the price be 8s. per foot, Coun. Ross remarked that the Hastings shipwrights of former days had earned a very high fame, and he believed that the present boat-builders possessed an inherent genius, which only required to be encouraged to restore Hastings to its former position.
Transfer of Stock. The Clerk reported that Mr. Boykett Breeds had valued the late Commissioners’ horses, carts, stables, engine, etc. at £424 12s.
New Buildings. The Surveyor reported that upwards of 100 buildings were being erected between the late Commissioners’ limits at the Priory water and the St. Leonards Archway, and that the plans of these and many others would shortly require consideration and pass under the seal of the Board.
The Woods and Forests Commissioners obdurate. A letter was read from Messrs. Reeks and Humbert, objecting to certain portions of the Surveyor’s report referring to their building operations on the Crown land, and particularly to the width of the road opposite Mr. Hickes’s warehouse, which the Surveyor required to be made 30 feet, instead of 27 feet. The Crown lessee declared he should not comply with such a direction, and disputed the jurisdiction of the Local Board. The street was not a new one as required by the Act, and therefore not subject to provisions relating to new streets. The Surveyor (Mr. Putland) argued on the great necessity of enforcing compliance with the order of the Board, particularly in this case, as it was the first which came before them. Hundreds of similar cases would arise, and many of them might present similar difficulties. He greatly regretted that the Crown lessee, backed no doubt, by the Woods and Forests, should be the first to oppose the Board [This was not the only case of the Woods and Forests Commissioners or their lessee and the Local Board, were in conflict, to the defeat of the latter]. The Town Clerk allowed the exemption thus claimed as that which he had suspected from the first. The street was certainly not a new one [being 29 years old], and the ground which the Board had ordered to be added to the width of the street, had been sold for building purposes before the Local Board existed. A confused discussion ensued, in which several members coincided with the opinion of the Surveyor, and advocated enforcing their authority, whilst others considered such a course would be very expensive and most likely unsuccessful. The Surveyor then said if they had no authority in this case, they had better leave the Crown Land entirely alone, although there was much there to require his attention. The discussion ended with leaving the question where it was, and so it has continued, the Local Board never having had the power to force the hands of the Woods and Forests Commissioners into compliance with their demands. Even at the time -
