In 1799 the prices of provisions in Halifax markets were as follows: Beef, by the quarter, from 4d. to 5d. per pound, pork, 6d., mutton, 7d. to 8d., veal, 8d. to 9d., fowls, from 3s. to 4s., oats, 2s. 6d. and 3s., butter, 1s. 3d. and 1s. 6d. In 1798 the number of illegitimate children in the Halifax Poor House was fourteen, in 1799, seventeen, and in 1800, fifteen. The total cost of the establishment during the three years was £570 16s. 1d. Fines received at Halifax, 1798, £60; 1799 and 1800, £82 10s. Fresh Water Bridge was renewed and completed in 1798. In 1799 the Legislature made some amendments to the Act for the erection of public buildings. The Commissioners appointed by the Governor and Council were authorized to purchase land for the site of a new Government House. The old House to be appropriated to the House of Assembly and Courts of Law. The Commissioners were Messrs. Wallace, Cochran, Hartshorne, and John Beckwith. The House of Assembly voted £10,500 for the building, etc. The old Government House having been found unfit for the accommodation of the Legislature, was sold and the block of buildings known as Cochran's, before mentioned, was leased this year for £300 per annum for the accommodation of the Law Courts, the Legislature, and the public offices connected with the Provincial Government. Commissioners were also appointed to build a new market house for the butchers and for a vegetable market. This was the wooden building which was removed during the administration of Governor LeMarchant, to make way for the present brick structure. A clerk of the market was appointed. There being then no convenient accommodation for the vegetable market, the country people were permitted to sell in the streets and the square in front of the market house. This has once more become the custom; the portion of the new market appropriated to the country people having been lately taken for city offices. The want of sufficient space in the central parts of the town for the convenience of markets and the erection of public buildings, has been always an impediment to the improvement and embellishment of the city. The small dimensions of the lots as originally laid out, being only forty feet by sixty, and the short space between the streets, the narrow spaces allowed for the public landings, and the small size of the water grants for the erection of wharves in the old town, have been a continual drawback to the convenience of trade and the progress of improvement in front of the town. And it is a subject of regret that at the present day so little attention is paid by the public authorities to the future welfare of the city in respect to laying off building lots and streets by private owners and speculators.