Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

2. The Tramway Company would be required to provide all of the materials for the Church Section, the rails being up to a specification agreed by the Corporation. 3. The Tramway Company would pay £1,000 at the commencement of this work and the balance as and when required. 4. The Corporation would agree to spend the sum of £5,000 on the Baxenden Section, but any costs in excess of that figure to be paid by the Tramway Company as and when required. 5. That the Town Clerk would prepare a ‘Supplemental Lease & Agreement’ containing any provisions he thought necessary before the works began, also in order to compensate the Corporation for their capital outlay of £5,000. The rent to the Tramway Company would be increased by such a sum, payable in advance in quarterly instalments as to fully repay the Corporation by the end of the current lease, with interest added of 3¼% per annum. The Town Clerk read out the following letter ( dated January 22 nd ) from the Secretary of the Tramway Company - Dear Sirs, Your letter of the 13 th containing the Corporation’s terms has been taken into consideration this afternoon by my Directors, and to enable them to give further consideration to your proposals they have instructed me to ask whether your Corporation would take over the repairs, including the renewal of your lines in consideration of an annual payment by way of rent, and if so, at how much per mile yearly? OR, in the event of the terms submitted by you being accepted and this Company were agreeable to surrendering their current lease, would you grant a new lease for twenty-one years on new terms, (a further extension of seven years). These new terms to be at the rate of the old rent and conditions, and the new rent representing the expenditure on renewals plus interest at the rate quoted in your offer. Kindly lay this correspondence before your Corporation, and let me have your reply as soon as it is convenient. The General Works Committee had a long discussion on these counter-proposals, before it was resolved not to consider any alterations to the present lease with respect to the maintenance, renewal and repair of the Tramway. It was further resolved not to recommend the Council consider any extension to the current lease, and that all the previous decisions of the Committee be reaffirmed and adhered to. February The Sub-Committee heard a letter ( dated January 31 st ) from the Chairman of the Tramway Company, with regard to Substituting Girder Rails for Barker Rails and requesting on what terms the Council would consent to an extension of their lease to 21 years from that date. It was resolved that - 1. Providing that the rails supplied to the Tramway Company from the Barrow Steel & Iron Company were to the agreed specifications, (92lbs weight per yard at a cost of £6 per ton as per invoiced), then the Corporation would purchase the remainder left in stock, whilst the Company had no reason to make any further purchases of rails. 2. That the Corporation would supply all materials and labour to relay both the Baxenden and Church sections, in a manner in which they felt best with regard to the accepted style and system for running steam tramways. 3. That the Tramway Company had no powers of supervision in the execution of this work, although they could submit any suggestions in writing whilst the work was being done, as they would have to be responsible for the future repair and maintenance, it was essential that the work be carried out to the highest possible standards. 4. That the Corporation would not spend more than had previously been stated, and would have to be repaid by the Company as and within the enclosed terms.

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