Durban, Natal: 1866

From a newspaper clipping (probably the Natal Mercury):

Pioneers of Durban - 8
When Mr. R. W. Tyzack was elected Mayor in March, 1866 (after the entire Council had resigned over the Heys building affair, recorded in this coumn yesterday) it became necessary to take the bull by the horns and decide what was to be done about the purchase of the Town Office property. The sale was not cancelled, as the burgesses had asked, but a compromise was arranged which satisfied everybody.

An important mark of progress was the completion of the macadamised Berea Road at a cost of #31,868 (far in excess of the estimate); and to help meet it transport riders had to pay a toll at Toll Gate of 2s. 6d. a load in or out of the Borough.

COUNCIL SUED Finance was destined to be the Council's biggest headache in 1866, when it found itself sued by the London and South African Bank for #43,482 in respect of overdraft and loans, after an endeavour to float #50,000 in debentures had failed on the London market. The Council was not satisfied with the judgement against it and gave notice to appeal to the Privy Council. Then the Bank got a writ of execution against the Corporation's assets in connection with the security for costs.

The Sheriff was dispatched from Maritzburg to Durban, and his first "haul" was the cash taken that day by the Berea tollkeeper. The "bush telegraph" got busy so that by the time the Sheriff arrived at the Town Offices to bag all the cash in the Corporation's coffers, the cashier, William Cooley, had safely placed the Council's ready money in a box and retreated with it through a side door to Grant and Fradd's office across the road. Thus was the law honourably defeated, and the salaries of the Town Clerk and cashier ensured for at least another month.

AGREEMENT In the end the Bank and the Corporation shook hands over the whole business, the agreed indebtedness was fixed at #47,395, and the Council was given five years in which to float debentures to pay it off.

Burgesses were so overwhelmed with delight that they stood the Mayor and Corporation a complimentary dinner.

The Bluff lighthouse, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1864, was completed in 1866. For 75 years it flashed its warning beam over the Indian Ocean, and in 1941 was demolished during the war for military reasons.