| Description | Bound volume containing drafts of the minutes for meetings of the Galway Urban District Council. The minute book is a custom printed book which includes structured folios with headings for each meeting. Includes A-Z index. Each folio contains the following printed headings 'Minutes of Proceedings of the Galway Town Improvement Commissioners at their Monthly Meeting held on Thursday...', 'Present' , 'No.1 Account', 'No.2 Account', 'Reports of Committees read and disposed of as follows, namely:-' , 'The following Special Business came before the Meeting'. In many instances extra pages are attached which contain more information relating to Special Business, in some instances printed material from newspapers is also attached to the minute book. Meetings were usually held on the first Thursday of every month, extra meetings were held periodically. This volume is used both for the minutes of the Galway Town Commissioners and the Galway Urban District Council, Galway Urban District Council took over the functions of the Town Commissioners following the Local Government (Ireland) Act which was passed in 1898. Although this volume may be regarded as one physical item for the purposes of arrangement and description it is treated as two items and a description of the relevant section is includes in the finding aid for the Galway Town Commissioners Collection (LA2). Entry dated 1 May 1899 includes a report from The Galway Urban District Council Roads and Streets Committee, the report details suggested improvements to the procedures for maintaining and repairing roads in the urban district. Entry dated 1 February 1890 includes a report from the Finance Committee regarding the Town Clerk's salary. According to the report the Town Clerk for Galway received a salary of £100 a year, which was significantly less than the salary of Town Clerks in other towns. For example the Town Clerk for Clonmel received an annual salary of £335, while the Town Clerk for Athlone received a salary of £210. The committee suggested that the Town Clerk's salary be increased to £200. According to entry dated 1 November 1900 it was proposed that the Urban District Council should purchase a road roller from Messers. Aveling and Porter for a price of £420. Entry dated 2 May 1901 includes a resolution rejecting a proposal from the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, Upper Merrion St, Dublin for Galway Technical Institute to be managed by Galway County Council. Entry for 12 December 1901 includes a resolution which states that 'considering the intolerable bigotry towards our board recently manifested by our local would-be Unionist organ we hereby forbid the appearance of the Propr. Or any representative of the paper at any of our Board Meetings....' According to entry dated 6 March 1902 it was proposed that the Midland Rail Company should 'construct their own locomotive wagons and carriages instead of having them built else where, the Galway Urban Council desire to draw the attention of the company to their premises at Newcastle here which includes the old distillery buildings, as a most desirable place for the construction of these workshops.' Entry dated 7 May 1903 includes an acknowledgement of a letter from C.R. Devlin M.P. in referemce to a resolution passed by the Urban District Council in relation to the number of ruins in the city 'which the owners refuse to sell and will take no steps towards placing them in a fit condition. He had asked a question in the House of Commons in reference to this and was informed that the remedy for this was provided by the Working Classes Act of 1890.' Entry for 7 January 1904 includes an enclosure detailing the duties of the following officers: 'Borough Surveyor', 'Town Steward', 'Superintendent of Waterworks'. According to entry dated 3 January 1907 it was resolved that the Urban District Council should 'press the claims of Galway as a port of embarkation with regard to the Canadian Mail Service.' According to minute dated 6 June 1907 attention was drawn to the fact that 'the Cruise of the Atlantic Fleet around the Irish Coast and the fact that Galway was omitted from the list.' Entry for the 25th December 1907 includes an enclosure consisting of a 'Notice of Result of Election'for Galway Urban District Council. The poster lists the names of candidates, their 'Place of Abode', the number of votes they received and also lists the names of candidates successfully elected for each electoral division. |