Thu 15 Feb 1872
Special General meeting. Byelaw made that no barge boat or other vessel shall be navigating in or upon the canal or any part thereof unless there shall be at least three able and sufficient male persons belonging to and attending upon every barge, boat or other vessel so navigated during all the time when the same shall be so navigated upon the canal or part thereof, and that from and after the said twenty fifth of March next when any barge boat or other vessel shall pass through any bridge or lock there shall be two able and sufficient male persons on the shore or towing path in attendance upon the same. And it is further ordered and declared that the captain and the owner of every vessel acting contrary to this shall forfeit and pay the sum of 40s.
Letter from Mr Partridge stating that in consequence of declining health he is compelled to resign the office of Clerk. His resignation accepted as from 24th June next. In acknowledgement of his services during the past 18 years, an annuity of £50 is to be paid to Mr Partridge from the funds of the Company during his life.
At a Special General Meeting of the Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation held at the Committee Room at Wallbridge on Thursday the 15^th day of Feb^y 1872.
The following Bye Law was made and the seal of the Company was ordered to be affixed to it & was affixed accordingly.
Bye Law
Made at a General Assembly of the Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation Company held at Wallbridge in the Parish of Painswick in the County of Gloucester on Thursday the fifteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy two in pursuance of and in accordance with the provisions of a certain Act of Parliament made and passed in the sixteenth year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Third intituled "An Act to amend an Act passed in the third year of his late Majesty's reign intitules an Act for making navigable the River Stroudwater in the County of Gloucester from the River Severn at or near Framilode to Wallbridge near the Town of Stroud in the same County; and for giving other powers for the purpose of making a Navigation from Framilode to Wallbridge aforesaid".
Whereas the good and orderly using of the Navigation requires that there should be a sufficient number of able persons in and attending upon each Barge Boat or other Vessel navigating the Canal. It is therefore ordered and declared that from and after the Twenty fifth day of March next ensuing the date hereof no Barge Boat or other Vessel shall be navigated in or upon the Canal or any part thereof unless there shall be at the least three able and sufficient male persons belonging to and attending upon every Barge Boat of other Vessel so navigated during all the time when the same shall be navigated upon the Canal or any part thereof. And that from and after the said twenty fifth of March next when any Barge Boat of other Vessel shall pass through any Bridge or Lock there shall be two able and sufficient male persons on the shore or towing path in attendance upon the same. And it is hereby further ordered and declared that the Captain and the Owner respectively of every Barge Boat or other Vessel which shall be navigated in or upon the said Canal or any part thereof after the said twenty fifth day of March next contrary to the true intent and meaning hereof for every offence against the above regulations or any or either of them shall forfeit and pay the sum of Forty Shillings to be recovered as the Law directs. And it is hereby further ordered and directed that the existing Bye Law numbered 5 of the said Navigation (which related to the matters aforesaid or some of them) shall be repealed from the said twenty fifth day of March next.
In Witness whereof the said Bye Law had been put into writing under the common Seal of the Company in the presence of such General Assembly and in accordance with the provisions of the hereinbefore recited Act passed in the sixteenth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
A Letter of which the following is a copy:
"To the Committee of the Stroudwater Navigation Feb^y 10^th 1872
Gentlemen
In consequence of declining health I find I am reluctantly compelled to resign the Office of Clerk to your Company. Whilst doing so I beg to offer you my sincere thanks for the patience and forbearance you have expressed towards my defects, and shortcomings, and also for the unvaried courtesy and continued kindness I have received from each, and all of your during the 18 years I have been in your service. I also feel most grateful for the liberal pension of £50 per annum you intend to allow me as intimated to me through your Chairman M^r Beard.
I am Gentlemen
Yours most respectively
N A Partridge"
having been read from M^r Partridge, the Clerk to the Company to M^r Beard, the Chairman of the Committee, resigning his position as Clerk of the Company in consequence of failing health. It was resolved that his resignation be accepted as from 24^th June next, and the Meeting express sincere regret at the cause of M^r Partridges resignation, and offer sympathy to him under the circumstances, and desiring to make a permanent acknowledgement of his services during the past eighteen years, it has been resolved that an annuity of £50 be paid to M^r Partridge from the funds of the Company during his life.
And it was further resolved that the selection and appointment of a Clerk in M^r Partridges stead, the amount of his Salary, the time of his coming and all other details be left to the Committee.
