| Description | Council meeting, 21 March 1809
[Sederunt given]
The Council agreed a donation of £78 to the Managers of the Poor's Hospital and elected the following directors for the year ending Candlemas 1810; the Provost, magistrates and other members of the Town Council; Baillie McCombie and Baillie Tower; Bishop Skinner; the Rev Mr Bryce, the Rev Mr Doig and the Rev Mr Cordiner; Sir Alexander Bannerman; Doctors French, Livingston, Dyce, Moir and Skene; Mr Henderson of Caskieben, Mr Niven of Thornton, Mr Martin of Nellfield; Dr Dauney; Messrs Thomas Bannerman, James Davidson, Robert Lamb, Charles Walker and William Smith, all merchants; Mr Carnegie, Town Clerk and Convener David Reid. (91v - 92r)
The Provost reported to the Council on the sale by public roup of the leases for fourteen years from 1 June 1809 of six stances for Lime Sheds situated at the south-east end of the Shorelands between the Canal Basin and the Town's Quay, as marked and numbered on a plan. The Council approved the following sales; lot number four was taken by William Lyell, lime merchant for James Neilson, lime merchant, at £4; lot number five was taken by the said William Lyell for Peter Simpson & Company at £6; lot numbers six and eight were taken by John Cuming for Herveys, Cuming & Company at £7 and £6; lot number nine was taken by John Dingwall for Jopp & Company at £8. Lot number seven, currently under lease to Tower, Thomson & Company was set up at £16, and a stance upon part of the Glebe of Footdee, under lease to Garden, Farquharson & Company, was set up at £7 but no offers were received. The Council therefore authorised the magistrates, Dean of Guild and Treasurer, or any three of them, to set these lots up again at a reasonable price. (92r - 92v)
The Council approved the sale by public roup of the leases of three stances of ground in St Nicholas Street. One lot on the east side of the said street and on the south side of Flourmillbrae [measurements given] was taken by John Milne, barber in Aberdeen, on behalf of James Milne, stabler, at 13 shillings 2 pence per foot annual feu duty. A second lot on the west side, north of the lane lately made between St Nicholas Street and Correction Wynd [measurements given] was taken by William Young Esq at 16 shillings 2 pence per foot annual feu duty. A third lot on the east side, being the corner stance next to the Upperkirkgate [measurements given] was taken by John Chalmers, wright in Aberdeen, at 10 shillings per foot annual feu duty. (92v - 93v)
The Council delayed a decision on the disposal of a stance on the west side of St Nicholas Street near the Old Schoolhill Well [description given] to a future meeting of the Council following an application to the magistrates for a feu at 20 shillings per foot annual feu duty. (93v)
The Council approved the sale by public roup in way of feu of twenty acres of ground of the Town's Commonty on the south side of the Skene Turnpike Road, west of that feued to William Spence, to Alexander Gildawie junior, mason in Aberdeen, at 15 shillings per acre annual feu duty. (93v)
A lease for nineteen years of piece of ground adjacent to the Meal Market was taken by Robert Vass, stabler, at £9 5 shillings annual rent, with the proviso that the Council could take possession of the ground at any point during the currency of the lease at six months notice should it be required for a public purpose. The Provost also reported the sale by public roup of the tack for fourteen years from 1 June 1809 of the southmost lot of ground at Footdee to William Stephen, carpenter, at £10 yearly rent. (94r)
The Council remitted to a committee of magistrates consideration of a letter from Mr Charles Gordon, advocate, on behalf of the Trustees of Lieutenant Colonel Duff of Fetteresso and Culter, and report by Mr Johnston, drainer, regarding the deepening and widening of the Burn of Leuchar, lying between the Lands of Culter and Cairney in the Parish of Skene, belonging to the Dean of Guild. (94v)
The Council approved the report by the magistrates recommending the exchange of ground at the old Flesh Market between the Dean of Guild and the New Street Trustees to allow the completion of King Street and provide the Town with a suitable location for the sale of poultry, on the condition that an access lane to King Street of about twenty feet wide was reserved through the building area. Further it was decided that sheds for a poultry market be erected along the back of the houses in Lodge Walk to provide shelter from inclement weather for those attending the market. (94v - 95v)
A letter was received from the Rev John Thomson, Minister of Footdee, concerning a contract entered into in 1787 between the Master of Mortifications and the late Baillie Copland, which made over to him the revenues of the charge of Footdee (except £35) for twenty-one years (now elapsed) on condition of his building the present Church. The Council was petitioned as administrators of these funds to direct the whole revenues, including the seat rents, rents of the Glebe and the share of the United Fund henceforth to be paid directly to the Incumbent and his successors in office. A decision was deferred until the Council could study a complete statement of funds. (95v - 96r)
The Council approved the application by Thomas Burnett, Clerk to the Commissioners of the Bridewell, to carry a common sewer from the north side of the building to the Skene Turnpike Road and from thence to the Denburn, across land belonging to the Treasurer. (96r)
The Clerk reported to Council the decision by the Lords Ordinary in the Second Division of the Court of Session in Edinburgh in the process with the Incorporated Trades to sustain the Town's right to increase the compositions payable by entering Craftsmen Burgesses, as set out in the Act of Council of September 1801. The Town's Solicitor in London, Mr Chalmers, had received notice that an appeal by the Incorporated Trades had been lodged with the House of Lords, which being considered the Council instructed Mr Chalmers to prepare the Town's defence. (96v - 97r)
The Clerk reported to Council that the First Chamber of the Court of Session had found in favour of the Town in the process of declarator, brought at the instance of the late Mr Fraser of Fraserfield, claiming a right of free Port and Anchorage and a privilege of levying Shore Dues in the River Don. (97r)
A memorial to the magistrates from Alexander More, Tacksman of the Shore and Harbour Dues, was laid before the Council in which he set forth details of a complaint before the Sheriff of Aberdeen at the instance of Mr Milne of Crimonmogate, Lonmay. Mr More had charged Mr Milne double Shore Dues on certain imported goods and the latter had objected on the grounds that as the eldest son of a Burgess and as a linen manufacturer he was entitled to pay single Shore Dues only. Various proceedings before the Sheriff Substitute and Sheriff Depute had not resolved the question and the Council decided to pursue the action and also to consult with Mr Matthew Ross, Dean of Faculty, should the action proceed to the Court of Session. (97r - 98v)
William Copland, advocate in Aberdeen, was appointed to continue in the office of Collector of Taxation for the City of Aberdeen with an allowance of £40 for his expense and risk of bad debt. Sureties were offered by the Provost, George More and Mr Alexander More, merchant in Aberdeen. (98v)
The Council remitted to the magistrates, the leasing of lots of ground currently used as a dunghill in Carmelite Street, following a petition from the residents there for its removal. (99r)
The Council resolved to increase the salary of Dr Dauney, the Town's Assessor, from £50 to £100, to commence from Martinmas 1808. (99r - 99v)
The Council resolved to adhere to the Act of Council of 29 April 1808 and oppose a second Parliamentary Bill proposing the regulation of the Public Records of Scotland and to present petitions before the House of Commons and the House of Lords [resolutions included]. The resolutions are instructed to be transmitted to Mr Cunningham, Clerk to the Convention of Royal Burghs, and to the Town and County's representatives in London. (99v - 100v)
The Council admitted one Burgess of Guild. (100v) |