Aberdeen Council Register: volume 68 - extract dated 29 September 1801 Council meeting, 29 September 1801 [Sederunt given] The Council appointed the following Acts of Council to be observed: the Act of 26 September 1791 against granting a prolongation of the tack or a feu of the Mill of Gilcomston to the Brewery Company; the Act of 25 June 1798 concerning the grant of more money from the funds of the Bridge of Dee and the Bridge of Don towards roads in the vicinity of the town; the Act of 4 April 1801 recommending that the butchers' shops and pillars be rouped after Whitsunday 1802; and the Act of 21 September 1801 concerning the administration of finances by the office bearers. The Council remitted to the magistrates to examine which tacks were close to expiry. (60v) The Council resolved that members absent from Council meetings should pay a fine of 1 shilling for each absence, and that members who were more than fifteen minutes late for meetings should pay a fine of 6 pence. The Council also resolved that no office bearer engage in public work without the prior consent of the Council, and that office bearers should observe the Act of Council of 21 September 1801 on the administration of finances. (60v - 61r) The Council fixed the Visitation of the Public Schools to be held on 21 October 1801, and the competition for bursaries at Marischall College to be held on 26 October 1801. The Council appointed the following to be Visitors of the Public Schools for the year 1801 to 1802: the Provost, the four Baillies, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, Mr John Young, Master of Mortifications, Provost Leys, Provost Dingwall and Baillie Murray, the four Town's ministers, the Principal and professors of Marischal College and any other person called by the magistrates. The Council directed the magistrates to procure from the managers of the Trades, a list of vacant bursaries under their patronage, in accordance with the Act of Council of 31 October 1780. The Council also resolved to prevent young men from competing for bursaries who did not require public aid to continue their education. (61r - 61v) The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, Provost Dingwall, Provost Leys and the Master of Mortifications, or any three of them, to arrange the sale of the Lands and Barony of Muchalls, to be held on 21 December 1801. (61v) The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, Provost Dingwall and Provost Leys, or any three of them, the following matters. First, disposal of the whale fishing houses and ground in the Links, near the Block House, purchased by the Shoremaster from Francis Leys & Company. Second, to examine the state of the houses and offices which belonged to the Dean of Guild and were possessed by John McKenzie, shipmaster. Third, setting new leases for the dock yard of Footdee, possessed by John Rae, shipbuilder; for the two lots of ground at Poynernook possessed by Caie and Allan and Messrs Towers; for the sheds and land on the east side of the Meal Market possessed by William Gordon, vintner, and John Barron, cowfeeder; and for the reserved ground at Torry. Fourth, to obtain a grant from the Crown in favour of the Treasurer of Aberdeen, of the salmon fishing in the sea adjacent to the Lands of Torry. Fifth, to remove the jetties erected by the fishers of the Raike and Mid Chingle fishings on the banks of the River Dee, which have caused an encroachment on the interior of the harbour. Sixth, to remove the encroachments on the Town's loch and the water courses, as specified in the Act of Council of 28 August 1801, or to obtain payments instead. Seventh, to arrange the sale of the feu duties specified in the Acts of Council of 1 August 1801 and 28 August 1801, the superiority of the Lands of Gilcomston and the ground at Barkmill, Bonnymuir and the top of the Stocket. (61v - 63r) The Council empowered the Treasurer to execute a tack of the Town's Mills for three years in favour of James Smith, maltster, in accordance with the Act of Council of 21 September 1801. (63r) The Council remitted to Baillies Duguid, Sime and Galen and the Treasurer, the petition from Andrew Jopp, advocate, for a lease of a piece of ground in the Shorelands near the east end of the Quay, on which to erect a lime shed. (63r) The Council authorised the magistrates and the Treasurer, or any three of them, to procure loans totalling £25,000 to be used by the New Streets Trustees for the purchase of more houses along the new streets and to pay the contractors for the erection of the Denburn Bridge and the Putachieside Bridge. (63v - 64r) The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, Provost Leys, Provost Dingwall and Baillie Murray, or any three of them, examination and removal of two encroachments specified in the Act of Council of 1 October 1800: the encroachment by Provost Auldjo on the high road which led past his brickworks and the Back Burn of the Water of Dee, and from there along the Burn of Ferryhill to Newbridge; and the encroachment on the Town's Freedom Mosses by the heritors of Countesswells and Kingswells. (64r - 64v) The Council remitted to a committee of the magistrates, the Dean of Guild and the Treasurer, or any three of them, arrangement of the public roup of the butcher's shops and pillars in the Flesh Market, in accordance with the Act of Council of 4 April 1801. Also to arrange the public roup of the feus of three pieces of waste ground in the Town's commonty in terms of the Act of Council of 28 August 1801: one adjacent to the Lands of Barkmill; one on the south side of the Middle Road opposite to Burnside, called Bonnymuir; and one at the top of the Stocket at the entry to Skene Road. (64v - 65r) 29 September 1801