NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
17 
| SUPERINTENDENT APPOINTED 
Continued from first page. 
be subserved by the re-appointment of 
‘our present Superintendent of Streets, 
Mr. George Kimball.’ 
After the petitioners had presented their 
side of the matter, those opposed to Mr. 
‘Kimball’s appointment took the floor and 
there was no mincing of matters as to 
their respective positions. When the 
“names of other applicants were read there 
was no doubt left in the minds of those 
present as to which way the © crowd”’ 
went. 
The fact that letters and postals were 
presented to the board (though no names 
"were mentioned to the meeting) show- 
ing that:some 40 summer residents 
favored the re-appointment of Mr. Kim- 
ball, seemed to have had little effect 
with the board. Yet these residents rep- 
resented taxable property to the amount 
of about four and a half million dollars, 
—over a third of the total valuation of 
the town. 
Mr. Crombie, the new superintendent, 
is a native of Manchester. He is a man 
52 years old, and has always lived here. 
He has had more or less experience in 
road building, and was for some years a 
road surveyor, prior to the time the town 
 yoted to have a superintendent of streets. 
One of the streets built by Mr. Crombie 
was School street which lasted many 
“years; in fact, the street was only rebuilt 
last summer, after ten or eleven years of 
wear. 
___ The general opinion seems to be that 
_ Mr. Crombie is the most capable man 
in town for the position. In his appoint- 
ment Thursday evening he was appointed 
with a salary of $1200. 
_ What Was Said and Done at the 
Hearing Wednesday Evening. 
‘The hearing was called to order at 
| 7.35 by Chairman E. S. Knight of the 
~ board. Clerk Bell of the board kept the 
minutes of the hearing, and G. L. Allen 
was also on the stage. Mr. Knight said 
- in calling the meeting to order that the 
hearing was granted by the board and 
~ everybody present that had anything to 
say would have that opportunity. ‘The 
petitioners would be heard first. 
F. K. Hooper said he felt it his duty 
to be present, as his was the first name 
onthe list. This matter of petition, he 
Said, is one of the greatest privileges a 
citizen of the United States has. If 
there is anything you don’t like you have 
the right to petition and you will be heard. 
““Tf you do not agree with what the 
President of the U. S. does, or what the 
Governor of the state does, or your se- 
lectmen, you have a right to petition and 
be heard. And so in this case, we pre- 
sented a petition. We didn’t anticipate 
so large a hearing, and I think the se- 
lectmen did right to give this hearing in 
the hall and hear both sides of the ques- 
tion. Ata hearing like this your petit- 
ioners expect what is right. “They ask 
no expression in favor or against; all 
those things are for your board of select- 
men. 
‘* The petition was made with the be- 
lief that our former superintendent was 
not to be reappointed. We came here 
to hear what are some of the best reasons 
why our present superintendent should 
be reappointed and keep on with his 
work. He has been here almost 12 
years and is acquainted with the work re- 
quired and | think it would be for the 
best interests of the town to reappoint 
him. His experience is worth a great 
deal. I think his work is recognized 
when he is elected president of an asso- 
ciation such as the Mass. Highway asso- 
ciation.”’ 
Mr. Hooper said the petitioners were 
ready and willing to show a _ representa- 
tion of the taxable property of the town, 
—people, who though not all voters, 
paid a large part of the tax levy,—and 
that they wanted Mr. Kimball retaine/. 
The twelve names which he had, repre- 
sented taxable property amounting to 
$1,054,675, and he felt. these were 
worthy of some consideration. 
F. J. Merrill was the next speaker. 
He said he realized this was a delicate 
matter and that some thought this matter 
of a petition was somewhat out of place. 
““We were informed,’’ said Mr. 
Merrill, “‘that there was a sentiment in 
the board against retaining Mr. Kimball. 
We feel that this a critical day in the 
construction of roads. The automobiles 
are tearing up our roads as fast as we can 
build them and road builders are looking 
for some lasting construction that can 
stand the amount of travel and wear and 
tear of automobiles. Up to the present 
time no one has discovered construction 
that would stand the test until Mr. Kim- 
ball through experiments and otherwise 
has found a suitable construction,—a 
road that will stand the test. Whoever 
we get must go through the necessary 
experiments that he has I believe it is 
very much in the interests of the town to 
have him reappointed. Among the 
names we have heard mentioned we cer- 
tainly know some of them are not ex- 
perienced enough. The mere keeping 
of the accounts calls for a man of expe- 
rience and ability.”’ 
Mr. Merrill also presented to the board 
the names of eight taxpayers whose 
property is assessed for $400,000 and all 
expressed themselves very heartily in 
favor of Mr. Kimball being retained. 
Raymond C. Allen said that as one of 
the petitioners he did not feel it pre- 
sumptuous to petition and he did not 
have any apology to make. “We 
simply ask to be heard,’’ he said; ae) 
-can anybody else. I don’t believe any 
of us wish ought but to forward the best 
interests of the town. No one wants to 
go backward. How then might we go 
forward? It is my candid opinion that 
with our present supt. of streets we can 
go forward. The present condition of 
the town and of the streets requires that 
we should have Mr. Kimball. It is going 
to take a new man nearly a year, at least, 
to get accustomed to the work and get 
in line for the work. Our streets need 
the best of attention and in my opinion 
Mr. Kimball can do the best work.”’ 
Mr. Allen had the names of people 
representing $300,000 worth of taxable 
property, who favored retaining Mr. 
Kimball. 
Samuel Knight said he had heard that 
the appointment of superintendent of 
streets had figured in the election of last 
week, but he had put little credence in it. 
Now, however, he knows differently. 
He knows this was a matter of issue inour 
election. He felt, however, that the se- 
lectmen would be true to the oath they 
had taken and after hearing the petition- 
ers on this matter they would use their 
best judgment and act for the best in- 
terests of the town. 
‘“ The selectmen must expect to sub- 
mit to criticism,’’ said Mr. Knight. “‘I 
used to occupy the position that Mr. 
Kimball now has, and I had to stand the 
criticism. And we spent hundreds now 
where he spends thousands. Look into 
all this criticism and talk and you will 
find much of it like a punctured baloon, 
—a bundle of wind. Mr. Kimball has 
been extravagant, we’lladmit. But who 
is the cause of it? We determine how 
much he shall pay his help; the hours of 
labor; that he must employ in-town help 
without regard to their efficiency. ‘This 
thing is wrong. But this is your will and 
your superintendent is not responsible. 
You determine the cost and you are re- 
sponsible for the extravagance. 
‘* He is forced to hire men .that no 
contractor would hire for a minute, and 
how could a man help but be extravagant 
working on these lines? 
““ Shall we advance or go the downward 
road? I say we want to go ahead, and 
we can do it with Mr. Kimball. He is 
a man of ability, a man of experience. 
He is widely known. Why it wasn’t 
24 hours after the ballot had been count- 
ed here before he had an offer to go 
somewhere else. The supt. of streets 
of Wellesley died last week, and he 
hadn’t been buried, hardly, before they 
were after Mr. Kimball. 
*“Tf we hire someone else we must 
begin allover again. ‘The best thing we 
can do is to retain Mr. Kimball.”’ 
Mr. Knight said he had heard from 
tax-payers representing $722,500 taxable 
property, and they ought to be consid- 
ered. 
Oliver T. Roberts said he had no in- 
terest in any way in coercing the board 
of selectmen. He supposed the selectmen 
