| Description | Council meeting, 4 May 1802
[Sederunt given]
The Council considered the report on the candidates for the post of one of the Doctors or Ushers at the Grammar School in place of the deceased Mr William Duncan. [Report by Dr Brown, Principal, Dr Hamilton, Professors Stuart, Beattie and Glennie, and Dr Shirrefs and Dr Gordon, ministers, engrossed.] The Council appointed Mr Alexander Nicoll, one of the Masters in Robert Gordon's Hospital to the post; the other candidates were Thomas Donald, schoolmaster at Edinkellie and Alexander Dawson, schoolmaster in Stonehaven. The Council authorised the Master of Mortifications to pay to Mr Nicoll the annual salary of £27 6 shillings 8 pence from Dr Patrick Dun's mortification, plus £10 augmentation agreed by Act of Council of 5 March 1798, subject to his observing certain conditions. [Conditions given.] (82r - 83v)
The Council approved the Provost's report that the lease of the Shore and Harbour Dues, the Pack House and Weigh House Dues and the profits of the Ballast Lighters had been taken by John Rae, merchant in Aberdeen, for three years at an annual rent of £2,500. The Council also approved that the following land had been exposed to tacks of seven years in three separate lots, according to a plan made by Mr Fletcher, engineer: the dockyard and houses at Footdee, possessed by John Rae; the houses and smiddy previously possessed by John Smith, blacksmith and then held by John Petrie; adjacent ground possessed by Mr Alexander Brebner; and other contiguous ground. A tack for the first two lots had been taken by John Rae, but the third lot had not been taken. The Council accepted the following cautioners for the lease and the tack to John Rae: Alexander Mearns, William Cruickshank and William Rae, all merchants in Aberdeen and Robert Duncan, thread manufacturer in Aberdeen. (83v - 84r)
The Council approved the following tacks for seven years on two lots of ground at Pynernook: one lot of ground at Pynernook then possessed by Caie and Allan, to be set again to Caie and Allan for £16 yearly rent, and the other lot then possessed by George Tower, to be set to John Benzie, wood merchant for £10 yearly rent. (84r)
The Council remitted to the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, the petition of George Still of Millden, merchant in Aberdeen, requesting that the Council join the adjacent small piece of rough ground to the parks at Forresterhill which he had purchased from John Wallace, baker, and Alexander Pirie, merchant. (84r - 84v)
The Council authorised the Master of Kirk and Bridge Work to pay £18 17 shillings and 7 pence to George Smith, mason, for work to the churches. (84v)
The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, Provost Leys and Provost Dingwall, or any three of them, to devise regulations for the work of Mr Fletcher as Superintendent of the Town's Public Works. (84v - 85r)
The Council approved of the arrangements concerning the houses and grounds adjacent to John Rae's dockyard: the agreement to purchase the dwelling houses and smiddy which had belonged to John Smith, blacksmith, and then belonged to John Petrie for £80; and the agreement with Mr Alexander Brebner, merchant, that he would renounce his lease of the ground east of John Rae's dockyard, then in use as a wood yard, on condition that he was given a lease of another place in the area for the duration of his original lease. The Council remitted to the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer to arrange the lease of a suitable lot of ground with Mr Brebner. (85r)
The Council approved the leases at a public roup on 24 April 1802 of the shops and pillars in the Flesh Market, for a considerable increase in rent. (85v)
The Council directed the magistrates to pay £5 from Dr Guild's mortification to Helen Hyde, widow of Robert Turnbull, shipmaster in Aberdeen. (85v) |