitherto had so benefitted the borough that property had increased twenty per cent in value. If, therefore, the borough were continually improved, the place would become more known and more appreciated. He estimated the present population at 25,000, and the newer inhabitants were residing far westward of the present Town Hall; in fact, the bulk of them were in dwellings from a mile to a mile and a half distant. It was not fair that when they had business with magistrates or officers of the borough, they should be obliged to -
