| Description | Council meeting, 13 October 1809
[Sederunt given]
The Council resolved to fine any Council member absent at a meeting the sum of 1 shilling and any member fifteen minutes late or more the sum of 6 pence. (118r)
The Clerk produced the record of the office bearers' tacks for inspection and the Council ordered the following Acts of Council to be observed; the Act of Council of 26 September 1791 against the prolongation of the tack or a feu of the Mill of Gilcomston to the Brewery Company; the Act of Council of 25 June 1798 prohibiting the granting of money from the Funds of the Bridges of Dee and Don except to roads in the vicinity of the Town; the Act of Council of 21 September 1801 respecting the management of the Town's business and prevention of abuses in the expenditure of monies. The Council remitted to the magistrates to examine which tacks were close to expiry. (118r - 118v)
The Council set 24 October 1809 for the Visitation of the Public Schools and 29 October 1809 for the competition for bursaries at Marischal College. Thereafter the Council elected the following gentlemen to be Visitors of the Schools: the Provost, four Baillies, Dean of Guild, Treasurer and Master of Mortifications, along with Provost More, Mr Alexander More, Mr John Young, Mr James Young, Mr George Thomson, the four Town's Ministers and the Professors of the College. The Council also recommended to the magistrates the Act of Council of 31 October 1780 to secure a list of the vacant bursaries from the Managers of the Trades that they might be competed for at the same time. (118v)
The Council appointed a committee comprising the Provost, the four Baillies, the Dean of Guild, the Treasurer and Provost More, along with the respective office bearers, or any three of them, (the Provost to act as Convener), to attend to the following branches of the Town's business:
First, the purchase of those houses in Footdee situated within the limits of the intended Harbour Improvements as laid out in the Act of Parliament 37 GEO.III
Second, the sale and disposal of those feu duties belonging to the various office bearers which had not been bought in terms of former resolutions.
Third, the various processes before the Court of Session concerning the Town; the process of declarator brought by the Council against Mr Menzies of Pitfodels to establish the Town's right to land in the Commonty, adjacent to Countesswells, Hazelhead and Springfield, claimed by Mr Menzies; the advocation at the instance of the Tacksman of the Shore Dues against Mr Milne of Crimonmogate, eldest son of a Burgess, concerning the levying of double Shore Dues.
Fourth, the negotiation with those Town's Vassals operating quarries on the Town's Freedom Lands, with consideration as to any legal action as might prove necessary.
Fifth, the application by Charles Gordon, advocate, for the Trustees of Colonel Duff of Fetteresso, along with the report and estimates, relating to the widening and deepening of the Burn of Leuchar between the Lands of Culter belonging to Colonel Duff and the Lands of Cairnies in the Parish of Skene belonging to the Dean of Guild.
Sixth, to secure a plan of the Town's waste ground at the lower end of Carmelite Street with a view to feuing it out on condition that no part be used as a dunghill.
Seventh, the consideration of the plan and measurements of the croft at Buxburn under lease to Alexander Thomson for his life with a view to securing its renunciation.
Eighth, the petition from residents near the loch requesting it be contracted or altered due to the health dangers to inhabitants.
Ninth, the consideration of the sale of stances on either side of St Nicholas Street.
Tenth, to meet with the owners of the Lands of Countesswells to straighten the Marches between the said Lands and the Common Lands belonging to the Town.
(119r - 120v)
The Council appointed a committee of the Provost, four Baillies, Dean of Guild, Treasurer and Shoremaster, along with Provost More and Provost Brebner, or any five of them (the Provost to be Convener), to superintend the Harbour Improvements. Having heard the report of last year's committee on Harbour Improvements, the Council resolved to apply to Parliament for a new Harbour Act and authorised the committee to consider the early execution of Mr Thomas Telford's recommendations concerning the Harbour. It further recommended that the Provost apply to the Government for financial assistance for the continuation of the Harbour Improvements considering the potential national importance of an enlarged Harbour capable of receiving frigates and warships. (120r - 121r)
Following a report to Council by Baillie Shepherd, the Council approved the petition from the Society of Barbers and Wigmakers in Aberdeen requesting the liberty to increase entrants' compositions and approval of their new rules and regulations. (121r) |