XIII. And be it enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said trustees, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, after making payment of such sum or sums of money as shall be agreed on between them and the said owners and occupiers, or other persons interested therein respectively, or adjudged or awarded as aforesaid, for the purchase of the said lands, houses, tenements, and other hereditaments, tacks or leases, or after consignation thereof in the cases aforesaid, to order the said houses, tenements, and other buildings, to be taken down, and the areas to be cleared, and otherwise use the property so acquired, as shall be thought proper and necessary by the, said trustees, for the purposes of this act. XIV. And be it also enacted, that after the purchase of any such tenements, houses, lands, and other hereditaments, as shall be found necessary for the execution and completing of the said new streets or avenues, and the areas on each side thereof, the said trustees shall be, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to sell by public auction, for an adequate price, the materials of all such houses and buildings, and also the remaining ground or building areas along each side of the said intended new streets, for payment either of a reasonable price, or annual feu-duty; and that they shall be obliged to account for and apply both the purchase money and annual feu-duties thereof to and for the purposes of this act, and none other; and that they are and shall be authorized and empowered to pay the purchase money or adjudged value of the said lands, tenements, and other heredita ments, tacks or leases, out of such sums of money as they may raise by voluntary subscriptions, or out of such other sums as shall be raised and received by them, in way of loan or otherwise, for the pur poses of this act. XV. Provided also, and be it enacted, that previous notice shall be given by the said trustees to the tenants and occupiers of all such lands, tenements, houses, leases and other hereditaments, as are to be so converted and disposed of for the purposes aforesaid, three months at least before the term of Whitsunday, at which the said tenants or occupiers are to be removed therefrom, by affixing a notice in writing to that effect upon the most patent door of such houses, tenements, and other hereditaments, or by delivering such notice to the principal occupiers thereof. XVI. And be it further enacted, that in the event of either of the said new streets, or areas on each side thereof, cutting through and taking off only a part of any of the houses or buildings that may be standing thereon, or of the gardens, courts, or other grounds, occupied thereby, the proprietors, liferenters, and possessors of such houses, buildings, and other hereditaments aforesaid, shall be entitled (if they so incline) to receive and be paid the full and adequate value of the whole of such buildings, houses, and other hereditaments; and which the said trustees shall be, and are hereby obliged to purchase, account for, and pay accordingly, as the same shall be determined, in the manner before directed. XVII. And be it further enacted, that all the meetings of the said trustees shall be held within the town house of the said city, and that they shall have four quarterly stated general meetings during the year, in the same place, videlicet, upon the first Tuesday of June, the first Tuesday of September, the first Tuesday of December, and the first Tuesday of March annually, at twelve of the clock noon, for putting this act and the powers hereby committed to the said trustees in execution, beginning the first of the said quarterly meetings upon the first Tuesday of June in the year one thousand eight hundred; and that at all meetings of the said trustees, the provost, or other person acting as chief magistrate of the said city for the time, shall preside; and in case of an equality of votes in any question that may come before the said trustees, shall have a casting or decisive voice therein, as well as a deliberative one; and that their preses shall cause the whole of the said trustees to be summoned to attend the said quarterly meetings, by written or printed notices, to be given to them per◄ sonally, or left at their dwelling houses (if residing within the said city) at least twenty-four hours previous previous to the time of the said meetings; with full power also to the said trustees to nominate and appoint treasurers, clerks, and other officers and servants, proper and necessary under them, in order to the due execution of this act, and, when they think proper, to remove and displace them, or any one of them respectively; and also to limit and appoint reasonable and adequate salaries, wages, and other allowances, to be made and paid to such officers and servants, and to make such other orders, rules, and regulations, as the nature of each particular service shall seem to them to require, and they shall deem expedient; and from time to time to vary, alter, or revoke any of the said rules and regulations, and to do such other acts and things as to the said trustees shall appear proper and necessary for putting this act in execution, they being always consistent with the several powers and regulations of this present act. XVIII. And be it enacted, that the said trustees present at such quarterly meetings may adjourn themselves from time to time, as they may think proper or necessary, for executing the powers vested in them by this act; and that the clerk of the said trustees shall give written or printed notices to each of them of such adjourned meetings, in the same manner as is required for the said quarterly meetings; and it shall also be in the power of the preses of the said trustees, of himself, to appoint other meetings of them, to be held so often and at such times as may to him seem necessary and expedient; the whole trustees being always summoned to attend every such meeting, in manner above-mentioned. XIX. And be it further enacted, that all and every act and acts of the said trustees shall be entered and minuted in books to be kept for that purpose, by their clerk, or other person to be appointed for that purpose; which, and all other books and entries respecting the same, or that contain any account or accounts relative to the purposes of this act, shall be produced, if required, at every public meeting, and shall be signed by the preses thereof; and such entries and books, after being so signed and authenticated, shall be held and taken to be the original orders and proceedings of the said meetings, and also shall and may be produced and taken in evidence in all courts whatsoever: And in case any surplus of the money received for the lands, tenements, and hereditaments, acquired by the said trustees, shall remain in their hands after paying the expenses of this act, and what is laid out in making the proposed new streets and the new buildings on the sides thereof, the said trustees shall be and they are hereby obliged to pay such surplus to the treasurer of the city of Aberdeen for the time being, for the use of the community; and it shall be in the power of any member of the town council for the time, to call for an account of the money received and expended, and to sue for the payment and application of the surplus as aforesaid. XX. Provided always, and be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful to, or in the power of the said trustees, to enter upon the execution of any part of the aforesaid work and improvements, until they shall have raised and secured, by subscription, loan, or otherwise, the respective sums of money following, videlicet, fifteen thousand pounds sterling, before beginning the said south street or avenue, and five thousand pounds sterling, before beginning the said north street or avenue, to be applied and employed, as they shall have occasion, towards defraying the expense which shall be incurred by them in the purchase of property, or otherwise, from time to time, in the execution of the purposes of this act. XXI. And be it also enacted, that in case any suit or action shall be commenced against any person or persons, for any thing done in pursuance of this act, the defendant or defendants of such suit or action may produce this act, and plead that the said things were done by the authority thereof; and if it shall appear so to be done, that then the defendant or defendants shall be absolved from every such suit or action, and shall have triple costs and expences, in the defence thereof, awarded to them, from and against the prosecutor or prosecutors of the same. XXII. (Declared to be a public act.) No. II. STATEMENT, Dated 23d September, 1817, BY THE MAGISTRATES AND COUNCIL OF ABERDEEN, With reference to their Declaration of date 19th Sept. 1817. Referred to in Note page 370. ས At Aberdeen, the 23d day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, in presence of the town council of Aberdeen: Which day, the following declaration having been read over to the council, was approved of, and appointed to be engrossed in the council record, of which the tenor follows, viz.-Council-chamber, 23d September, 1817.-The council, in reference to the invitation which was given to the burgesses and inhabitants assembled at the head court, on the 20th instant, to appoint a committee to investigate the books and accounts connected with the new streets; and, finding that that meeting did not deem it proper to nominate any such committee, consider it a duty they owe to themselves and their predecessors in office, before dissolving this their concluding sederunt on public business, again to revert to the causes which have led to the present pecuniary embarrassments of the town's affairs. In doing this, they cannot avoid recalling to notice the strong and earnest solicitations of the inhabitants in 1799, to interpose the credit of the community for opening and making out two commodious and convenient approaches from the south and north, the want of which had been long felt and loudly complained of. In purchasing properties, and carrying these important undertakings into effect, under the authority of the new street act, a large debt was necessarily and early incurred; to meet the full interest of which, no exertions have yet been able to realize a sufficient revenue. Still, however, it affords some source of satisfaction to reflect, that the money expended has been principally paid to those inhabitants whose properties were situated in the line of the streets, and that the value of the other properties in the vicinity, more particularly those of the incorporated trades, has been greatly enhanced, while the benefit and accommodation to the community at large must be admitted by every unprejudiced and candid mind. Thus, in procuring a great and lasting improvement for the city of Aberdeen, without any tax having been imposed upon its inhabitants, has the debt under which it now labours been contracted; and while a very valuable property along the new streets is still unproductive and remains to be realized, yet the funds of the community, as vested in the trustees for the creditors, yield at present an interest of upwards of four per cent. per annum. It affords a farther ground of satisfaction to reflect, that, in later times, and particularly since the passing of the new street act, regulations have been established, whereby no part of the property can be let or disposed of but by public auction; a salutary regulation, which has been steadily pursued, and the propriety and benefit of which must be generally admitted. Keeping these circumstances in view, so indispensably necessary in forming a fair and impartial judgment on the merits or demerits of the administration of the town's affairs, and connecting them, by way of explanation, with the minute and declaration signed in council on the 19th instant, the members who framed the said minute declare that the objects they had in view were solely to express and record their opinions, that a change ought to be effected in the manner of electing the council, and an effectual controul given to the citizens over the 3 N expenditure expenditure of the town's office-bearers; and those members of the council who had no opportunity of knowing its contents till it was read at the council-board, do declare, that their views neither did, nor, in justice to themselves or their predecessors in office, could go farther. In reference to the term "concealment," used in the above-mentioned declaration, the members of council have no hesitation in declaring, that they did not apply it to any act of improper concealment within their knowledge, but that it was meant to characterize that general practice of the borough system, which does not require any detailed accounts of receipt and expenditure to be annually laid before the public, and the usage which has been followed from time immemorial of reading abstracts only of the town's accounts at the annual head courts. To obviate all future grounds of complaint on that head, they conceive it their duty to recommend to their successors, as an essential branch of the controul which they are of opinion should be established in the inhabitants, that, instead of these abstracts, full and detailed statements of the receipt and expenditure of the burgh should be annually exhibited and published for the information of the community. The books have for several years been kept upon an improved system, introduced by some of the present members, and are patent when required. While the council are fully sensible of the beneficial effects resulting from proper checks on public officers in the execution of their duties, and of the expediency of establishing a sufficient controul in the management of public affairs, they are bound to declare, that their recommendation in this respect does not proceed from any fact within their knowledge of an improper nature, connected with the administration of this burgh within the last twenty years; and, in order that this may the more satisfactorily appear, the council beg leave to recommend to, and earnestly request of, their successors in office, to give access and every possible publicity, not only to the new street accounts, but to all other books and accounts of the burgh during their administration, or that of any of their number, and to all transactions whatever regarding the funds and property of the community, in which the individual members of this council may have at any time been concerned, and that a faithful report thereof be published. Before concluding, the council consider it their duty to record their conviction that their predecessors in office, who conducted the great improvements before referred to, were actuated by the most unwearied zeal in carrying into effect measures which had their origin in the anxious recommendation of their fellow-citizens; and, while they are of opinion that a well digested alteration in the present set of the borough, will be attended with beneficial consequences, and restore confidence throughout the community, they again bear public testimony to the purity and uprightness of intention of those who have preceded them while these improvements were in progress. Extracted from the council record of the burgh of Aberdeen, upon this and the seven preceding pages, [Appendix to Duplies for Robert Garden and others, in the case of John Elphinston and others, No. 1.] No. No. III. VOLUNTEERS. There is, we believe, no class of men, in general, more loyal and independent than the burgesses of the royal boroughs of Scotland. During the late arduous contest between Great Britain and the government of France, their conduct was exemplary for patriotism, and distinguished by the strictest principles of loyalty on every occasion. The burgesses, and other citizens of Aberdeen, did not neglect to display their loyalty and patriotism at this important crisis with union of sentiment. At the commencement of the war, they formed themselves into associations as volunteers, for internal defence; and continued to serve with ardour and zeal, while their services were required. We cannot produce more ample testimony of this, than by annexing a list of the officers of the several volunteer corps at the peace of Amiens in 1801; and also at the commencement of hostilities in the Royal Aberdeen. Thomas Leys Thomas Burnett William D. Fordyce William Gibbon William Carnegie George Hogarth Chaplain, James Shirrefs Royal Aberdeen Light Infantry. (About 800 rank and file.) VOLUNTEER CORPS IN 1801. Lieut.-Colonel Commandant, 1st Major, James Hadden James Chalmers 2d Lieutenants, 3 N 2 year 1803. David Reid Alexander Low Artillery Company. Old Aberdeen Votunteers, (About 150 rank and file.) Major Commandant, Gilbert Gerard Captain, William Jack 1st Lieuts. R. E. Scott James Gordon 2d Lieuts. John Irvine Robert Low Chaplain, Skene Ogilvy VOLUNTEER |