| Description | Council meeting, 17 September 1804
[Sederunt given]
The Council remitted to the new Council a petition from the Convener, the Master of the Hospital, seven Deacons and other members of the Convener Court of the Trades of Aberdeen, requesting that the Council admit a number of Craftsmen to the freedom of the Town, on payment of the smaller compositions which were paid by entering Craftsmen before the Act of Council of 21 September 1801 increased the size of compositions. (160v - 161r)
The Council remitted to the new Council the report and plan by Messrs David Morice, advocate, and Colin Innes, land surveyor, concerning the mosses and quarries on the Lands of Countesswells and Kingswells, commissioned by the Council in September 1802. (161r)
The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, or any three of them, an application from Provost William Young requesting that the Council return to him a piece of ground on the south end of his feu at the Shorelands which had been removed in order to make a road to Garvock's Wynd, as an alternative road had been built on the south side of the canal instead. (161r - 161v)
The Council approved of the orders given at Visit to the Harbour and the Piers:
First, the committee directed Mr Johnston, overseer of the workmen employed in the harbour, to clear the bank of gravel next to the foundations of the Torrie Pier west of the stair, as vessels could not get sufficiently near the pier to load or unload weighty goods.
Second, the committee requested Mr Mole, Shoremaster, who was going to London on private business, to obtain a plan of a crane when in London, to be used for loading and unloading on Torrie Pier. Mr Mole was directed to order a crane if it could be made as cheaply in London as in Aberdeen.
Third, the committee recommended to the Council to prohibit the salmon fishers on the Raik from throwing stones and rubbish into the River, as the stones were being carried down into the Navigation Channel by the floods, damaging the harbour and shipping.
Fourth, the committee requested Mr William Gibbon, Berth Master, to take action against those persons employed to load stones into vessels who, through carelessness, turned many stones into the harbour.
Fifth, the committee directed Mr Johnston, overseer, to remove any obstructions from the Navigation Channel or from the sides of the Piers, particularly stones and blocks of wood near the Lime Dock, and to repair a small breach in the Pier east of the Lime Dock.
The Council recommended to the new Council to clean out the basins in the lower part of the harbour, to secure the loose posts or pawls, and to obtain a plan to divert the strong current which was undermining the new pier opposite the Boatman's House. (161v - 163r)
The Council granted the petition from George Duncan, wright and Burgess of Guild, requesting that his son, Charles Duncan, who had started at the Grammar School in November 1802, be provided with a bursary, as he could not meet the cost of his son's education. The Council presented Charles Duncan to Mr George Robertson's vacant bursary. (163r)
The Council approved the presentation from Baillie Shepherd, Senior Baillie, and Rev Dr Shirrefs, Minister of Aberdeen, as patrons of Mr Andrew Gerard's mortification for a Free School, stating that, as Mrs Margaret Buchanan was unable to act as Schoolmistress of the Free School, owing to debility of her constitution, they had appointed Widow Coutts, Margaret Hunter, to the post for one year from Martinmas 1804. The Council directed the Master of Mortifications to pay to Margaret Hunter £6 salary and £2 for school rent. (163r - 163v)
The Council authorised Mr Alexander Fraser, merchant in Aberdeen and partner of Mr Mole, Shoremaster, to settle the Shore Work accounts for the year, as Mr Mole would be in London until the election of the new Council. (163v - 164r) |