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 , V-'j-iwcxx 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CAN 
 
 I O 39.5 
 .HIT 
 
 On the sul 
 Halifax has lal 
 Council, and tc 
 tend to justify 
 is accustomed 1 
 slanders of son 
 tent that numl: 
 and whose jud 
 be3leard, have 
 which bears up 
 is mor^ particu 
 
 Origin of th 
 
 Nine or ten ^ 
 cussed the prop 
 City Court Hoi 
 venience to the 
 improvement w 
 that the questic 
 should be mad 
 money to erect 
 live or six year; 
 to the Legislati 
 in the House c 
 debate and div 
 tlio rules of the 
 ruary 1872, wh 
 plan of a City 1 
 Seeton moved a 
 the Imperial ai 
 City Hall. Thi 
 the sam(} montl 
 tioii ibr estabiifc 
 
 .'■'' 
 *< / 
 
 
 ;^ 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 V 
 
J 
 
 . .ii . s> ^ ^■- 
 
 ^ 
 
 -f- 
 
 
 /^^ 
 
 TO THE 
 
 RATE-PAYERS OF HALIFAX. 
 
 On the subject of the proposed City Hall the Press of 
 Halifax hgis laboured assiduously to misrepresent the City 
 Council, and to conceal from the public all the facts which 
 tend to justify the resolutions of that body. The Council 
 is accustomed to misrepresentation, but in this instance the 
 slanders of some of the City papers have been so persis- 
 tent that numbers of citizens, whose opinions wc respect; 
 and whose judgment is in suspense [until both sides shall 
 be^leard, have requested us to publish all the information 
 which bears upon the subject. To such citizens this paper 
 is more^ particularly addressed. 
 
 Origin of the scheme for a City Hall in Halifax. 
 
 Nino or ten years ago", the City Council of that period dis- 
 cussed the propriety of altering the whole interior of the 
 City Court House, with a view to giving more room and con- 
 venience to the City departments. 'The necessity for such an 
 improvement was felt on all sides, but it was finally agreed 
 that the question should be postponed, and that application 
 should be made to the Legislature for power to bon'ow 
 money to erect a City Hall. The subject then dropped, but 
 live (jr six years ago the Council took it up again and sent 
 to the Legislature a bill for the purpose. The bill was lost 
 in the House of Assembly — not, (its friends assert), upon 
 debate and division— but by another process imknown to 
 the rules of the House. The project was next revived in Feb- 
 ruary 1872, when a committee Avere instructed to have a 
 plan of a City Hall prepared. In the following month Aid. 
 Seeton moved a resolution having in view the purchase from 
 the Imperial authorities of the Fuel Yard, as a site for a 
 City Hall. This proposal was not carried out, but during 
 the same month Aid. Nisbet submitted a plan and resolu* 
 tiofi for establishing a City Hall by remodelling , 
 
 
— 2— 
 
 The Market House. 
 
 This proposition was rejected by a vote of 7 to 4 — the prin- 
 cipal objection being to the site. Some citizens have lately 
 advocated that site on the grourd that it is almost unused 
 as a market and would cost the city nothing. The facts are 
 these. There is a debt on the Market House property of 
 about $10,000, being a balance due on the cost of the build- 
 ing. This sum is secured by debentures which form a 
 charge on the property, and muct therefore be paid off if the 
 the property is to be used for any other purposes, and the 
 law i)rovides that they shall be paid off by the accumula- 
 tion of the rents of the building. We begin then with 
 the fact that the Market House site would cost $10,000. 
 The public have been told that the property is entirely 
 unproductive in its present shape, but the fact is that the 
 Market House now yields in rents $1,200 per annum, 
 and that on the day when the Legislature allows the 
 main building to be used for other than market purposes it 
 will yield in rents at least $2,200 per annum. But before 
 an inch of that property can be used for City Hall purposes 
 an act of the Legislature must be obtained to sanction the 
 change. Those who know best the feeling of the Legisla- 
 tuxc on such questions, believe that the application would 
 be futile. Some years ago the City Council made repeated 
 efforts to get an Act passed to put down the nuisance caused 
 by hay and other country produce being vended in the 
 streets, and the bills were indignantly thrown out, find the 
 Council were told — not that the market property could be 
 sold or used for other purposes, but that the scantiness of 
 market itccommodation of all kinds was discreditable to the 
 city, and that the present market property should be impro- 
 ved and added to as quickly as possible, as a matter of jus- 
 tice to the country people, whose representatives had the 
 controlling voice in the Legislature. So strong has the feel- 
 ing been in the Legislature on this question, that the Coun- 
 cil has not ventured to ask leave to hii'e out the main build- 
 ing, although by having such power they could add at least 
 $1,000 a year to the City revenues. The plan of Aid. Nisbet 
 was further stated to be objectionable, because it proposed 
 to raise and enlarge the present building, which had been 
 pronounced on examination by competent architects imable 
 to support the added weight which would thus be placed on 
 its walls. Another suggestion made in connection with this 
 site is that the present City building should be torn down, 
 the remainder of tlie triangle on which it stands be puicha- 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
—3— 
 
 
 A' 
 
 seel, the building on that part likewise destroyed, and the 
 whole block kept as an open square. However desirable 
 these improvements might seem under some circumstances 
 the fact that an outlay of about $70,000 must be entailed 
 before the first stone of the City Hall could be laid, would 
 seem to be rather a strong objection to the scheme. So 
 much for the Market House site and the action of the Coun- 
 cil on that proposition in 1872. 
 
 In the early part of the present year at the instance of 
 Aid. Seeton, a biU was prepared an«l sent to the Legislature 
 to authorize the trection of a City Hall. It was supported 
 by a large majority of the Council, and a committee was 
 sent to take charge of the bill and give information in its 
 })assage through the Legislature. That committee attended 
 at numerous debates before committees of both Houses, 
 which debates were attended, and partly conducted, by out- 
 si le citizens, who took an interest in the question. Secresy 
 was avoided, the discussions were reported, examination was 
 invited, and members of the Council were- anxious that the 
 public should not only have full information on the subject 
 but should make known their views clearly before the Council 
 should come to take the important steps of borrowing the 
 money, selecting a site, and proceeding with the work. At 
 this point we take the opportunity of st«ifcing succinctly 
 
 The Demands for a City Hall. 
 
 The present City Building was originally the County 
 Court House of Halifax. It was occupied by the County, 
 as well as the City officials, until the Court House on Spring 
 Garden Read was erected. It has been at least fifty years 
 in use. Its repairs cost the city a large sum periodically. 
 
 The accommodations for the City Clerk, who (is one ofthe 
 principal officers of the Corporation, are so inadequate that 
 the Aldermen, find it very inconvenient to get their business 
 transacted with his department — the Mayor's office is unsuit- 
 able and inconvenient, and the whole building, in a sanitary 
 point of view, is so unfit for constant .occupation, that the 
 health of some of the City officials has been seriously im- 
 paired, and competent and impartial physicians have pro- 
 nounced it totally 'unfit for public offices. This testimony 
 was given by Doctors Moren, Farrel, and Wickwire before a 
 committee of the Legislative Council. Add to these cir- 
 cumstances the following facts : The City building gives no 
 accommodation for the Board of Works, who have to hold 
 about seventy meetings in course of a year and require a 
 
4— 
 
 place of meeting, in whicli their officers are within call, and 
 where their plans and correspondence will ha accessible. It 
 lias no room for thy City Engineer, the Foreman of Works, 
 the Clerk of Works, the Assistant Clerk of Works, or the 
 two Health Inspectors. The Board of Works and all these 
 officers are, excepting the Engineer, now huddled up in an 
 old house in Argyle Street, for which the City pays a rent 
 of five hundred dollars per annum. The Engineer occupies 
 an office, (or what might more properly be called an old 
 woodhouae), in the backyard, and in that ' office" alone are 
 deposited plans and records which have cost the citizens of 
 Halifax thousands of dollar?*, every one of which plans and 
 records must in all human probability be destroyed in case 
 of fire breaking out in the vicinity. The City building has 
 no room for the Commissioners (;f Schools, their >Secrotar}- 
 or Supervisor, who have all to be provided for in a building 
 in George Street, at a cost to the City of tw-o hundred and 
 forty dollars per annum. It has no accomm )dation for the 
 Gastester, who used to have an office in the basement, but 
 who had to remove to make room for })olice cells and who 
 has now to be provided for outside, at a cost in rent of a 
 hundred dollars per annum. It has no room for the Citi- 
 zens' Free Library, for which apartments have to be fur- 
 nished outside at a cost of thi'ee hundred dollars per annum. 
 It has no room for the City Auditor, who is soon to be ap- 
 pointed — an officer who should at all times be at headquar- 
 ters, but must find offices outside at a probable cost of two 
 hundred dollars per annum. It wiU, in a few days, have no 
 room for the Recorder, as the Treasurer's department will 
 shortly require the office now used by him, and here is 
 another office to be found, probably at a cost of two hun- 
 dred dollars more per annum, to say nothing of the incon- 
 venience of having located outside of the building an officer 
 who is frequently wanted for consultation at a moment's no- 
 tice by the Mayor, the Committees, and the City Officers. 
 Nor is there any accommodation at all for the Inspectors of 
 Weights and Measures, the Measurers of Coal, the Weighers 
 of Flour, and other Inspectors who are frequently required 
 at a moment's notice, and who must now be sought at their 
 houses or on the streets. It may further be urged that if 
 accommodation could be found in a City Hall for all these 
 departments, the buildings which the City now hires for 
 them would become at once subject to taxation, from which 
 they are now exempt, and would yield to the city in iaxea 
 about a hundred and fifty dollars per amium which is now 
 lost to the Treasury^ It is only fair to add to these figures 
 
 
I 
 
 pjiother hnndrod and fifty dollars per annum, paid for the 
 use of Teni])«Manct! Hall and the Rink, year alter yt'ar for 
 public meetings and school exhibitions, — this outlay would 
 l)e saved by having a public hall in the new City building, 
 as lias been contemplated. The friends of the project were 
 sanguine enough t(j believe that when to these figures were 
 added the j)!()l»abh receipts to be derived from the })ublic 
 hall or concert room, to say nothing of rents which might 
 or might not be derived from other portions of the Imilding, 
 a saving would be eft'ected (piite ecpial to the annual inter- 
 est on the cost of the undertaking. If such a jn'ediction l)e 
 too sanguine every one must at least admit that such (Ic- 
 mands as we have stated for a City Hall could hardly exist 
 in any other city (m the continent without the w(U'k of 
 construction being speedily undertaken. 
 
 These vie^vs were presented to the Legislature, and members 
 of that body examined the buildings now used for municipal 
 purposes. A strict examination was given to the whole subject, 
 the bill finally passed, but with an amendment preventing its 
 erection on 
 
 The Parade. 
 
 This amendment was strongly resisted by the Aldermen, a 
 majority of whom were anxious that the south end of the Parade 
 should be chosen as the site . They looked upon that as a com- 
 manding situation and one that would cost the city nothing. In 
 the Legist"** j Council however this view was strongly opposed 
 on the folio ng grounds : It was s*"ated that the title of the 
 City to this property was more than (juestionable, also that 
 when St. Paul's Street was laid off to its present width, a piece 
 of property owned by the Parish of St. Paul's, was given up on 
 the understanding that the Parade property should always be 
 kept open, and further that a City Hall erected on that site would 
 be an annoyance to the congregation of St. Paul's. These objec- 
 tions probably had weight with the Legislature, but independent- 
 ly of these views the Upper House was influenced by the great 
 consideration that the public health of the City, and above all 
 its safety in case of conflagration, required that every public 
 space now established should be kept open for all time to come. 
 These views are favored by many of our citizens, — they are to 
 some extent supported by the press, and it is impossible to con- 
 ceive any ground upon which the Legislature can be expected 
 to stultify itself by reversing this deliberate decision afc its next 
 session, when not a single argument can be advanced on either 
 side that has not been already fully weighed, and when the op- 
 
— 6— 
 
 position to the choice of that site has been largely increased 
 rather than lessened. 
 
 The Committee. 
 
 ■ . 
 
 The Bill to authorize the erection of a City Hall hav'ng thus 
 become law, tlie City Council after some weeks notice had been 
 given ot a resolution for that purpose, appointed a Committee 
 of one Alderman from each Ward to select a site for the Hall, 
 and to report thereon to the Council. The Committee consisted of 
 Aldermen Fraser, (Ward 1), Coombes, (Ward 2), Forsyth, 
 (Ward 3), Seeton, (Ward 4), Thompson, (Ward 5), a^id 
 Roomo, (Ward 0.) Aid. Coombes was appointed Chairman. 
 The Committee, according to the Chairman's statement to the 
 Council, held a number of meetings and considered carefully 
 the merits of every available site, whether actually offered to 
 the committee or not. In a matter of such importance the com- 
 mittee refrained from making any definite selection or reporting 
 positively in favor of any particular site. They merely sugges- 
 ted to the Council in their report that of all the sites which 
 had come under tlieir observation the most eligible were — the 
 site oft'ercd by B. W. Cochran, known as the Carlton 
 House property, the site offered by Jas. Farquhar, 
 known as tlie Board of Works property in Argylo Street, and 
 that offered by J. K. Jcnnctt, being the site subseijuently 
 chosen. About a week previous to this report being presen- 
 ted the Chairman was interrogated in Council as to the date at 
 which the committee would probably report, for instead of being 
 hasty in coming to a conclusion, ' their fellow members of 
 Council were inclined to think them tardy. The Chairman in 
 answer to this question foreshadowed the report fully, and an- 
 nounced that he would report finally at the following meeting. 
 This announcement gave the citizens an opportunity of knowing 
 that the business of selecting a site would be before the Council 
 at its next, meeting. .If the press did not give prominence to 
 the announcement, the Council can hardly be blamed for this 
 lack of interest — exhibited as it is on many other important 
 questions. It gave the Aldermen likewise an opportunity to 
 examine and consider the merits of the respective sites. 
 
 Selection op a Site. 
 
 On 15th July the Council met, and among the first papers 
 handed in was the report of the committee just referred to, 
 (See Appendix ). The opponents of the Council have made 
 a handle of the fact that at this meeting the subject was not on 
 
 iU 
 
increased 
 
 av'ng tlius 
 ! had been 
 !!ommitto0 
 
 the Hall, 
 msisted of 
 
 Forsjth, 
 
 •'>), ai.d J 
 liairman . 
 3nt to the '. 
 carefully , 
 offered to 
 
 the com- , 
 'eporting 
 ' sugges- 
 58 which 
 ere — the 
 
 Carlton 
 anjuhar, 
 ject, and ' 
 
 (juentlj 
 
 prescn- 
 
 date at 
 
 'f being 
 
 lers of 
 
 'man in 
 
 nd an- 
 |eeting. 
 
 lowing 
 
 'ouncil 
 
 I nee to 
 (or this 
 
 prtant 
 
 itj to 
 
 ipers 
 
 Mto, 
 
 lade 
 
 )t on 
 
 the order of the day. Tlic best answer to such an argument is 
 to state what the invariable practice of the Council has been for 
 years past. After the reading of the minutes, and before the 
 order of the day is taken up, papers arc handed in by the vari- 
 ous Aldermen — being petitions, resolutions and reports. Ihe pe- 
 titions are read and referred to the various committees, the 
 resolutions and reports are read, and if their subject matter is 
 urgent, or if there is no serious difference of opinion on them 
 among members of Council, they are discussed and voted on at 
 once, and before the Council goes to the order of the day. Only 
 such matters arc deferred, to take their place on the future order 
 of the day, as arc likely to cause a protracted discussion. The 
 order of the day is proceeded with when these new papers have 
 all been either despatched or laid over. On this occasion the re- 
 port was read and the (question arose whether it should be voted 
 on or deferred. The attention of the Council was called to the 
 fact that the Queen Street^appraisement had that day to be con- 
 firmed or rejected, and it was urged that as persons had been 
 summoned to attend the Council on that business, the appraise- 
 ment should be disposed of before anv other matter was con- 
 sidered. Accordingly a vote was aaopted to the elFect " that 
 this matter" (being the report of the City Hall Committee), "be 
 taken up next after the Queen Street appraisement." The ap- 
 praisement having been confirmed the report was again read, 
 and the question arose — should it be adopted or deferred? Ac- 
 cording to the established rule just stated, the report should have 
 been then voted on, unless a conflict of opinion on its merits ex- 
 isted. To settle the question Aid. Coombes moved " that the 
 report be adopted and that the Council do noAv proceed to select 
 one of the sites." He prefaced his motion Avith a most energetic 
 address, in which he stated it to be his desire to shew the oppo- 
 nents of the Hall that they could not defeat the project by crea- 
 ting a division of option as to the selection of a site, asserting 
 emphatically, that instead of having any intention of being fac- 
 tious in his opposition, in the event of his favorite site not being 
 selected, he would cordially co-operate with the majority and 
 would be glad to have "the first sod turned," or the first stone 
 of the building laid, "to-morrow, on any site that the Council 
 might choose." Aid. Power recommended delay, in order that 
 the whole Council might go and examine the sites in a body. To 
 this it was answered that that duty had been referred to a com- 
 mittee, and that the report embodied the results of their en- 
 ([uiry — also that nearly all the members of Council had already 
 examined the several sites reported on. Aid. Seeton spoke for 
 delay — not on his own account, because he was a member of the 
 committee that had made tho examination and report, but in 
 
— 8— 
 
 case other inombera of Council wore not ac((uainted with the 
 sites. As no one, however, expressed a wish to avail himself of 
 this offer of delay, or professed to be uninformed on the business 
 in hand, the objection was not pressed, and Aid. Coombes' mo- 
 tion was carried without dissent. The choice then lay in the 
 three properties mentioned. Mr. Cochran asked for his proper- 
 ty $42,000. 1 1 was an irregular block containing about 8600 
 square feet of land, measuring about 75 feet on Argyle Street, 
 141 i feet on Prince Street and 42 feet on Barrington Street. 
 Ilia otter was considered out of the (juestion, because on the day 
 when the report was presented tho wing wliich fronted on Bar- 
 rington Street had been disposed of, and the otter could not be 
 carried out even if accepted. The property ottered by James 
 Fari^uhar consisted of tAvo blocks of land : The Mott property 
 in Argyle Street 80 by 60 feet or thereabout, and the Grant 
 property in Argyle and Grafton streets 40 feet on Argyle 
 street, 86 feet or thereabouts on Grafton, street and 120 feet 
 deep. These two blocks Avere put in at $16,000 and $15,- 
 000 respectively, and contained about 11,440 st^uarc feet. 
 One peculiarity about this property was that tho block 
 offered to the City at $15,000, the City had under a lease, 
 with the right of purchasing at $10,000. The property was 
 entirely unsuitable, firstbecauseof its inconvenient shape, which 
 would make a very awkward style of building, next because it 
 was situated near a very large manufactory which caused an al- 
 most constant noise and vibration and increased .the risk of fire. 
 Aid. Coombes moved that Mr. Farquhar's oflfer be accepted , 
 but the motion was not seconded. The property ottered by Mr. 
 Jennett was really the only one on which the choice could fall, 
 and it was then unanimously accepted by the following 
 resolution, written at the table,and moved by Aid. Vaux — not 
 carefully prepared before-hand and drawn from his pocket, as 
 has been asserted by the inventors of the bogus stories about 
 "rings" and "jobs:" "Resolved that the City Council accept 
 the proposition of J. 11. Jennett, Esq., ottering his premises on 
 Lockman Street Extension and Poplar Grove for the sum of 
 $35,000, and that His Worship the Mayor be authorised to have 
 debentures issued, bearing interest at six per centum per an- 
 num for the purchase of the same, and that on the necessary 
 documents being completed such debentures be handed to J. R. 
 Jennett, 
 
 Esq. 
 
 The Jennett Site. 
 
 We ask the attention of the public now to a. few facts about 
 this site. It is a block ot land nearly square, containing nearly 
 
 
P" 
 
 WKKS 
 
 C(I with the 
 1 himself of 
 I'o business 
 ombes' mo- 
 Jay ill the 
 "3 proper - 
 bout 8G00 
 'la Street, 
 on Street. 
 )n the day 
 (i on liar- 
 Id not be 
 ^y James 
 property 
 be Grant 
 Argylo 
 120 feet 
 ul 115,- 
 rc feet. 
 J block 
 a lease, 
 "i'ty was 
 3, which 
 cause it 
 d an al- 
 : of fire, 
 ccpted, 
 by Mr. 
 lid fall, 
 llowing 
 X — not 
 ket, as 
 about 
 accept 
 ses on 
 am of 
 ) have 
 3r an- 
 sssary 
 
 
 ibout 
 larly 
 
 — 9— 
 
 18000 square feet fronting on Lockman Street Extension I24i- 
 feet — on Poplar Grove loO feet and extending in depth, between 
 the two about 150 feet. The price per foot of the three proper- 
 ties stood thus : 
 
 The Jonnett property about i*l .90 per foot. 
 
 TheFanjuhar " $2.70 
 
 The Cochran " $4.88 '' 
 
 The price per foot was less than half what was realized for 
 some properties a short distance to the southward not long be- 
 fore, and was no greater than the price asked and given for 
 properties half a mile farther north. The property was within 
 a hundred and sixty feet of Water Street, within two hundred 
 and ilfty feet of Jacob Street, and within forty feet of Temperance 
 Hall, which has generally been considered pretty central. It 
 was, as regards North and South, in the centre of the City as 
 nearly as that centre could be arrived at. The public have been 
 told that a building should not be located according to its distance 
 from " imaginary Hues," but it is something new to be told that 
 the boundaries of Halifax, are imaginary lines. They are the 
 natural, plainly defined limits of the Peninsula and the man who 
 •would locate such an edifice regardless of those limits — regard- 
 less of the northward and westward growth of the City, and 
 with a view only to the business centre of to-day, must be blind 
 to the evidence of the senses, and must forget that Halifax is to 
 have a future. Even as regards the present business centre, the 
 location is not inconvenient, nor farther removed than many of 
 the public buildings in other cities, although the public have 
 been told stories about the miraculously short space of time in 
 which some persons have, (according to their own account), 
 travelled between those buildings in American, ! Canadian and 
 English cities. If the argument should prevail that all the offices 
 of the Dominion and Local Governments, the Banks, the Mark- 
 ets, the Hotels, Telegraph office and City departments should 
 be concentrated within a stone's throw of each other, why should 
 they not all be collected in a single block V Or why is it that 
 such a rule has been discovered to be sound in Halifax alone ? It 
 is moreover something new to hear that the City building has any 
 necessary connection with the institutions just named, and ye<" 
 such are the objections invoked against the selection made by 
 the Council. Another objection is that the locality is obscure. 
 The obvious answer is that the main front of the building would 
 be on the greatest thoroughfare in Halifax, extending as it 
 does from end to end of the City, and travelled by almost every 
 person who comes by rail, or steamer to Halifax. It is true 
 that the Extension has not been rapidly built up since its open- 
 ing, but tliat is perhaps another reason why such a site should 
 
11 
 
 — 10— 
 
 bo chosen. The street costs the City for interest about $8000' 
 per annum, and it is desirable that the properties along its line 
 should be l3uilt up, in order that the Treasury may have a set- 
 off in the shape of rates and taxes. As regards the price of 
 the property, it has been stated that a year ago or more, it was 
 offered to a company at 5:^16,000. This is true only of a frac- 
 tion oi' the property — the site accepted by the City was never 
 offered in a single block before. While Mr. Jennett is the only 
 person known by the Council in the bargain, the Committee and 
 other members of Council, were aware that it embraced these 
 properties, viz. : 
 
 Mr. Jennett's original property which had cost 
 
 him about S?22,000 
 
 Mr. Tv. M. Harrington's property included in 
 Mr. Jennett's offer and which cost Mr. 
 Jennett $6,000 
 
 A portion of Mr. Jno. Woodill's property, cost- 
 ing Mr. Jennett -HOOO 
 
 A portion of Dr. Curran's property costing $2,000 
 
 .S34,000 
 Mr. Jennett further represented, that to obtain immediate pos- 
 session of all the houses let to tenants on these properties, would 
 require a considerable additional outlay. 
 
 This property having been accepted by the resolution above 
 given, the Mayor on his own responsibihty, caused the following 
 letter to be sent next day to Mr. Jennett, enclosing Aldermaa 
 Vaux's resolution : 
 
 *' Halifax, 16th July, 1874. 
 Sir, — 
 
 I have the honor to enclose you a copy of a resolution which 
 passed at a meeting of the City Council, held yesterday in ref- 
 erence to the purchase of property for a site for the new City 
 Hall. •! am Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed.) THOS. RHIND, City Clerk." 
 
 To J. E. Jennett, Esq." 
 
 It may here be added that by agreeing to pay for the prooer- 
 ty in debentures at par, bearing six per cent, interest, whilethe 
 Act aiithorised seven per cent, to be paid, the City was avoid- 
 ing anv losses by discount, brokerages, or high rates of interest 
 on this $35,000. 
 
 h 
 
—11— 
 
 Opposition to the Action of the Council. 
 
 On the clay following the action of the Council, the press 
 commenced to animadvert on the proceedings. The vote 
 was declared hasty — the site was pronounced useless — the 
 public were told that this matter had been sprung upon them— 
 several papers declared that the v/hole transaction Avas a job 
 in which the Aldermen had sold their votes, although the 
 writers and publishers knew in eveiy case, that these were 
 malicious slanders, and one of the papers afterwards gave, as a 
 tit-bit for its readers, (native invention having been exhaus- 
 ted), a story about the corruption of the Council which 
 appeared in a paper in another Province, although every per- 
 son connected with the paper copying it, knew that every 
 line and word of the story was false and made ou<^ of whole 
 cloth. The scandalous charges which have been made are 
 perhaps too base to notice, but once for all we make the 
 assertion — and challenge the slightest proof to the contrary 
 — that not a single member of the Council was interested 
 directly or indirectly to the extent of a single dollar in the 
 selection of the Jennett site. In a few days however, the 
 excitement fomented by the press took the shape of a requis- 
 ition to the Mayor, asking that a public meeting be convened 
 to test public opinion upon the "unanimous vote of the Coun- 
 cil in selecting the site for the City Hall." Although this 
 was a matter that immediately concerned his Council and 
 involved perhaps a censure on their proceedings, the Mayor 
 appointed and advertised the time and place of the meeting 
 at the instance of their opponents and without consulting a 
 single alderman. After the advertisement appeared soine of 
 the Aldermen were given to understand that the Mayor 
 would decline to preside at the Meeting, and thinking that 
 it was his duty to take the chair, and that the maintenance 
 of order and free discussion would probably depend on his 
 doing so, two of the Aldermen waited on him and request- 
 ed that he would call an informal meeting of the Aldermen 
 to consult upon this and other points, preparatory to the 
 meeting. Instead of doing so he summoned an ordinary 
 meeting of the City Council to be held on the day of the 
 meeting, the notice adding " in the Committee-room," but as 
 the law declares that the meetings of the Council shall be 
 public and as any secret action of the corporate body would 
 not only be unprecedented, but would be highly improper 
 at such a time, and be the subject of justly severe comment, 
 the Aldermen remained absent with two exceptions. They 
 attended the meeting however, in the evening, without being 
 
! 
 
 —12— 
 
 aware of what resolutions were to be moved against them — 
 what speakers were to occupy the platform, what limit would 
 be set to the speaking, or whether any but the opponents of 
 the Council would be allowed to speak. The meeting, as far 
 as its organization and arrangements went, was therefore in 
 the hands of our opponents, and the only wonder is that 
 greater unanimity did Hot exist among the speakers, and 
 prevail among the audience, who wei'e specially summoned 
 to condemn the City Council. The proceedings of the 
 meeting having been pretty accurately reported, it is un- 
 necessary for us to detail what was said and done. Suffice 
 it to say that the speakers o])posed to the action of the 
 Council, were almost Avithout a single exception, men who 
 were the declared opponents of any and every City Hall 
 scheme. 
 
 Those opinions evidently had a numerical preponderence in 
 the meeting, and, as a consequence, the only observations ad- 
 dressed to the real subject in hand — the choice of a site 
 and against the resolution of the City Council — consis- 
 ted in a few jocularities which would have been equal- 
 ly pleasing and successful if applied to any other locality in 
 the city. The principal objection urged then and since was 
 as to the "haste" of the Council in taking action. We have 
 already examined that question as viewed in the light o^ 
 the established practice of the Council. Let us now con- 
 sider whether the vote was hasty as regards the citizens at 
 large. The public had notice four months previous that the 
 Council had resolved to build a Hall. Step by step the 
 bill passed through that body, it was published in extenso, 
 it went to the House of Assembly, was debated there in 
 committee and in the House, it went to the Legislative 
 Council and was debated there still more carefully, it be- 
 came law and the Council acted on it by appointing a Com- 
 mittee to select a site, after a resolution which had laid on 
 the table for weeks. The Committee deliberated for nearly a 
 month, they announced that they would report at an early 
 day. All these proceedings were taken and were published 
 to the world in course of that four months, and not a single 
 man of the numbers who afterwards declared themselves 
 opposed to the City Hall project, raised his voice against 
 the scheme to protest against its being carried further or 
 took the trouble to send a petition to the Council or to the 
 Legislature to stivy action. A moderate editorial appeared 
 in one of the papers against '.t, but the article awakened no 
 response in the community, excepting a favorable one to the 
 project from another journal. The mouths of those who 
 
^mm 
 
 them — 
 
 b would 
 
 lents of 
 
 ^, as far 
 
 3fore in 
 
 is that 
 
 rs, and 
 
 inioned 
 
 of the 
 
 is un- 
 
 Suffice 
 
 of the 
 
 n who 
 
 ty Hall 
 
 rence in 
 ions ad- 
 a site 
 -consis- 
 equal- 
 ality in 
 nee was 
 Ve have 
 light o^ 
 ow eon- 
 iizens at 
 that the 
 step the 
 cxtenso, 
 there in 
 ^islative 
 y, it be- 
 : a Corn- 
 laid on 
 nearly a 
 an early 
 iiblished 
 a single 
 3mselves 
 against 
 rther or 
 )r to the 
 ippeared 
 ^ened no 
 ae to the 
 lose who 
 
 —13— 
 
 opposed the building of a Hall should therefore be forever 
 closed on the subject of "hasty action." Those who object 
 to the selection of the site, and to that alone, have been ans- 
 wered by the remarks already made, which shew that in 
 our judgment the site was a good one, and that to have 
 selected either of the other two v.ould have been madness. 
 Of course there are some citizens who have joined the out- 
 cry against the Council from motives of self-interest more 
 or less direct — some having sites to offer, some having friends 
 with sites to offer, others anxious to see the City Hall near 
 their own properties, and if the Council, after the convic- 
 tions of every one of its members had been satisfied as to 
 the action which should be taken, and after having waited 
 four or five months t<j see whether opposition was to be of- 
 fered to the project or not, had delayed until the clamours 
 of interested persons should be heard, the business might as 
 well have been indefinitely postponed. The press however 
 rese nt the action of the Council on another ground, viz., that 
 its editors should have been consulted and their advo- 
 cacy sought before the final vote. This requirement we 
 think is new in history. If our votes be commendable we 
 have a right to expect the manly approbation of the press, — 
 if they are wrong we expect censure for some better reason 
 than that a ring of Aldermen and Editors was not formed 
 to work up the scheme and carry it at all hazards. 
 
 Results of the Meeting. 
 
 The Council was convened soon after the meeting in Tem- 
 perance Hall, and a change of base was manifested on the 
 part of some members, a resolution being tabled by way of 
 notice, to defer all further action " on the construction of the 
 edifice," until authority could be had from the Legislature 
 to put the building on the Parade, or Market Square — or in 
 other words — indefinitely. At the next meeting this resolu- 
 tion came up for debate. It was supported by Alderman 
 Coombes, notwithstanding his language on the adoption of 
 the report, and also by Aldennen Seeton, Forsyth and Fraser 
 who had been on the Committee also, and by Alderman 
 Coleman, and Alderman Connolly who had been absent 
 previously. An amendment endorsing the previous action 
 of the Council and giving the reasons therefor, much 
 as they have been given above, was supported by Aldermen 
 Smith, Ackhurst, Power, Ellis, Graham, Thompson, Roome 
 and Vaux, and therefore carried. 
 
 Notice of reconsideration was given. 
 
!.?-= 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 —14— 
 
 This vote has been denounced as a bold disregard of pub- 
 lic opinion, as enunciated in the press and at the public 
 meeting. There is not a man of the majority who is dis- 
 posed to disregard public opinion — to undervalue the influ- 
 ence of the press, or to set himself up as superior to the 
 opinions of his constituents, but let it be distinctly under- 
 stood, as we have just fuUy illustrated, that after ample time 
 had been given for the public to speak, no opposition was 
 heard — no opposition, at any rate, which could be considered 
 a manifestation of popular opinion, until -^fter the Council 
 had adopted a site and made a 'plain lur'ttten contract which 
 any man of business lienor and integ'nty ivould have been 
 bound in conmieiice and in law to carry out. After that 
 had been done we were peremptorily called on to reverse 
 our vote, allow the honor of the Council as a contracting 
 party to be forfeited, submit to be disgi-aced as no honest 
 merchant would allow himself to be for any amount of wealth 
 — and why? Becaiuse our proceed lufjs tvere unpojyular. Not 
 a single member of the Council who had reversed his vote, 
 cor^d assert that his own opinions were changed as regards 
 the merits of the (question, or that anything had come to 
 light in connection with the pro])erty or its price which had 
 not been previously fully understood. If, in spite of its un- 
 popularity, we have stood by a Contract which bound the 
 honor and the public credit of those whom we represented, 
 and which had been made without their previous dissent, 
 and in relation to which we had their authority to act, and 
 have thereby forfeited the esteem of the press and the con- 
 iidence of some of our constituents, we shall regret the con- 
 sequences, but we feel sure that when the cool judgment of 
 the comnmnity is passed upon the question, and after the 
 excitement of the elections which, we are told, will turn on 
 this issue, the majority of the people of Halifax, and our suc- 
 cessors in office, will feel that the stand which we have 
 taken is the right one. Such a view has already been ex- 
 pressed as regards the action of the Council a few months 
 since on a question in which we, were not bound up by votes, 
 records and contracts as we were in this case. While alluding 
 to the action of the Council on tliat question, (the question 
 of Education), one of the city journals has expressed regret 
 that a Council which had manifested liberality and capacity 
 should have " turned the knife to its own bosom," as it is 
 insinuated we have done, by our action on the City Hall 
 question, and we are assured that we cannot blame either 
 the press or the citizens if our blood shall be, (politically), 
 shed. As that paper has in this discussion been one of the 
 

 —15— 
 
 most fluent in the charges of jobbery and corruption, 
 we may be excused for reminding the public that it is not 
 an uncommon trick for the assasin to pretend that his vic- 
 tim has been a felo de se. 
 
 At the next following meeting of Council, the motion to 
 re-consider was voted down, and then followed, by tacit per- 
 mission of the Council the delivery of 
 
 The Mayor's Manifesto. 
 
 Mayor Sinclair had presided when the Jennett site was 
 . accepted and when the report of the Committe had been 
 adopted. He made no remonstrance against the resolution 
 authorising him to sig-n the debentures, although he might 
 have done so under the rules of the Council when one of 
 the Aldermen asked for delay. The next day he sent 
 the letter to Mr. Jennett without solicitation, and de- 
 claring that he did not care for outside opposition. When 
 Mr. Jennett sent the draft of his Deed to him, he did not 
 present it to the Council as he might have done, and ask 
 the Council to proceed no further, but he passed the Deed 
 over to the Recorder to have the title examined and repor- 
 ted on. Now let us see what are the merits of the mani- 
 festo, prepared for him, it is said, by two counsel and deliv- 
 ered at the eleventh hour — after the popular breeze had 
 sprung up. The Mayor first deals with certain legal difft- 
 culties which he sees in the way. He states that " grave 
 doubts exist as regards the construction of the Act, in refer- 
 ence to the right of the Council to purchase a site." He 
 solves the doubt by deciding that the Legislature meant 
 that the whole sum of S100,()()() be devoted exclusively 
 to the erection of the building. If he thinks that it was 
 intended to put u|) a building of that substantial character 
 without a spot of land to put it on, he must either be fol- 
 lowing some new system of mathematics or be persuaded 
 that the Legislature is doing so. Even if the occupant of 
 the city chair were a lawyer, it would be a matter of veiy 
 doubtful policy for him to pronounce upon such a matter, 
 without having the opinion of the responsible law adviser 
 of the City, or of some other professional man, whose disin- 
 terested opinion the whole Council could hear and act upon, 
 but it is doubly objectionable for a layman in that chair to 
 .attempt to construe an act of Parliament, upon which to use 
 his own language "grave doubts exist." If Mr. Sinclair had 
 ,a professional opinion, he should have jwoduced it when he 
 was asked, and allowed the public to judge whether or not 
 
M t 
 
 m 
 
 \i mI 
 
 if 
 
 1. 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 : 
 
 —16— 
 
 the source whence it come was trustwoi'thy. Ho was asked 
 that ciuestion and evaded it, but more of that hereafter. 
 The !3klayor says that if it was intended to authorize the 
 Council to purchase a site,thebill would have placed some limit 
 on the amount to be expended for that purj^ose. This is a 
 very plain oioii neqiiitur. He then goes on to say that the 
 words " on such site as the Council may hereafter approve," 
 are to be read " on such site now owned by the city " kc. 
 Now let us see whether Mayor Sinclair wrote like a man of 
 good sense or not, when he put that construction on the Act. 
 The city owns, we will assume, the site of the present build- 
 ing, — ^the Legislature did not mean that we should put the 
 Hall there, because it gave us special leave to sell it. Nor 
 did it mean that we should use the Parade, because that was 
 expressly forbidden — nor the Market Square, because that 
 is bound up for a particular use by act of Parliament, and 
 by a burden of debentures — nor the Fish Market, surely, nor 
 the City Wharf properties, because they are granted on con- 
 dition that we shall keep them free and open forever, nor 
 the Prison property, because that is bound up like the 
 Market property, even if it were not open to the objection 
 sometimes urged against the Jennett site of being "too far 
 nortli;" — nor the City Hospital lands, becaiise after we had 
 built on and improved that property it was all taken from 
 us and given to some of the gentlemen with whom Mayor 
 Sinclair is co-operating in this business, leaving the City 
 only the debt to pay. Nor did the Legislature mean the 
 Common, because it requires an act of Parliament to enable 
 us to use a foot of land there, and even then our right might- 
 be questioned. There is therefore no city property on which 
 the Legislature could have intended that we should put the 
 building, unless it be the marine esplanade at Freshwater 
 Bridge. Now Mayor Sinclair either thinks that the Legis- 
 lature intended that the City Hall should be put there, or 
 he wrote nonsense, and read it to his Council. He naturallv 
 felt dismayed after grappling alone with these grave doubts, 
 but assured us that he became strengthened when he remem- 
 bered that it was imiversally admitted that the balance of 
 the $10(),0()(), viz $65,000 was entirely inadequate to erect 
 such a building as that contemplated. In the first place 
 nothing of the kind is '• universally admitted," but even if 
 it were, it is childish to talk of construing an act of Parlia- 
 ment by any such assumption — nay, it is worse, it is a 
 deliberate attempt en the part of Mr. Sinclair to mislead the 
 citizens, because he conceals from them the fact that the 
 City Hall act gives power to the Council to sell the old build- 
 
—17— 
 
 •i asked 
 reafter. 
 ize the 
 le limit 
 lis is a 
 hat the 
 prove," 
 y"&c. 
 man of 
 .he Act. 
 i build— 
 mi the 
 Nor 
 lat was 
 ise that 
 nt, and 
 jly, nor 
 on con- 
 ifer, nor 
 ike the 
 3Jection 
 too far 
 Ve had 
 en from 
 Mayor 
 he City 
 ean the 
 ) enable 
 t might ■ 
 1 which 
 put the 
 iliwater 
 3 Legis- 
 here, or 
 irturallv 
 doubts, 
 remem- 
 ance of 
 bo erect 
 t place 
 even if 
 Parlia- 
 it is a 
 lead the 
 ;hat the 
 I build- 
 
 thus enabling us to realize from that source, all that we ex- 
 pend for the purchase of a site, leaving the $100,000 intact 
 for the erection of the building, and dissipating all the cob- 
 webs with which Mr. Sinclair has sought to sur- 
 round the question. His objections to impairing the credit of 
 the city by an issue of $35,000 of debentures are too flimsy 
 to be sincere, and should, at any rate, have been thought of 
 before the Act was passed to authorise their issue. His in- 
 sinuation that there was unusual haste in adopting the re- 
 poii/ of the Committee was unfounded, as we have shown, 
 and was an accusation against himself rather than against 
 his Council. The rules of the Council prevent unusual 
 haste, — if he adhered to those rules his insinuation is a very 
 discreditable one, — if we violated them it could only be by 
 his pennission, as Chairman, and in contravention of his oath 
 of office. The Mayor, upon the gi'ounds which we have just 
 reviewed, declines to carry out the vote of the Council on 
 the report of the Committee, and he declares that he does 
 so by his prerogative as Mayor. A man so clever in dealing 
 with quibbles as to suiTound a plain Act of Pai'liamenfc with 
 obscurities should have favored the public with some author- 
 ity to justify his assumption of a " prerogative." Upon 
 that point he could hardly assert that " grave doubts exist" 
 because the state of the question is too plain to make mys- 
 tification possible. The Mayor of Halifax has no veto power 
 — never had. The law never gave him any, Init the legis- 
 lature, seeming to foresee that an incapable and presum- 
 ing man might lay claim to the veto, and seek to frustrate 
 the action of his Council, in order to get popularity, enacted 
 the following clause, to cut off the hopes of such a person, 
 anft to prevent his having any " grave doubts" about his 
 rights and duties : " It shall be the duty of the Mayor to 
 cause all matters recommended by any Committee, and 
 whereon their reports have been adopted and approved in 
 the City Council, to he carried into fall efed." The Mayor 
 swore that he woull faithfully carry out this duty on the 
 day when he assumed office, and how he can relieve his con- 
 science from the obligation, even though a majority of the 
 rate-payers should re-elect him and assure him that he is 
 not forsworn, is a mystery which must be left to himself 
 to solve. 
 
 The Mayor's Manifesto having been read, Jie was asked to 
 lay on the table of the Council the legal opinion which he 
 had obtained, as it was well known that he had consulted 
 counsel, and it became important to know what counsellors 
 he had in his opposition to the majority of the Aldermen, 
 
IT 
 
 ! 
 
 —18— 
 
 and whether or not any lawyer of standing and reputation 
 would commit himself to the strange doctrines wnich the 
 Mayor had lain down. He refused to comply with this re- 
 quest and the Council, believing that Mr. Sinclair had dis- 
 regarded the plain duties of his office, and had treated that 
 body with an amount of discourtesy which was not their 
 due after ten months toleration of incompetency rarcdy to 
 be found to so great an extent in a public official, voted to 
 adjourn, without doing further business on that afternoon. 
 Several of the majority, hearing that the Mayor had applied 
 to Hon. Mr. McDonald for an opinion, and supposing it pos- 
 sible that the doctrines expressed in the manifesto might 
 have been based on that opinion, and desiring to be set 
 right if they were wrong, applied to the linn of which Mr. 
 McDonald is a member, and received the following opinion : 
 
 "CASE. 
 
 The Local Legislature at its last session passed an Act, 
 entitled, "An Act to provide for the erection of a City Hall, 
 in the City of Halifax." And we ai'e asked for our opinion 
 as to the right of the City Council to purchase a site for 
 such City Hall. 
 
 OPINION. 
 
 The Act in question authorizes the City Council to bor- 
 row a limited sum for the erection of a City Hall, but does 
 not expressly confer the power of purchasing a site, though 
 it enacts that the Hall is to be erected on such site and ac- 
 cording to such plan as the Council should thereafter ap- 
 prove. 
 
 If the power to purchase a site, rested entirely on this 
 Act, the ordinaiy rules of construction require that we 
 should examine into the intention of the Legislature, as 
 furnished by the language of the Act ; and for this purpose 
 should attempt to give eifect to every word and every clause 
 of the Statute ; and were we then left in doubt as to the 
 intention, we should be governed more by the policy which 
 originated the Act than by the words employed to give it 
 effect. 
 
 The intention of the Legislature to enable the City Coun- 
 cil to obtain a new City Hall, would evidently be frustrated, 
 if the Act should be so construed as to limit their powers 
 to the mere erection of a building without also providing 
 for a site on which to erect it ; which construction would 
 
 n 
 II ' 
 
eputation 
 vliich the 
 h this re- 
 r had dis- 
 sated that 
 not their 
 rar(;ly to 
 , voted to 
 ifternoon. 
 ,d applied 
 ng it pos- 
 ito might 
 to "be set 
 ^^hic;h Mr. 
 ■ opinion : 
 
 ;d an Act, 
 
 City Hall, 
 
 ir opinion 
 
 a site for 
 
 il to bor- 
 biit does 
 e, though 
 e and ac- 
 iafter ap- 
 
 on this 
 tliat we 
 lature, as 
 >; purpose 
 ry clause 
 as to the 
 cy which 
 :o give it 
 
 ty Coun- 
 ustrated, 
 r powers 
 roviding 
 )n would 
 
 —19— 
 
 -also render superfluous the jx)wer which the Act confei*8 
 upon the Council of approving the site while it does not 
 provide for the acqaireinenta or selectioii of it; and it might 
 as reasonably be contended that that body had no power to 
 order and pay for the plans, which the same clause only 
 empowers them to approve of. 
 
 In view of the nature and powers of the corporation, we 
 nmst assume that any real estate owned by the City of 
 Halifax, was acquired by it for the special purposes for 
 which it is now used and enjoyed, and that it does not hold 
 this species of property merely on speculation or to meet 
 the requirements of any such exigency as the one in (j^ues- 
 tion ; and that therefore the legislature could not have in- 
 tended that the Council should a])prove of a site selected 
 out of lands already vested in the City. 
 
 But even if such a construction should be put upon the 
 Statute in question as to limit the authority of the Council 
 under it to the mere erection of the City Hall ; the (^ity 
 Charter passed in 18G4 declares the corporation capable t)f 
 acqiuriuij real estate and empowers the City Council to 
 administer the revenues of the City and to make, enter into 
 and accept all contracts in relation to the business of the 
 corporation. (See Sees. 2 and 7.) 
 
 We therefore are of opinion that either under the Act of 
 last year alone, or taken in connection with the Act of 18G4, 
 the City Council have the right to purchase a site for the 
 proposed City Hall. 
 
 McDonald & rigby. 
 
 Halifax, August 14th, 1874." 
 
 We leave it to the public to decide which was the more 
 reasonable and reliable guide — the opinion of Mr. Sinclair, 
 whose business training, however complete, did not instruct 
 him in. the expounding of Statutes — or that of eminent 
 counsel examining the question with impartial eye. We . 
 conceive that if the Mayor had doubts about his line of duty, 
 or about the nature of the law, he should have sought the 
 advice either, of the law adviser of the City, or other coun- 
 sel, and have been guided by that advice, — the'consequences 
 of his not doing so have been the confusion which has fol- 
 lowed and the litigation which now seems inevitable. If his 
 .action were to be justified, every vote and proceeding of the 
 
^i i\ 
 
 
 —20— 
 
 Council could be set at naught and the City could be ruled 
 by fi. single man. 
 
 The subsequent ])rocecding of the Council in ordering the 
 Manifesto to be expunged from the records of the Council 
 w as strictly in accordance with the rules of the body. Its 
 records are for votes of the Council and reports of the Com- 
 mittees — not for speeches, oral or written, of its members, 
 or for manifestoes, circulars, protests or electioneering papers 
 however wise and ])rofound. 
 
 Having thus laid before you, fellow citizens, the simple 
 facts which bear on this whole question, with but little com- 
 ment, we are satisfied to abide your decision. We have been 
 convinced that only a plain naiTative is necessary to refute* 
 scores of the accusations which have been laid at our doors, 
 and we claim that an unprejudiced perusal of that narra- 
 tive will show conclusively the truth of the following pro- 
 positions : 
 
 That we came to a decision upon this question with none 
 but honorable motives and with no want of care and deliber- 
 ation. 
 
 That the opposition which arose to our proceedings, spring- 
 ing as it did chiefly from hostility to the whole project of a 
 City Hall, and inflamed by abuse, and appeals to preju- 
 dice, came at e. time when the Council could not honorably 
 withdraw from its position. 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 :i I 
 
 That the stand taken by the Mayor is not in accordance 
 with law or with safe principles, while the arguments 
 which he justifies his policy are unsound. 
 
 on 
 
 That the majority of the Council cannot be justly accused 
 of defying public opinion because they adhered to the course 
 which they were legally and in honor bound to follow, and 
 maintained firmly the rights which your representatives at 
 the Council Board have always enjoyed, and which we are 
 bound to preserve for our successors. 
 
 If these positions are maintained, as we believe they ulti- 
 mately will be, the satisfaction of knowing that we have 
 
—21— 
 
 done our duty and iij)held right j)rinci})k's will atone largely 
 for the violence and aVmse which our op])onents have used 
 in attacking us. 
 
 WILLIAM ACKHURST, 
 WILLIAM BARRON, 
 M. J. POWER, 
 J. S. D. THOMPSON, 
 • JAMES R. GRAHAM, 
 DAVID ELLIS, 
 C. C. VAUX, 
 4 . DANIEL SULLIVAN, 
 
 RICHARD T. ROOME. 
 
 I endorse the foregoing statements except in the ' follow- 
 ing particulars : 
 
 I was in favor of tlie scheme for remodelling the City 
 Market House, believing it to be a practical and economical 
 measure, and gave my support to the Bill in Council, but 
 we could not succeed in carrying it. 
 
 I strenuously opposed the City Hall Bill in Council, and 
 also before the Legislature, but in spite of my ettbrts to de- 
 feat it, the Bill passed, and under it the Council were empow- 
 ered to erect a City Hall on a site to be thereafter chosen. 
 Further opposition on my part would have been only factious 
 and without eff'ect, and when the Council were called upon, 
 by the report of Committee, to select one of three sites — the 
 City Market site having been condemned by the Council, 
 and the Legislature having positively refused the Parade, I 
 felt as free to act in the matter of selection, as if I had advo- 
 cated the building of a Hall instead of opposing it. It became 
 entirely a different question, and in approving of the site 
 chosen by the Council, I exercised my best judgment, 
 believing it then, as I do now to be the best; and cheapest 
 offered, and the Council having unanimously accepted the 
 offer made by Mr. Jennett, I could not, even if disposed, in 
 view of expressed dissatisfaction, honorably reverse my vote. 
 
 EDWARD SMITH. 
 
!i 
 
 [copy.] 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Report of Clti) Hall Committee. 
 
 Ihe Committee appointed by this Council to report upon a 
 suitable site whereon to erect the proposed " Nevv City Hall," 
 beg leave to report that they have had numeroira meetings, at 
 which various sites were submitted for the approval of your 
 Committee, and that after a personal inspection of all the 
 localities offered, and a thorough discussion of their relative 
 advantages, the Committee have thought proper in a matter of 
 so great importance, merely to suggest three of the sites offered 
 as being in their opinion the most suitable to select from, with- 
 out expressing any decided preference, leaving with the whole 
 Council the responsibility of determining the most desirable 
 and suitable spot whereon to erect the proposed building. 
 
 JOSEPH COOMBES, Chairman. 
 
 July 14th, 1874. 
 
 Schedule of Properties Offered for Consideration 
 
 OF Council: — 
 
 First — The Carlton House property and Smith's lots on Bar- 
 rington Street. 
 
 Second — The property at present occupied by Board of City 
 Works. 
 
 Third — The site offered by Mr. J. R. Jennett, facing on Poplar 
 Grove and Lockman Street Extension. 
 
 Proposals are annexed. 
 
 J. COOMBES, Chairman. 
 
 ,1 
 
 «a)Mawnm«|| 
 
[copy.] 
 
 Halifax, lotli July, 1874. 
 
 To Josfph Coombes, Esq., 
 Chairman, il-c, <ix\, dx., 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am authorized to offer you t]ie followino- |)r<n)erties in 
 Argyle and Grafton Streets, for the City Hall, at the follow- 
 ing j)rices : — 
 
 The Mott Property in Argylo Street, 80 ],y (JO feet, or 
 thereabout, $10,000. j , ui 
 
 The Grant property in Argyle and Grafton Streets, now 
 occupied by the City, 40 feet on Argyle by 8(j or thereabout 
 on Grafton Street, and 120 feet deep, $15,000. 
 
 The whole for Thirty One Thousand Dollars— and 1 
 further agree that the foregoing offer will stand good for one 
 month from this date. 
 
 t JAMES FARQUHAR, 
 
 Agent for the estate of H. Y. Mott, and 
 James A. Grant. 
 
 [copy.] 
 
 Halifax, July 14th, 1874. 
 
 To Joseph Coombes, Esq., 
 
 Chairman in the matter of the City Hall : 
 
 Sir,— 
 
 I beg to enclose you herewith, a plan of my property on 
 Lockman Street Extension, and Poplar Grove, which I offer 
 to the City as a Site for the new " City Hall," for the sum of 
 ($35,000.) Thirty Five Thousand Dollars in City Debentures 
 at par. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 J. R. JENNETT.