CHAPTER VIII. ERECTION OF COURT HOUSE AND JAIL. On the second day of June, 1838, a meeting of the magistrates of the proposed new Colborne District was held at "the Government school house," as the minutes term it, for the purpose of naming a Building Committee for the erection of the new Court House and Jail, and other matters in connection with the same, as provided in the Act passed at a previous session of the Upper Canada Legislature. The magistrates present were: Thomas Traill, Esq., J. P. G. A. Hill, Daniel Griffith, Esq., J. P. Thomas Need, George G. Bird, " 66 66 John Darcus, Thomas A. Stewart, σε J. Hutchinson, Thomas Carr, じ Robert Dennistoun, A. McDonell., Esq., J. P., M. P. P. The Hon. T. A. Stewart, M. L. C., was called to the chair, and John Darcus, Esq., appointed Secretary of the meeting. On subsequent motions, the following gentlemen were appointed officers and members of the Building Committee, of whom three were declared a quorum: On motion of C. Moe, Esq., seconded by E. Duffy, Esq., the Committee were restricted to an expenditure of £4,000 on the new buildings, but subsequently, on finding that the tenders for the work, offered agreeably to the plans adopted, exceeded that amount, a second meeting of the magistrates was held, at which, on motion of James Wallis, Esq., seconded by R. Dennistoun, Esq., the Building Committee were empowered to proceed to the extent of £6,000. At the first meeting, the magistrates instructed the Building Committee to direct the Clerk of the Peace of the Newcastle District "to add one penny in the pound to the Assessment Roll of the proposed District of Colborne, for that year, (1838,) pursuant to the Act establishing the said proposed District." This rate was subsequently extended by resolution over the three following years. The committee was also authorized to advertize for plans for the proposed new Court House and Jail, and to pay the following premiums for the plans they may deem the best : For the 1st., twenty pounds; for the 2d., fifteen pounds; for the 3d., ten pounds. The Building Committee, at their second meeting, arranged to meet every Friday, for the dispatch of business. They also entered into negociations with several of the provincial banks, as well as with private individuals, to procure loans of money to carry on the work, until the taxes of the District would be available for that purpose. The following are the several sums procured by loan or otherwise for this purpose: Commercial Bank, Cobourg, notes of Committee discounted, £1175 00 O. Morrow, Esq., loan at 6 per cent. interest, payable half 1694 3 7 Hon. Z. Burnham, Treasurer Newcastle District, taxes on proposed Colborne District for 1838-9-40, These sums, lessened as they were by discount and interest, did not suffice for the completion of the buildings, but several of the contractors accepted the Committee's debentures for sums varying from £100 to £1000, and these, as they matured, were met by the taxes levied on the new District in subsequent years. In a short time plans and specifications for the new buildings were submitted to the Committee by Joseph Scobell and Walter Sheridan, Esquires. That of the former met with most favor, and was awarded the first prize, while Mr. Sheridan's entitled him to the second. The Hon. T. A. Stewart was then deputed to proceed to Toronto, and submit them to the Chief Justice, who confirmed the decision of the Committee. Some alterations were afterwards discussed by the Committee, and the plans modified, but the one originally approved was finally adopted; and carried out in its general details. Some minor alterations were how ever made, consisting chiefly of modifications in the interior, by which additional space was gained both above and below. They also instructed the masons to put in cut stone quoins, arches, base course, jams and window sills, not in the original specifications. In excavating for the foundation it was found necessary to go double and in some places treble the depth on which estimates had been formed.* All this occasioned an additional outlay, which exceeded the sum which had been stipulated as the limit of their expenditure, but their proceedings were endorsed by the magistrates, and met with the entire sanction of that body, as well as of the public. The tender of Messrs. Thomas Harper and B. Bletcher for 800 cords of stone at 14s. 9d. each, was accepted, provided they furnish all quarried stone, and this was agreed to by these gentlemen. On the 21st day of August, 1838, John Reid, Esq., P. L. S., reported to the Committee in reference to a survey of the Government appropriation of ground for a Court house, &c., which consisted in all of seven acres, lots Nos. 5, 6 and 7 of which would be required for the intended buildings. The foundation had not been excavated, and the grounds were still covered with brush and fallen trees, when it became known that His Excellency, Sir George Arthur, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, was about to visit Peterborough. As it was desirable that the foundation-stone should be laid by so distinguished a personage, Mr. Scobell was requested, by resolution, "to open about six feet of ground," and "have placed on the spot one load of stone," to admit of this ceremony being performed. The chairman was instructed to solicit this favor through His Excellency's secretary on his arrival, and "should he consent," the Rev. Mr. Wade was "to be requested to offer a short blessing on the success of the undertaking."+ His Excellency cheerfully consented, but his time being limited, the Committee met at their room at 6.30 o'clock on the morning of the 25th August, 1838, waited upon the Governor at 7, and at 7.30 o'clock A. M., His Excellency and suite, accompanied by the Building Committee, proceeded to the ground, and in the presence of numerous spectators laid the corner stone of the new buildings. The official ceremony over, the Rev. C. T. Wade, M. A., offered up an impressive and appropriate prayer. * Fourth and last report of the Building Committee, in Appendix to Journal of the District Council -dated December 20th, 1841. + Minutes of Committee, August 21st, 1838. Page 13. The following articles were placed by His Excellency beneath the stone, in the foundation of the south-west corner. * A Parchment Scroll, (On which was tastefully engrossed the following :) ON THE 25TH DAY OF AUGUST, A. D., 1838, HIS EXCELLENCY, MAJOR-GENERAL SIR GEORGE ARTHUR, K. C. H., LAID THE FIRST STONE OF THESE BUILDINGS. Then follows the names of the Building Committee, already mentioned in full. The following coins were also deposited: A British shilling of the reign of George IV., 1829. The lettering of the scroll was executed in elegant style by our townsman, Ivan O'Beirne, Esq. Tenders were afterwards received from time to time for the erection and completion of the several parts of the Court House building and Jail, the entire cost of which, including alterations and extra work, amounted to £7190 15 7.† During the progress of the work, meetings of the magistrates of the proposed district were several times held, to advise with and assist the Committee. Towards the close of the work, Ephraim Sanford, Esq., was appointed treasurer of the Committee in place of Mr. Duffy, who had removed from the Province; and D. Griffith, Esq., was appointed a member of the Building Committee. The walls and roofs of the Court House and Jail were completed in 1839, and the work on the interior of the Court House finished, and that building handed over to the Committee by E. Chamberlen, Esq., on the 16th day of November, 1840, but not finally accepted by them until the May following. The jail was not entirely finished until the summer of 1842, owing to a defect in the written agreement, by which the contractor, Mr. Edward Lee, claimed that the plastering was not included in his * Minutes of Committee, August 25th. Page 16. + Minutes of Building Committee. Pages 149, 152 and 153. contract; and the season of 1841 was so far advanced when this became known, that the plastering of the Jail had to be deferred until the following spring. At length, on the 27th day of December, 1841, after upwards of three years of arduous duty, the Building Committee were finally relieved of their task. At a meeting of magistrates held that day, their accounts were examined and declared correct, and a vote of thanks was tendered "to the gentlemen composing the Building Committee, to their Treasurer and Secretary, for their indefatigable exertions in carrying the object of their appointment to completion." CHAPTER IX. (1) A SATIRICAL PRODUCTION. In the month of August, 1838, after the new Colborne District had been provisionally set apart, and during the time the Building Committee were engaged in the arrangements for the erection of the Court House and jail, a severe and cutting satire upon Peterborough, and a number of its chief citizens, appeared in print in the columns of "The Plainspeaker," a small sheet then published at Cobourg. It purported to be an advertisement of "a sale extraordinary of the Town of Peterborough, to pay the taxes," and to be held on the first of April following. Although the writer of the document in question announced that he would -Nothing extenuate, "Nor set down aught in malice," some of his allusions, if reproduced, would be so pointedly offensive to many persons still living, who were probably neither better nor worse than the average of humanity, that it is better to omit them here. The document is supposed to have been written by Mr. Frederick Forest, then residing in Peterborough. The following are samples of this remarkable production, which, as may be supposed, attracted much attention at the time, and is still referred to with interest by many of our older residents, who were familiar with the characters pointed at, whose names or pecu. liarities furnished a ready mark for the shafts of the satirist, |