| Description | Council meeting, 7 October 1807
[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. (37v)
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. (37v - 38r)
The Council set 21 October 1807 for the Visitation of the Public Schools, and 26 October 1807 for the competition for bursaries at Marischal College. Thereafter the Council elected the following gentlemen to be Visitors of the Schools: the Provost, the four Baillies, the Dean of Guild, the Treasurer and Master of Mortifications, along with Provost Brebner, Baillie Lumsden, Mr Alexander More, Mr John Young, Mr William Johnston, 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 enable them to secure a list of the vacant bursaries from the Managers of the Trades that they might be competed for at the same time. (38r - 38v)
The Council appointed a committee comprising the Provost, the four Baillies, the Dean of Guild, the Treasurer and Provost Brebner, 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 state of the harbour and piers, especially the pier situated opposite the Ferry Boatman's house, as well as the consideration of an effective method of deepening the navigation channel.
Second, the purchase of those houses in Footdee situated within the limits of the intended Harbour Improvements as laid out in 37 GEO.III
Third, the sale and disposal of those feu duties belonging to the various office bearers which had not been bought in terms of former resolutions, particularly that of 5 October 1803.
Fourth, the various processes before the Court of Session concerning the Town; the process with Fraserfield respecting the Shore Dues leviable in the River Don; the process of declarator of non-entry against Mr Burnett of Countesswells; the action of Robert Caie and others against the magistrates as Admiral Deputes with regards a quantity of wood cast ashore at Stonehaven in December 1805; the process of declarator by various Incorporated Tradesmen against the Council over the compositions payable by entering Craftsmen to the Dean of Guild; the action brought by Harrison & Company and Garden, Farquharson & Company against the Shoremaster and John Rae concerning the damage sustained in the harbour by the vessel the Henry of Sunderland; 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.
Fifth, the application from James Staats Forbes and others concerning the erection of bridges over the loch in the line of St Andrew's Street and John Street.
Sixth, the petition from pilots in Footdee requesting housing near the North Pier.
Seventh, the investigation to establish whether any of the Town's quarries operated upon the Freedom Lands, in particular Mr Forbes of Seaton's land at Northfield, in terms of the Act of Council of 18 June 1806.
Eighth, the disposal of the remainder of the Town's Commonty situated on the south side of the Skene Turnpike Road, near the lands at Hazlehead.
Ninth, the dispute over non-payment of rent by Mr William Forbes, merchant, since the extension of his ropeworks into the Links, as granted by an Act of Council of 5 July 1803.
Tenth, the engraving of the plan and survey of the Town's Freedom Lands, Marches and boundaries by Mr Fletcher; the delivery of same to various burgesses; the preservation of the original with the Town's records; the engraving on the same plan of the Marches between the Town's Freedom and Royalty Lands.
Eleventh, to consider purchasing Alexander Aberdeen of Dykeside's houses, situated on the south side of Schoolhill, and adding them to the Churchyard.
Twelfth, to negotiate with those Town's vassals with servitudes upon the Marshes of Whitemyres in the Town's Commonty, for the renunciation of the said servitudes.
Thirteenth, the application from Thomas Hutcheon, Keeper of the Tolbooth, for an increase in his salary.
Fourteenth, the application from Mr Thomson, Minister of Footdee, respecting the feuing out of part of the Glebe of Footdee.
Fifteenth, to investigate the rights of the Gilcomston Brewery Company over the water supplying the Town's Mills from the Dam of Gilcomston.
(38v - 39v)
The Council elected the following merchants and Burgesses of Guild to be Commissioners for the Bridewell, for a period of two years, according to the Act of Parliament, 42 GEO.III: Provost Thomas Leys, Baillie William Shepherd, Baillie Alexander Galen and Mr John Donald, all merchants and Burgesses of Guild. (39v - 40r) |