| Description | Council meeting, 19 February 1817
[Sederunt given]
The Council approved the scheme prepared by Mr Read, Dean of Guild, for relieving the Treasury funds from their embarrassments. The Council directed the scheme to be published in the form of an address. [Address engrossed.] The Treasury debt was calculated to be £226,329 and the resulting annual interest to be £9,053. The Council's income totalled £7,500, leaving an annual deficit of interest payments of £1,553. To pay the deficit in annual interest, the scheme proposed an additional assessment on property of £1,697 6 shillings 6 pence for seven years, followed by £565 13 shillings 6 pence for a further seven years; in addition, a sinking fund would be created to pay off the debt itself by 1860. Once the debt had been settled, any profits were to be shared in the following manner:
1/6 part, not exceeding £10,000 to the Master of Trades Hospital
1/6 part, not exceeding £10,000 to charitable institutions in Aberdeen
1/2 of the balance to the holders of New Street stock
the remainder to the Guild Box for the support of decayed Burgesses and their families
The scheme suggested that the Treasury should pay the debts of the 240 creditors who had lent less than £100, totalling £12,000, either by borrowing further sums or by selling feu duties. In return for the co- operation of property owners, the scheme proposed a change in the burgh constitution, to allow property owners to participate in the election of magistrates. [Recommendation of the scheme from Dr Hamilton of Marischal College engrossed, with reservations on the likelihood of profits from the sinking fund.]
(101r - 108v)
The Council thanked the committee of gentlemen (Alexander Crombie, Hary Lumsden, W Kennedy, David Hutcheon, Alexander Webster, James Blaikie, Thomas Burnett and H Duncan Davidson) who had estimated the value of property belonging to the Treasurer, and surveyed the Town's funds. The Council directed the resulting report to be circulated among the Town's creditors. [Report engrossed.] The committee thanked Mr Hardie, the Chamberlain, for his assistance, and estimated the following assets and burdens:
First, the cost of building Union Street and King Street. Total - £171,279 15 shillings 7 pence.
Second, the Treasurer's debts to the office bearers, charitable institutions and individuals. Total - £225,710 14 shillings 4 pence.
Third, the revenue available for payment of the interest on the Treasurer's debts from feu duties; teind duties; rents of Freedom Lands, houses and ground at Footdee and shops under the Townhouse; the Town's Mills, public Weigh House and Bell & Petty Customs; interest on debts due by the Master of Shoreworks, the Stonehaven Turnpike Road Trustees and the Bridewell Commissioners; casualties payable by entering burgesses; and new streets feu duties and rents. Total - £10,042 10 shillings.
Fourth, the value of the Town's feu duties and casualties of superiority; Freedom Lands, mills, public Weigh House and Bell & Petty Customs; building areas in St Nicholas Street and near the Mealmarket; and debts due by the Shoremaster, the Stonehaven Road Trustees and the Bridewell Commissioners. Total - £139,440 16 shillings 10 pence.
Fifth, the property owned by the Treasurer on behalf of the New Streets Trustees. This sum included feu duties on building areas on Union Street and King Street; the value of building areas on Union Street from Castle Street to Broad Street and Shiprow, including a house in the Netherkirkgate; the value of building areas on Union Street west of Broad Street, including the Terrace; and the value of building areas on King Street from Castle Street to the Town's extremity, including houses in Garden's Close. Total - £241,663 6 shillings 4 pence.
(108v - 111v)
The Council empowered the magistrates to let the Nether Mill, called the Malt Mill, at less than the upset rent of £130, as no offers for a three-year lease of the mill at that rent had been received at a roup. (111v - 112r) |