SECTION. 1. Commissioners of Streets authorized to sell certain lands. 2. Appointment of appraisers for valuation of such property. 3. Appointment of Umpire. 4. Application of purchase money 5. Appraisement of damage done to James W. Turner.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Commissioners: 1. The Commissioners of Streets for the Town of Dartmouth or their successors in office for the time being may, by deed to be executed by them or a majority of them, grant, sell, convey, enfeoff, release and confirm to William S. Symonds or any other person all the public land and land covered with water situate in the Town of Dartmouth, at the foot of Stairs Street, between the North and South properties of the said William S. Symonds, with the water grant, and land covered with water, lying in front thereof, and all the right, title, property, claim and interest of the Town of Dartmouth or the Commissioners of Streets for the time being therein.
Appointment of appraisers for valuation of such property: 2. Should the said William S. Symonds or other person desiring to purchase such land and land covered with water, and property. the Commissioners of Streets for the time being not be able to agree upon the value of such property and the price to be paid therefor, the said William S. Symonds or other person desirous of purchasing the same shall appoint under his hand one Appraiser, and the Commissioners of Streets for the time being or a majority of them, shall in like manner appoint under their hands one Appraiser who together shall appraise and value such property so to be sold, whose valuation shall be final and shall fix the consideration money to be paid for the said property.
Appointment of umpire: 3. In case the Appraisers shall fail to agree upon the value of such property they shall call in and appoint under their hands an Umpire who shall decide between them and whose valuation shall be in like manner final and shall fix the consideration money to be paid for the property.
Application of purchase money: 4. The purchasers of such property shall pay the consideration money to the Commissioners of Streets for the time being to be by them applied under the direction of the “ The Annual Town Meeting” to the improvement of the Streets of the Town of Dartmouth.
Appraisement of damage done to James W. Turner: 5. James W. Turner shall nominate one Appraiser and the Commissioners of Streets shall nominate another Appraiser, who having first subscribed an affidavit in writing to be sworn to before a Justice of the Peace to the effect that they will faithfully make such appraisement, shall, with all convenient speed, proceed to the lands owned by the said James W. Turner and appraise the damage if any sustained by him, by reason of the conveyance in this Act named, and in case such Appraisers cannot agree they shall choose a third Appraiser to be sworn as aforesaid, and the sum awarded by a majority of such appraisers, in writing, for such damage, if any, shall be paid to the said James W. Turner by the Treasurer of the Town of Dartmouth.
“To authorize the Commissioners of Streets for the Town of Dartmouth to sell certain lands”, 1873 c19
An Act for holding the first Municipal Election in the Town of Dartmouth. (Passed the 30th day of April, A. D., 1873.)
SECTION 1. -First Municipal election-when to be held.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
First municipal election when to be held: 1. The municipal elections to be held in the Town of Dart-mouth during the present year shall take place on the third Tuesday of May instead of at the time appointed therefor by the Act incorporating such Town.
“For holding the first Municipal Election in the Town of Dartmouth”, 1873 c18
SECTION. 1. Boundary of the municipality of the Town of Dartmouth. 2. Division of the town into wards. 3. Council. 4. Qualification of candidates for office of Warden or Councillor. 5. Persons qualified to vote. 6. Election of Warden and Councillor. 7. Senior Councillor to retire each year. Persons elected refusing to serve forefeit $40. Proviso. 8. Appointment of Election Officers. 9. Electors must produce receipts for Poor and County rates. 10. Nomination of Candidates. 11. Opening and closing of polls. 12. Vote by ballot. 13. Ballot boxes. 14. Illegal ballots. 15. No officer to interfere with voter. Penalty. 16. Manner of proceeding when too many ballots in any box. 17. Poll list. Declaration of number of votes. 18. Vote of Presiding Officer. 19. Notice of closing poll. 20. Penalty for illegally voting. 21. Penalty for offering forged receipt or 22. Presiding Officer to make a return of votes. 23. Declaration. Equality of votes. 24. Result of election to be published in Royal Gazette. 25. Swearing in. Form of oath of office. 26. Duties of Warden. 27. Duties of the Council. 28. Further duties, powers, and authority, of Council. 29. Meetings of Council. 30. Presiding officer at meetings. 31. Council to appoint Town Officers 32. Duties of Town Clerk 33. Duties of Officers to be set out in bye-laws. 34. Council to make rules, regulations and bye-laws. 35. Certain property vested in town. 36. The Town to be a separate school section. 37. Certain districts to be part of town for school purposes. 38. Auditors. 39. Council to pass accounts after report of Auditor. 40. Statement of Auditors to be printed. 41. Council to have regulations of all moneys in Treasury. 42. Annual meeting of rate-payers. Warden to report on state and condition of Town. 43. Issuing of debentures. 44. Payment of interest. Debentures when redeemable. 45. Such debentures free from taxation 46. Sinking fund. 47. Polling District No. 31. 48. Council authorized to carry out existing contracts.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Boundary of the municipality of the Town of Dartmouth: 1. A municipality shall be erected within the County of Halifax, to be bounded as follows, that is to say: Beginning on the eastern side of the Harbor of Halifax, at a point in such Harbor distant three hundred feet Westerly from the SouthWestern corner of a lot of land formerly owned by Judge Johnston and by him conveyed to John Esdaile; thence to run Eastwardly till it strikes the road leading to the property of the late John Esson; thence by the Southern side of such road and following the course thereof Eastwardly to such Esson property ; thence along the Western boundary of such property, Southwardly to the South-Western corner thereof; thence Eastwardly to Gaston’s Road, and crossing such road to a point at right angles with the extension of a new road laid out by J. W. Watt through Manor Hill Farm; thence Northwardly to such road and by such road for the length thereof; thence Northwardly to the causeway at Hurley’s on the First Lake; thence Northwardly to the North-East boundary of Stair’s Ropewalk property; thence Westwardly to a point three hundred feet into the Harbor of Halifax; and thence Southwardly to the place of beginning; to be called and known as the “Town of Dartmouth”.
Division of the Town into Wards: 2. The Town shall be divided into three Wards :
Ward Number One.
To include all that portion of the Town lying to the South of a line through the centre of Portland Street to the Bridge, and of a line through the centre of the road leading from the Bridge to Hurley’s at the Lake.
Ward Number Two.
All that portion of the Town lying to the North of such lines and to the South of a line through the centre of Gaetz Road and of a line through the centre of Ochterlony Street.
Ward Number Three.
All that portion of the Town lying to the North of the line through the centre of Ochterlony Street and Gaetz Road, and South of the Northern boundary of the Town.
Council: 3. The Town shall be a corporation and shall be governed by a Council to consist of a Warden and six Councillors, residents of the Town, to be elected by the rate-payers thereof. Such Warden and Councillors shall be ex officio Justices of the Peace within the limits of the Town.
Qualification of Candidates for office of Warden or Councillor: 4. The qualification of a candidate for the office of Warden or Councillor shall be the possession of one thousand dollars, real and personal property beyond any amount he may justly owe.
Persons qualified to vote: 5. All male residents of the Town who shall have been so for at least one year next previous to the election, being natural born or naturalized subjects of Her Majesty of the full age of twenty one years, and who shall have been assessed for Poor or County rates within the limits of the Town for the year previous and paid the same, or who though resident out of the Town shall own real estate therein, on which they shall have been assessed and paid the rates, shall be entitled and qualified to vote at any election for Warden or Councillor.
Election of Wardens and Councillors: 6. The election for Warden and Councillors shall be held Election of on the first Tuesday of May, in the present and each succeeding year. Two Councillors, to hold office for two years, shall be elected by each Ward ; and the Warden to hold office for one year, by all the Wards. The Warden and one Councillor from each Ward shall go out of office at the end of each year, but shall be eligible for re-election.
Senior councillors to retire each year, Persons elected refusing to serve to forfeir $40, Proviso: 7. At the close of the first year, the Warden shall draw lots to determine which of the Councillors for each Ward shall retire. In succeeding years the senior Councillor of each Ward shall retire. Any person elected as Warden or Councillor, and refusing to serve, shall forfeit the sum of Forty Dollars to the refusing to serve use of the Town. Provided that no Warden or Councillor, who shall have served for one term, shall be subject to fine for non-acceptance of office on re-election, until the expiration of three years from the date of his first election.
Appointment of election officers: 8. The first election shall be conducted by a presiding officer to be appointed by the Governor in Council who shall appoint a deputy presiding Officer and Inspector and Poll Clerk for each Ward. Succeeding elections shall be conducted by presiding Officers and Inspectors to be named by the Council, together with a Poll Clerk’ for each Ward. Notice of the time and place of holding elections shall be posted up, in the case of the first election by the presiding Officer, and of succeeding elections by the Council in two of the most public places in each Ward of the Town for ten days previous to the holding of any such election.
Electors must produce receipts for Poor and County rates: 9. Any person offering to vote at any such election shall produce to the officer presiding at such election his receipt for poor and county rates for the year previous, and the production of such receipt shall decide his eligibility to vote at such election.
Nomination of candidates: 10. All candidates for the offices of Warden and Councillors shall be proposed in writing by two rate-payers; the Councillors by rate-payers residents of the Ward for which the Councillors are to be elected, and their names shall be handed in at the first election to the presiding officer appointed by the Governor in Council, and in succeeding elections to the Town Clerk, at least three days previous to the holding of any such election; and the presiding officer and Town Clerk shall post up the names of the candidates in one conspicuous place outside and one inside where the said elections shall be held, and shall also furnish the names of candidates for Warden and Councillors for the several Wards to any rate-payer desiring the same.
Opening and closing of polls: 11. The polls shall be opened at nine of the clock in the morning, and closed at four in the afternoon; but they may be earlier closed by proclamation, if no vote be polled within the hour.
Vote by ballot: 12 The votes shall be given at the election by ballot. The ballot shall be a paper ticket which shall contain in writing or printing or partly written and partly printed the name of the person for whom the elector intends to vote, designating on the back the office which the person named inside is intended to fill. Each voter shall deliver his ballot folded up to the inspector. The inspector shall ascertain that the ballot is single, without reading it, and shall then deposit it without delay in the ballot-box.
Ballot Boxes: 13. There shall be in the charge of the officer presiding one or more ballot-boxes. When the Warden and Councillors are to be elected, there shall be two ballot-boxes in each Ward, to receive separate ballots from each voter for the different offices.
Illegal ballots: 14. No ballot shall contain more names than there are persons to be chosen to the office, no ballot shall be rejected because found in a box to which it does not belong, if otherwise correct, but a ballot if double or containing more names than legal, shall be rejected.
No officer to interfere with voter, Penalty: 15. No officer presiding at any election nor any poll clerk or inspector or officer of the Town present thereat, shall give to any voter any ballot to vote with, or offer or give him any advice as to the person for whom he should vote, or otherwise interfere with the voter in the exercise of his franchise. Any such presiding officer, poll clerk, inspector or officer offending against this section shall forfeit for every offence, a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, to be recovered by any person in the Police Court, or imposed as a fine in the Police Court upon complaint and proof by any person present at such election.
Manner of proceeding when too many ballots in any box: 16. On opening the boxes, if it is found that the ballots in any of the boxes exceed the number of votes entered on the poll list, the ballots of that box shall be returned and well mingled; and then the presiding Officer shall draw out publicly as many of them without looking at them as equals the excess and destroy them at once.
Poll list, Declaration of number of votes: 17. The name of each elector voting at such election shall be written in a poll list to be kept at such election by the Poll Clerk and immediately after the final close of the poll, all the votes given in each Ward, being sorted and counted and publicly declared by the presiding Officer and Inspectors, shall be Declaration of recorded at large by the Poll Clerk, and in making such declaration and record the whole number of votes or ballots given in shall be distinctly stated, together with the name of every person voted for and the number of votes given for each person respectively, and the presiding Officer shall proceed publicly to declare the persons having the majority of votes in heir favor to be duly elected.
Vote of Presiding officer: 18. If there shall be at the final closing of the poll, an equal number of votes polled for two or more persons, the presiding Officer shall give a vote for one or other of the persons having such equality of votes in order to give a majority to one of them; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the presiding Officer from voting previously to the close of the poll in the same manner as other citizens may vote, and in case of his being entitled to vote in any Ward other than that in which he shall be appointed to preside, he may give such vote by proxy—such proxy being in writing and signed and having the receipt for taxes of the presiding officer so voting by proxy annexed thereto.
Notice of closing poll: 19. The presiding officer may at any time give public notice that unless some voter shall come forward to poll within an hour the poll will be closed, and if no voter comes forward within the hour, the poll shall then be finally closed.
Penalty for illegally voting: 20. Any person knowingly and wilfully voting at any election held under this Act when not entitled so to vote ; any person voting in a ward in which he is not entitled to vote ; any person fraudulently putting in more than one ballot when voting; and any person who shall vote in more than one Ward at any such election shall for every such offence forfeit and pay to the Town a sum not less than eight dollars nor more than twenty dollars to be recovered in the name of the Town of Dartmouth in the Police Court; and in default of payment after conviction shall be committed to the County Jail for a term not less than thirty days nor more than six months.
Penalty for offering forged receipt or voting under an assumed name: 21. If any person at an election, for the purpose of giving a vote shall knowingly and fraudulently offer a forged or altered receipt for his rates and taxes or such a receipt or certificate, under assumed belonging to another person, as his own, or shall vote falsely under the assumed name and character of any voter; he shall forfeit and pay to the Town not less than eight nor more than forty dollars to be recovered in the name of the Town of Dartmouth at the Police Office, and in default of payment shall be imprisoned for not less than one month nor more than six months, and in every such case shall be incapable of voting or holding office in the Town for seven years next after the offence.
Presiding Officer to make a return of votes: 22. The Officer presiding at every election shall on or before the next day make a return, in the case of the first election to the Presiding Officer, and of subsequent elections to the Town Clerk, of the names of the persons having the majority of votes and declared by him elected, and when an election of Warden takes place, a return also of the names of the candidates and of the number of votes given for each.
Declarations, Equality of votes: 23. In the first election of Warden, the Presiding Officer, in succeeding elections, the Council, shall in public cause the returns to be read and the votes for each candidate summed up and the person who has the greatest number of votes in his favor shall be declared to be the Warden on the day of the election or the day following. In case of an equality of votes for Warden, at the first election, the presiding officer, at succeeding elections the officer presiding in Council, shall by his casting vote decide which of the candidates shall be Warden.
Result of election to be published in the Royal Gazette: 24. The result of every election respectively of Warden and Councillors shall be published in the next Royal Gazette newspaper after the election.
Swearing in: 25. The Warden and Councillors shall before entering upon the duties of their offices respectively be sworn by taking and subscribing the oath of allegiance and oath of office. These oaths shall be administered to the Warden elect before the Custos of the County or in his absence before two Justices of the Peace for the County. The Councillors shall be sworn to these oaths by the Warden or presiding Councillor, a certificate of such oaths having been taken shall be entered by the Town Clerk in the Town minutes. The oath of office shall be as follows:
Form of oath of office: “I, A. B. do swear that I am duly qualified as required by law for the office of —– that I am seized or possessed as the owner in my own right and for my own use and benefit of real or personal estate in the Town of Dartmouth of the value of one thousand dollars beyond the amount of my just debts; and that I have not obtained the same by fraud or collusion to qualify myself for office, and I swear that I will faithfully perform the duties of —– while I hold the office, with diligence and impartiality to the best of my ability. So help me God.” The blanks shall be filled up with the name of office before the oath is taken or subscribed.
Duties of Warden: 26. The Warden shall be the head of the Council, and the head and Chief Executive officer of the town; and it shall be his duty to be vigilant and active at all times in causing the law for the government of the town to be duly executed and put in force; to inspect the conduct of all subordinate officers in the government thereof, and, as far as may be in his power, to cause all negligence, carelessness, and positive violation of duty to be duly prosecuted and punished-; and to communicate from time to time to the Council all such information, and recommend all such measures, as may tend to the improvement of the finances, the Police, health, security, cleanliness, comfort and appearance of the town.
Duties of the Council: 27. It shall be the duty of the Council to assist the Warden in the discharge of his duties, and to appoint one or more of the members to be a committee to oversee the different public services of the town, who shall at each quarterly meeting report the state of the services committed to their charge. The Council shall have power to control the making, maintaining and improving the roads and streets of the town, and the laying out new ones if necessary. To direct and enforce the performance of the statute labor, and to control the expenditure of the commutation money. They shall have jurisdiction over all the property of the town, which they shall protect : Over the support and regulation of the public schools, and the appointment of the teachers : The support of the Poor : The licensing the sale of Intoxicating Liquors : Fixing the rate of Licenses : Regulating the Assessments : Collecting the Assessments : The making all contracts relative to matters under their control, which contracts, after having been duly considered by the Council, shall be signed by the Warden and countersigned by the clerk : The appointing of all subordinate officers of the town, fixing the amount of their remuneration, and the time and mode of paying them : The returns of Assessors and Collectors, and the appointing of Presiding Officers, and the regulating the conduct of elections.
Further duties, powers, and authority of Council: 28. They shall vote, assess, collect, receive, appropriate, and pay whatever moneys are required for County Assessments, poor, school and other rates and assessments, and shall have, within the Town, all the powers relating thereto, vested in the Sessions, Grand Jury, School Meeting and Town Meeting; and shall have and exercise within the Town all the powers and authority which within the district, previous to the passing of this Act of Incorporation, where exercised by the Sessions, Grand Jury, or Town or School Meeting, or Trustees of Schools and Public Property. They shall also have the power of enforcing due observance of the Lord’s Day, of preventing vice, drunkenness, profane swearing, obscene language, and every other species of immorality in the public streets and roads, and all places within the bounds of such Town; and of preserving peace and good order in such streets and roads, taverns, and other places, and of preventing the sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians, minors and apprentices, and of preventing the excessive beating, or cruel and inhuman treatment of animals, and of restraining and punishing all vagabonds, drunkards and beggars, and all persons found drunk or disorderly in any street, road, or public highway, in the Town : Also, the providing for any other purpose, matter or thing specially subjected to the control of the Council by any law or bye-law of the Town ; but no bye-law shall impose any penalty exceeding Eighty Dollars; and the Council may, by a bye-law, impose a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months in default of payment of such fine.
Meetings of Council: 29. There shall be held every year four quarterly meetings of the Council, and special meetings to be called by the Warden as often as necessary.
Presiding officer at meeting: 30. The Warden, when present, shall preside at all meetings, and, in his absence, the Council shall elect a presiding officer for the time being, from among themselves.
Council to appoint Town Officers: 31. The Council shall annually appoint a Clerk, Treasurer, Police and Stipendiary Magistrate, Assessors, Overseers of Poor, Health Officers, Clerk of Licenses, Superintendent of Streets and Commons, Collectors of Poor, County, School, and other rates and assessments, Firewards and Fire Constables, Police Constables, Clerks of Markets and Measurers and Weighers, and every other officer from time to time deemed necessary to the due performance and carrying on the business of the Town and the preservation of order.
Duties of Town Clerk: 32. The Town Clerk shall, until the Council shall declare otherwise by some bye-law to be by them passed therefor, perform the duties appertaining to the office of Treasurer, Clerk of Overseers of Poor, Clerk of License, Collector of School, Poor, County and other rates and assessments, and all other duties that may be from time to time required of him by the Council.
Duties of officers to be set out in bye-laws: 33. The duties of the various officers shall be specifically to be set out in set out in the bye-laws of the Town.
Council to make rules, regulations and bye-laws. 34. The Council shall also have power to make, and from time to time, to alter and repeal all such bye-laws, rules and regulations, as may be necessary for the conduct and good order of their proceedings, the direction of the Town Clerk and all other officers, and touching all matters within their authority, including the altering, limiting, or modifying the mode in which the labor on the Streets and roads shall be performed or of substituting assessment in lieu thereof, of the performance of labor on the said streets and roads, as they may judge proper, and shall make all rules necessary for the creating and for the conduct, management and regulation of the Police and Municipal Court of the Town and for the regulating the mode of assessment, and of levying the same, and shall also make all regulations necessary for holding elections to supply vacancies occurring within the year in the office of Warden or Councillors, which rules, bye-laws and regulations, when approved of by the Governor in Council, shall have the force of law.
Certain property vested in Town: 35. The Common of Dartmouth, the School House and all property, real and personal, which at the passing of this Act of Incorporation shall be public property or shall have been held in trust for the Town of Dartmouth, shall on the passing of this Act vest in and become the property of the Town.
The Town to be a separate school section: 36. After the passing of this Act the Town shall be set off The Town to be into a separate School Section, and the Town shall have the expenditure of all school rates raised within its limits for the schools of the Town, as also of all Government and School grants for such schools, which grants shall be paid to the Town.
Certain districts to form part of town for school purposes: 37. For all school purposes the district lying between the Northern boundary of the Town and the lands of the British to Government and the district lying between the Southern boundary of the Town and Herbert’s Brook, shall form part of the “Town of Dartmouth,” and the Town shall be entitled to receive and be paid the proportion of the Government School grants, payable in respect of such districts, and to impose and levy the County School assessments and all school taxes on such districts and collect the same in the same manner as if such districts formed part of such Town.
Auditors: 38. The Council shall annually appoint two Auditors. No Auditors. one who during the preceding year shall have been a member of the Council or a contractor or officer appointed by the Council (except an Auditor) shall be eligible. The Auditors shall examine and report upon all accounts affecting the Town or relating to any matter under its control, or within its jurisdiction for the year preceding their appointment. The Auditors shall prepare an abstract of the receipts, expenditures and liabilities of the Town, and also a detailed statement of such particulars in such form as the Council shall direct, and shall report in duplicate on all the accounts audited by them, and shall file such report in the office of the Clerk of the Council within one month after their appointment, and thereafter one copy shall be open to the inspection of any rate-payer at all seasonable hours, and he may by himself or his agent at his own expense take a copy thereof or extract therefrom.
Council to pass accounts after report of auditors: 39. The Council shall, upon the report of the Auditors, finally pass and allow the accounts of the Treasurer and Collectors and all accounts chargeable against the Corporation, and in cases of charges not regulated by law or bye-laws the Council shall allow what is reasonable.
Statement of Auditors to be printed: 40. The Town Clerk shall print and publish the Auditors abstract and shall also publish the detailed statement in such form as the Council shall direct.
Council to have regulating of all moneys in Treasury: 41. The Council shall have the regulating and ordering of all moneys to be paid out of funds in the hands of the Treasurer.
Annual meeting of ratepayers, Warden to report on state and condition of Town: 42. The Council shall in each year convene a public meeting of the rate-payers of the town, to be holden at such time, not later than one week previous to the annual election of Councillors, and at such place as the bye-laws may designate, at which meeting the accounts of the year, as audited, shall be produced if called for, and the Council shall, through the Warden to rereport to the meeting the state and condition of the condition of Town, and the efficiency of the several departments; and shall recommend to the meeting any proposed improvements and alterations, and shall furnish an approximate estimate of the expenses of all kinds required to be incurred for the current year, including the County rates of the Town, for the incoming year, and the amount required to be raised to defray the same, for which sum the incoming Council shall assess and shall also recommend any additional sum required to meet any contemplated extraordinary services or improvements; and the ratepayers may, by a vote of a majority present, affirm such expenditure, and the Council shall, at their next ensuing meeting, pass a bye-law imposing a rate to meet such extraordinary expenditure so affirmed, or shall raise the required amount by the issue of bonds or debentures of the town, and by assessment make provision for meeting the interest.
Issuing of debentures: 43. The Council shall be authorized and empowered upon a vote of a majority of the rate-payers present at the annual public meeting, to issue debentures under the hand of the Warden, and any two or more of the Councillors, and under the seal of the Town and countersigned by the Clerk, for the purpose of raising the necessary funds for the purchase of any property, or the erection of any building for the town or the carrying out any municipal work or improvement.
Payment of interest, Debentures when redeemable: 44. Such debentures shall bear interest at the rate of Six Dollars by the hundred by the year, payable half-yearly, and shall be redeemable at periods to be expressed in such debentures, not exceeding twenty years from the date of issuing the same, and shall not be issued for a less sum than One Hundred Dollars each. The debentures shall be made payable to the respective holders thereof, and the Town shall be at liberty to pay and redeem any of such debentures after the expiration of five years from the date thereof, upon giving the holders six months’ notice.
Such debentures free from taxation: 45. Such Debentures shall be free from municipal taxation.
Sinking Fund: 46. The Council shall, on the request of a majority of the rate-payers at any annual meeting after the issue of any bonds or debentures, make provision for forming a Sinking Fund for paying off such bonds or debentures.
Polling District No. 31: 47. All that part of Polling District number Thirty-one, lying outside of the boundary of the town of Dartmouth, as hereby incorporated, shall for all County, Town, and Poor purposes be still considered and known as District number Thirty one.
Council authorized to carry out existing contracts: 48. And whereas the rate payers of Dartmouth have previously to the passing of this Act authorized the purchase of certain property, known as the Presbyterian Church property, for the use of the Town, and also the construction of certain water tanks and ponds for fire purposes, the Council are hereby empowered to carry out all contracts, engagements, and agreements heretofore made bona fide, and to provide for the payment of all liabilities heretofore incurred and entered into on behalf of the Town by assessment or the issue of Debentures.
“An Act to incorporate the Town of Dartmouth”, 1873 c17
An Act to Incorporate the Proprietors of Prince Arthur’s Park.
(Passed the 18th day of April, A.D. 1870.)
SECTION
1. Incorporation.
2. Votes of Proprietors.
3. Board of Directors.
4. First Meeting, when and where held.
5. Election of Officers.
6. Assessment.
7. No Encroachment.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Incorporation:
1. Bennett H. Hornsby, John Esdaile, Daniel McNeil Parker, James W. Johnston, J. Norman Ritchie, Alfred C. Cogswell and Frederick Fishwick, and such other persons as now are or may become proprietors of any portion of that tract of land at Dartmouth, in the county of Halifax, known as Prince Arthur’s Park, bounded northerly by property of Honorable James W. Johnston, easterly by the Cole Harbour and Gaston Roads, southerly by property of the estate of John Esson, and westerly by the Eastern Passage Road, containing one hundred and six acres, more or less, are declared to be a Company, which is hereby incorporated, by the name of the “Proprietors of Prince Arthur’s Park”; and they shall have the maintenance, control, and management, of all the roads, reserves, drives, avenues and sidewalks in such Park, and the lodges and gates therein erected, and shall make regulations relative thereto.
Votes of Proprietors:
2. Every proprietor of land in the said Park shall have one vote, and if he owns more than one acre therein, he shall have a vote for every acre so owned by him. Any proprietor who disposes of all his land in said Park shall thereupon cease to be a member of this Corporation.
Board of Directors:
3. The affairs of the Company shall be managed by a Board of Directors, of not less than three, or more than five, one of whom shall retire annually, but shall be eligible for re-election.
First meeting – when and where held:
4. The first meeting shall be held on the first Wednesday First Meeting,
in May next, and an annual meeting shall be held on the first Wednesday of September, in each year, including the present year.
Election of officers:
5. The Directors and other officers shall be elected at the first meeting in May, or some adjournment thereof.
Assessment:
6. At the first meeting, or any adjournment thereof, and at the annual meeting in each year, or at any special meeting called for that purpose, the Company shall assess the proprietors of all lands within the said Park, for an amount sufficient to uphold and maintain in good order and condition the roads, reserves, drives, avenues and sidewalks within such Park, and the gates and gate-keeper’s lodges erected therein, and the fences around the same, and to do such other work as shall be for the advantage of such Park and the proprietors thereof, which amount shall be apportioned by the Directors among the proprietors of such Park, in proportion to the extent of land owned by each of them; and the amount so apportioned shall be a first lien upon the land, and shall be collected from the individual proprietors in the name of the Company, as if it were a private debt.
No Encroachment:
7. No person, whether a proprietor or not, shall encroach upon or encumber the roads reserved in the Park any portion of the allotted width of sixty feet, or any of the other reserves made in the Park; and any proprietor or other person so offending shall forfeit two dollars. for the first offence, and one dollar for every day after the first day during which the encumbrance, or encumbrances, or any part thereof, shall be continued; and after a week any one or more of the Directors shall abate the nuisance, and may sell or dispose of at public auction, or private sale, all the materials and the substances which caused such encumbrance or encumbrances, and the proceeds thereof, and also the said fines, shall go into the improvement fund for the maintenance of the roads and other subjects mentioned in the sixth section.
“An Act to Incorporate the Proprietors of Prince Arthur Park”, 1870 c71
An Act further to amend the Acts relating to the Dartmouth Common. (Passed the 18th day of April, A.D. 1872.)
SECTION. 1. Trustees of Dartmouth empowered to sell certain portion of the Common. 2. Purchase money applied to general purposes of Common. 3. Inconsistent law repealed.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and Assembly as follows:
Trustees of Dartmouth empowered to sell certain portion of Common: 1. The Trustees of the Dartmouth Common are empowered to sell in such lots in such manner and at such prices as they shall see fit, all that lot and parcel of land being part of such Common, and bounded on the South by property of David Falconer, and there measuring forty feet, more or less, on the east by the Main Road through the Common and there measuring seven hundred feet, more or less, on the north by property of Dominick Farrell, and there measuring six feet more or less and on the west by the Fairfield property.
Purchase money applied to general purposes of the Common: 2. The Trustees are empowered to convey the same in fee simple, and to apply the purchase money to the general purposes of the Common.
Inconsistent law repealed: So much of the existing law as is inconsistent with this Act Inconsistent law is repealed.
“To further amend (To amend the several Acts relating to the Dartmouth Common, 1868 c31), Trustees of the Dartmouth Common may sell lots”, 1872 c40
Although the exodus of young people seeking work in the United States continued, and there were several houses for sale or let in 1879, yet the industrial situation seemed to be improving.
The annual output of the Starr Factory was about 40,000 pairs of skates and many of these were shipped to the United States and to Europe. Of late years German competition was beginning to threaten their sales. About this time they commenced the manufacture of shovels, and the firm continually submitted tenders on government bridge-building projects. Among local jobs completed by the Starr Factory in 1879 was the making and setting-up of iron vaults and doors for the new Merchants Bank at Halifax. (Now Royal Bank.)
Aggressive Dartmouthians kept up their agitation for a railway that spring. There was talk in the air that the Allan line might build piers in Dartmouth if railroad connections were made available. At a public meeting held in April 1879, resolutions were passed memorializing the Dominion Government on the subject of building a branch line from Windsor Junction. About that time also, steps were taken to beautify the town when the Council encouraged the planting of shade-trees by abating taxes on property so ornamented. The tax rate was $1.05 compared with a 75 cent rate in the first year of incorporation. The estimate expeditures for the municipal year beginning May 1st, was $16,882. An amount was to be asked for the purchase of Lake Loon, and $200 was voted to build a school-house for [black] children. J. G. Foster became Town Magistrate.
Perhaps the biggest construction job that year was the $1,990 contract for a new Baptist Church on King Street built by Rhodes Curry and Co. of Amherst. This Gothic-style edifice occupied the site of the original Church which was then removed to the rear to be used for Sunday School classes.
About the same time, the lofty three-storey structure at the southwest corner of Portland and Prince Street was built for Mrs. Isabelle Lawlor. (This is now Chisling’s corner.)
The present Lesbirel building on Commercial Street was erected for George Craig, the barber-photographer, by Contractor John T. Walker, also in 1879. This soon became the leading tonsorial parlor in town and was patronized by leading citizens. Mr. Craig possessed considerable talent and ambition. As a young man he worked regularly as a factory hand in the Ropeworks, and employed his nightly leisure learning the barbering trade. Barber shops then kept open evenings, and also on Sunday mornings to serve Saturday midnight shop-workers.
Safety razors were 40 years away. The danger and difficulty of manipulating straight-edge razors did not encourage the majority of males to practise the fine art of shaving, with the result that many a man made frequent visits to his chosen barber-shop where his private shaving-mug was held in readiness. Shaves were seven cents. Most adults grew moustaches, sometimes sideburns. A haircut on Saturday night was generally taboo, even though long waits were of little consequence. Spending an hour or so in a group where everybody knew one another was an entertainment in itself, especially with a punster like George Craig steering the conversation.
The masculine privacy of 19th century barber-shops was seldom violated by the presence of women. Occasionally of an afternoon, some fond mother whose young hopeful needed a haircut, might be seen herding the little fellow past the customary row of spittoons to a distant seat where both were isolated from the men-folk, over whom an awed silence would generally descend.
The unsolved mystery of Dr. John McDonald, was brought again to public attention in 1879 when a human skull was found underground in the cellar-kitchen of the house where the Doctor once lived on Blockhouse Hill. For a time the incident aroused considerable excitement among older residents who now felt there was sufficient proof that Dr. McDonald had been murdered in that house. At the ensuing inquest, however, a former occupant, Mrs. Mary Loner declared that the skull had been given her by the widow of Dr. John Slayter, and that she had hidden it in the ground some years previously. Dr. W. H. Weeks also stated that he recognized the skull as the one belonging to Dr. Slayter, and it was supposed to be the head of one of the “Saladin” pirates who were hanged in 1844.
In October, Dartmouth had another mystery on its hands. Hugh Greene well-known resident and former inn-keeper at Skerry’s Corner was listed as missing. His family organized search-parties to scour the woods for some days until tidings came that the old man had eaten dinner at Nichols Hotel at Grand Lake on the 18th. More parties continued the search in that area, and only abandoned their attempts when it was felt that Mr. Greene must have frozen to death or been drowned.
County Magistrate Andrew Shiels, best known as “Albyn,” died in his 88th year at his residence 114 Ochterloney Street in November. His first blacksmith shop was set up near the ferry wharf in Halifax. In the volume of Albyn’s poetry available at the Provincial Archives, appear the following lines deploring the fact that the sacrifices of early settlers are not better remembered:
Lo! even in Quakertown, the fiendish raid Is quite forgotten that the Micmacs made;
And all the legends which it once could boast Have, with itself in Dartmouth, long been lost!
Nor is there any vestige left that says,
Where stood the Blockhouse in the former days.
By 1879 several telephones had been installed in business houses and offices of Halifax. The first telephone line in Dartmouth was a private wire strung that autumn from the residence of John P. Mott at Hazelhurst to one of his factory buildings about 150 yards southward.
In the shipbuilding line, Eben Moseley built a 32-ton schooner called the “Mora.” Alexander Forsyth acquired the grocery establishment in the new shop and residence at the present 85 Commercial Street which had been previously erected by E. L. Coleman. The latter lost the property in a Sheriff’s sale. At the northeast corner of Pine and Ochterloney Streets, an unoccupied house belonging to Alexander Richard was destroyed by fire.
Dartmouth deaths in 1879 included Olivia, 28 years, wife of John Greene, Portland Street jeweler; Anne 61, wife of David Falconer at “Greenvale”; Charlotte, wife of S. P. Fairbanks, Eastern Passage Road (Woodside); Mary Ann 24, wife of Peter O’Hearn, Halifax schoolteacher; Charlotte Donig, 53, wife of John Mansfield; Mary 92, widow of James Collins, Portland Street; Elizabeth 78, widow of Michael Waddell, Blockhouse Hill; Barbara 69, widow of John Jackson; Louise 70, widow and second wife of ex-Premier James W. Johnston, died at residence of her stepson at “Sunnyside”; Stephen Faulkner 66, Dundas Street; Francis Young 67, shipbuilder; Sackville McKay 73, Ochterloney Street; Daniel Sullivan 52, Austenville; Jeremiah Donovan 79; Henry Monohan 39, Porto Bello Road at Port Wallace.
The first public demonstration of a telephone in Dartmouth, and also the first local broadcast over wires took place on March 21st, 1878, when a vocal and instrumental concert at the Town Hall was heard and acknowledged through telephone apparatus set up in the Dominion Telegraph Company’s office at 187 Hollis Street in Halifax. The Dartmouth hookup was made by connecting a telephone instrument to the local telegraph wire, an extension of which had been run in to the auditorium of the Town Hall.
This Dartmouth exhibition of the newly-invented telephone, previously advertised as a feature of the concert, was highly successful. Communication was held with the City, and the notes of musical instruments were clearly heard by a group assembled in the Halifax office. They in turn rendered a short program which was listened to by the Town Hall audience. A few names of our own people who took part in the concert and whose voices may have been among those that went out over the wire that evening are preserved in the newspapers. According to the program there were readings by Miss Sarah Findlay, Dutch recitations by Thomas Harrison and a medley of songs by Messrs. Shute and Ruggles. The 63rd Regiment Band furnished music.
The proceeds of the concert were in aid of the Dartmouth Temperance Reform Club, which had just been organized with Dr. W. H. Weeks, John Lawlor and John E. Leadley as the principal officers. They had a membership of nearly 600, and were campaigning for funds to erect a commodious hall for meetings and entertainments.
Dartmouth had two spectacular night-fires that year. The more glaring one occurred at the gristmill in April. The second was at Oland’s Brewery in early August. Both were disastrous. At the unoccupied four-storey gristmill, wind-fanned sheets of flame shot upward to redden the sky so alarmingly that people in west-end Halifax imagined their own downtown business section was ablaze. Elderly Dartmouth men of our time who were youths in 1878, often related how they were impressed into giving the fire-fighters a spell at the hand-pump engines on that fearful night when flying embers threatened rooftops and stifling smoke choked the lungs. The efforts of workers were largely centred on saving the storehouse.
The gristmill fire was among the last jobs of the old style rope-drawn engines, for in July the Town took delivery of a brand new horse-drawn fire engine from the Silsby Manufacturing Company of Seneca Falls, N. Y. In honor of the consort of the Governor-General of Canada, the engine was named ‘the “Lady Dufferin.” She was long considered one of the most efficient machines in Eastern Canada.
There were 39 pupils in the High School department that term. At the closing examinations on July 10th, the following were prize winners in order of merit: Annie Hunt, Edward Fairbanks, LouisMcKenna, Libbie Creelman, Sarah Creighton (now Mrs. Walter Creighton of 114 Ochterloney St.), Lizzie Adams, Ida Bowes, Georgie Grant, Emma Findlay, Alice Downey.
Another move was made in 1878 towards the installation of a water-system when the Town purchased Lamont’s Lake and its gristmill for $3,719.11. Policeman John “Elbows” McLellan was given a $30 increase in salary. A new steel bell weighing 870 pounds was set up in a tower erected on the fire-engine house. Fire gutted the residence and shop of J. E. Leadley who kept a general store, Post Office and telegraph office at Poplar Hill corner. The property was owned by J. R. Ormon, grocer, who was then doing business at Sterns’ Corner near the ferry. Councillor John P. Mott took J. Walter Allison into his establishment and the firm became known as J. P. Mott and Company. The foundry of Mumford and Sons (near the present Police Station) had the most powerful welding-hammer in the Province and was turning out about 1,000 tons of finished iron-work every year. The 90-ton schooner “Blanche” was launched at Ebenezer Moseley’s shipyard. Dartmouth Ropeworks won a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition. A weekly newspaper called the “Dartmouth Tribune” commenced publication in July.
The summer was generally hot. The steamer “Goliath” ran trips from Halifax to Cow Bay where passengers were landed onthe beach in small boats. At Lawlor’s Island in September over1,000 children and adults attended St. Peter’s Sunday School picnic. At Dartmouth there was still the odd bear lurking as will be learned from a newspaper item of October 1878:Bruin is terrorizing certain Dartmouthians just now. The other night he made an unsuccessful raid on a soap manufactory for tallow. Traps have been set, and armed men with dogs await him at night.
There was a Dominion election in 1878 when the Conservatives came back to power on the platform of the National Policy. This policy was adopted by Sir John A. Macdonald’s party largely as a result of the persistent agitation of George G. Dustan of Woodside, who had been long pleading for a protective tariff on sugar imports so that Sugar Refineries could be established and operated with some degree of security. Dartmouth and Halifax County forgot their old enmity towards the Confederationists and elected two Conservatives.
In June of 1877 when a disastrous fire destroyed a great part of St. John, N. B., the Dartmouth Town Council in special session appointed a citizens’ committee to collect food, clothing and funds for the relief of sufferers. Those selected were Peter McNab, J. E. Leadley, W. S. Symonds, George Shiels, Dr. Cogswell, James Reeves, John Forbes, Paul Farrell, J. D. VanBuskirk, T. A. Hyde, G. A. S. Crichton and Frederick Scarfe. The Treasurer was G. A. MacKenzie. They collected nearly $2,600.
At the July examinations of the Dartmouth High School, the following were the prize winners in order of merit: Henry Creighton, Maggie Christie, Emma Hume, Alma Pheener, George Sterns, Bessie Hume, James Bowers, Clara Levy, Annie Webber, Alice Downey, Sarah Walker, Henry McCulloch. In Mr. Metzler’s department the leaders were Annie Hume, Albert Keeler, Hattie Ross, Annie Daly, William Shute, Walter Elliot, Annie Burnyeat, John Young. In Miss O’Toole’s primary school, the winning prizes were awarded to Minnie Tufts and George Findlay.
At Ebenezer Moseley’s yard that summer the 8-ton sailing ship “Kestrel” was launched. At the Starr Manufacturing plant, a heavy iron bridge was fabricated for the Intercolonial Railway, and placed in position at Elmsdale. (The 1936 edition of “First Things in Acadia” says ‘that this was the first bridge of its type in all Canada.)
A branch of the Halifax Dispensary was opened in Dartmouth that year with the help of a small grant from the Town Council, and with Dr. Thomas Milsom as physician. The firm of Warner and Harrison was given the contract for painting the names of streets on corner lamp-posts. There were only about a dozen of these at that time. Residents near the Lake petitioned to have a footpath constructed, and at least two lamps placed on a portion of the road leading past the Inebriates’ Home entrance.
The present Town Hall was purchased from the surviving trustees of the Mechanics’ Institute in 1877 and the interior fitted up to accommodate a Town Clerk’s office, a Court Room and a Council Chamber. The building was opened with a concert in October.
In the leap year of 1876 the Cabbage Club paraded through town on their annual sleigh drive to Griffin’s Inn at Preston. This time they were accompanied by lady friends. The recently organized Red Caps Snowshoe Club of Halifax held a snowshoe race from First Lake to Porto Bello. Eli Veniot, carpenter at the ferry, was fatally injured while cutting ice out of the paddle box of one of the boats. Bowes’ icehouse at the foot of Nowlan Street was badly gutted by fire. The horse races drew a crowd to Second Lake in mid-February.
A lengthy Act for supplying Dartmouth with water passed the Legislature that winter. The Act noted that the ratepayers had previously ratified the borrowing of $33,000 for such purpose. By this legislation the Town was now authorized to construct a water system, provided it received the approval of ratepayers at the town meeting. (The equivalent of a plebiscite.)
The Union Protection Company was organized that year. John Y. Payzant resigned as Stipendiary Magistrate, and was succeeded by Robert Motton of Halifax. The Town Council’s recommendations that a suitable Town Hall be provided; that a steam fire engine be secured and a school be built in Ward III, were approved by the citizens at the annual Town meeting in April. The proposal to construct a water system, however, was defeated by a majority of 13 votes. The number of ratepayers in attendance would be about 100. Estimated expenditures for the year were $14,500, which amount included $5,000 for schools. The salary of Miss Sarah Findlay, assistant to Principal Alexander McKay, was raised to $200. There were12 teachers on the staff, and 11 buildings used. Central was the “big school”. A few classes were held in private homes.
Luther Sterns, who kept the Post Office as a side line in his brick business establishment on Water Street, resigned as Postmaster on April 1st. He was succeeded by John E. Leadley, and the Office removed to the latter’s shop and residence at the southeast corner of King and Portland Streets.
Dartmouth firms which sent their products to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876 included Starr Manufacturing Co., Ropeworks, Symonds’ Foundry, Adam McKay and Ebenezer Moseley, marine paint.
That summer the heat was almost intolerable. In August the mercury rose to 93, the highest in 14 years. Boat-loads of bathers rowed from Halifax to Sandy Cove and Mill Cove. A dozen Dartmouth names of boys appeared in the newspapers as having swum across the harbor at that time. Among the list were Lewis Payzant, 14 years; Charles E. Creighton, Charles H. Harvey, Byron A. Weston and John Woodaman.
In the same newspaper we found the first record of an organized baseball game in Dartmouth, although there must have been games in earlier years because the Common field was available for playing, and by 1876 baseball clubs in Halifax were regularly competing against one another, and even against outside teams. The Halifax-Dartmouth series that summer was between the Bluenose Club of Halifax and the Victoria Club of Dartmouth. On the local nine were Colin McNab, George Sterns, Fred Leadley, Charles Robson, L. Payzant, J. Bowes, W. Bowes, L. Mylius, T. Creighton.
About the time that the famous Fishermen’s four-oared shell crew of Halifax left to compete for the world’s championship at Philadelphia, there was a big regatta held on Second Lake at Dartmouth. The Williams crew won $30 as first prize in the whaler race by defeating the Young-Parker crew and the Heffler crew. In the wherry race with two pairs of paddles, Williams and McKay won $20 as first prize. Other contestants were Moseley and Henderson, Mosher and Wilson. The Williams crew also won the four-oared scull race. In the canoe race Peter Cope won the $14 first prize. Of four competitors in the tub race, Henderson finished first, with Moseley second. First prize $3.
In September the Warden and Councilors of Dartmouth participated in a monster torch-light procession which welcomed home the Fishermen’s crew at North Street railway depot. In the harbor the big cable steamer “Faraday” boomed out a salute of cannon and sent up intermittent shafts of skyrockets into the drizzly darkness.
Wooden Park School on the Common, known as the “Common School” was built in 1876 at a cost of $4,676. Henry Elliot was the architect, and his brother Thomas G. Elliot, the contractor. This building was intended to accommodate all lower grades of the whole school section, so that many young pupils hitherto enrolled at Central School, now had to travel longer distances. They came from homes as far away as the present North Woodside and upper Portland Street areas, and also from Tufts’ Cove neighborhood.
The two-masted twin-screw lighter “Robbie Burns” modelled by Eben Moseley, was built for Contractor Duncan Waddell that year. At the Methodist Church, alterations were made which extended the edifice 20 feet nearer the street. A handsome new front and tower largely improved its appearance. “Willow Cottage” on Preston Road (Prince Albert Road) formerly owned by Thomas Short, was purchased by Councilor Maurice Downey for $2,200. Rev. Alexander Falconer was then selling off his household effects on Cole Harbor Road (289 Portland Street) preparatory to his departure for Trinidad in December. He was to be succeeded at St. James’ Church by Rev. P. M Morrison.
The first telegraph poles and wires made their appearance in Dartmouth during the latter part of 1876. They were erected by the Dominion Telegraph Co., who were constructing a line from Halifax to Canso. In January 1877, a telegraph office was set up in Leadley’s Post Office which gave our town the first electrical communication with Halifax and with the outside world. No longer would it be necessary for merchants and others to send their employees over on the ferry with urgent messages, as had been the practice hitherto. The rate for a 10-word telegram to Halifax was 15 cents, which was about the price of ferriage. The first telegraph operator here was a Miss Phinney from Richibucto, N. B. Later on, Miss Frances Leadley learned the telegraphic art.
The winter of 1875 was the coldest in half a century. The season was vividly remembered by old residents of the present century as the year that the harbor was frozen for the longest period within memory. According to their oral accounts, nearly everybody in Dartmouth and multitudes in Halifax took advantage of the solid surface to cross and re-cross the ice-bridge, either on foot or on runners. Even children in arms were transported, perhaps for the sake of saying in after years that they had gone through the experience.
The sub-zero weather came early in February. On Monday the 8th when the ferry was forced to stop after making only one trip, the tugboat “A.C. Whitney” plowed a channel to Commercial wharf, and carried passengers back and forth at 50 cents a head. By Wednesday the entire harbor was sealed to shipping, with the ferries frozen-in solidly.
A Halifax newspaper’s account of this unusual situation said that “there is no mistake about it. The harbor presents an unbroken sheet of ice with snowdrifts piled fantastically over the whole harbor giving the surroundings a frigid appearance. Dogs are capering wildly over the salty surface. Through the swirls of snowflakes Dartmouth can be seen looming up in the distance nestling in an enormous mass of snow.”
After a day or two, Halifax shipping merchants engaged tugs to cut a channel from their south-end wharves to the outer harbor, but the larger area of ice farther northward grew firmer and thicker, especially after a bitter cold snap over the week-end.
On Monday a newspaper report stated that, “a spectacle of very rare occurrence was witnessed yesterday when thousands of people crossed to and from Dartmouth, some of them skating. During the whole afternoon the harbor was crowded from one side to the other with what seemed a stationary mass of people, and the columns of pedestrians coming and going seemed to be almost endless.”
On Wednesday the 16th, the thermometer dropped to 12 degrees below zero. Hackmen were now conveying Dartmouth passengers from a convenient spot on the shore behind Greene’s stables, a little north of the present Queen Street. At Halifax they made land just south of the Dockyard boundary where a temporary stage had been constructed. On one of these trips from Dartmouth, a bay mare of W. H. Greene’s driven by George Murray, suddenly became frightened and threw all occupants out of the sleigh as it dashed away on a wild gallop down to George’s Island. The horse-sense of the animal must have warned her of open water ahead, for at that point she circled round and galloped homeward again. On another day “Ned” Bowes, driving a heavy sleigh of Lawlor’s Grocery with three men on top of several bags of middlings, went through a weakened spot on the way to Dartmouth. Willing hands tugged the team up again to the solid surface.
On Monday, February 22nd, the massive field of ice was jarred by the arrival of the English mail steamer “Hibernian”. All the skaters hastened towards George’s Island at the familiar sound of the ship’s fire-rocket which used to announce the approach of a mail boat in those days. The big liner butted the pack again and again until she crunched a channel up to Cunard’s dock. Hundreds of men and boys followed her progress, at times skating almost up to the steamer’s bow. On the same day, one of Chittick’s teams laden with lake ice, driven by a well-known colored man named “Shed” Flint, broke through when half-way to Halifax. After a two-hour struggle, horse and sleigh were extricated.
By the 27th, mild weather and northwest winds had driven much of the ice sheet from the lower harbor, enabling tugs to resume ferry transportation but they were obliged to land Dartmouth passengers on the ice-bridge running off from the shore, because the docks were all sealed to a depth of ten or twelve inches. Experienced ice-cutters like William and John Glendenning, along with Captain Coleman, Mate Alexander Marks, George Shiels and others labored unceasingly at the hazardous task of sawing out the frozen ferryboats. The uncertain footing occasionally precipitated these workmen into the freezing brine.
Finally on Sunday, February 28th, one of the boats was cut clear and steamed across to Halifax. It was the first trip of a ferry for 16 days. Then she was not able to get back, owing to the action of a southwest wind jamming the whole eastern side with a field that extended 100 yards from our shore. On Monday, March 1st, the boat made intermittent trips to Symonds’ wharf.
During the succeeding days the weather became mild enough to honeycomb and loosen the slobbed ice-pans so that they drifted or were blown out of the lower part of the harbor. “All this portion was now free,” said a newspaper report of this most welcome liberation, “and it looked strangely refreshing to ferry patrons who were glad indeed to see the blue waters and the familiar waves rolling again” (Navigation had been interrupted for nearly a month.)
In May 1875 W. S. Symonds retired as Warden and was succeeded by George J. Troop. Councillor William T. Murray died in office that spring, and the vacant seat was filled by the election of George Adams. John McDonald was appointed Police Constable No. 2, in place of George Grono. Irregularities were discovered in the accounts of the Town Clerk, and he was released from his duties. Alfred Elliot, son of Henry Elliot and grandson of Charlotte Collins then took over the position. (He remained in office for exactly half a century, and died in harness Feb. 1925.)
Civil Engineer Henry A. Gray, after exploring Lakes Lamont, Topsail, Loon, Clifford, Oathill and Albro at the request of the Town Council, reported that the two first-named were most favorable for furnishing a water supply. He estimated the cost of a water system at about $82,000. The approximate cost from Oathill Lake would be around $36,000. Approval of a resolution to borrow $25,000 for the work was sanctioned at the annual town meeting that spring.
Meantime the Council made provision for further supplies of water for fire fighting. That summer Contractor John McBain excavated the swampy oval on Park Ave. The resulting reservoir measured 250 by 50 feet and was deep enough for a capacity of 175,000 gallons. (This is the green spot on Park Ave. at King.)
For some time past the operations of the Starr Manufacturing Company were not as favorable as formerly. Thomas A. Ritchie, a heavy shareholder from Halifax, had now replaced John Starr in the Presidency. The annual report for May 1875 showed a deficit of about $7,000. The minute book of the meeting noted that some30,000 pairs of Acme skates had been sold that year, but the margin of profit was smaller than heretofore. However, the Directors entertained hopes “of retrieving the position of the Company”. Recently they had received an encouraging order from the Government railway to supply 200 coal cars, besides a quantity of railroad spikes.
The employees of Dartmouth Ropeworks held a regatta on a Saturday afternoon in August, carrying out a series of boat races over a course from Stairs’ wharf to Scarfe’s Mill, foot of Mott St.
The Dartmouth Rowing Club was another aquatic organization formed that year. They built a combined two-storey club-house on the shore where they stored boats below and entertained upstairs. Under the auspices of this club, four lapstreak crews of Dartmouth held an exciting race in September over a four-mile course from Black Rock around George’s Island and return. The names of the lapstreaks and those of the oarsmen were:
“G. J. TROOP”—John McKay, Henry Baker, Judson Baker, John Young.
“CROWN PRINCE”—Nat. Keddy, John Lennerton, D. Keddy, Wm. Patterson.
“J. WILLIAMS”—Edward Williams, Wm. Williams, Jas. Williams Chas Tufts
“PRINCESS”—T. Crowell, Wm. Hooper, Robert Hooper, Robert Henderson.
The last named crew were all boys under 18 years. The “G. J. Troop” won the first prize of $70, and the Williams crew took second money of $40. McKay later became internationally famous as an oarsman. The Baker cousins, originally from Tancook Island, were then living at Mount Edward. John Young was a son of Francis, the shipbuilder.
The Home for Inebriates was formally opened at the “Grove” in August in the presence of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, Premier P. C. Hill, Hon. Dr. Parker and others. It was to be supported by a Government grant, by subscription and by income from patients.
A large block of Canal property in Dartmouth was up for Sheriff’s sale that year. It was purchased for $10,000 by the Nova Scotia Building Society who had been the plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit.
There were extremes of heat and cold during 1875. In August the thermometer hovered around the 90s for a day or two. The cold came to freeze the lakes earlier than usual. On December 3rd, Miss Louise Sterns, 19 year old daughter of Luther Sterns, and a young man named Doull, went through the ice off Carter’s Corner. They were rescued by, Joseph Findlay and Michael McDonald. Both were suitably rewarded. (A coined-silver Waltham watch presented on this occasion by Mr. Sterns to Mr. Findlay is still preserved by the latter’s son Ronald Findlay of 96 Hawthorne Street.)
