| From the Charleston Mercury |
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| December 10, 1862 |
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| The {Charleston}
City Council held its regular meeting last evening. |
| ***** |
| Mr. Salinas, from the Committee appointed
to make arrangements for the distribution of wood, reported verbally
that they had secured efficiency on the part of the railroads for the
future. |
| Mr. Gilliland stated that he had conversed
with the Presidents of the two railroads, and was satisfied that, in a
few weeks, enough would be received to supply the citizens. The
railroads were repairing all their cars, at considerable expense, for
that purpose. He thought that there was plenty of wood in the city, and,
if the poor could not obtain fuel immediately, the Mayor should be
authorized to give orders upon the owners of salt works and other places
where wood was abundant, to sell their surplus to the poor at the city
rates. |
| Mr. Salinas thought that there was no
necessity for this measure. He had received a letter from the President
of the Northeastern Railroad, ensuring him that in a few weeks that
railroad would supply the quantity of wood promised, and that the South
Carolina Railroad would do the same. |
| The Mayor remarked that he had no
authority to seize private property, and that, if the worst should come,
the city would have to pursue the same course as that adopted in the
case of bread, that is, to purchase at current rates and give to
the poor. |
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