[Footnote 20: After I had left the Council, the question of harbour preservation was formally taken up at Mayor Allan's instance, and three premiums offered for the best reports on the subject. The first prize was adjudged to the joint report of Mr. Sandford Fleming and Mr. H. Y. Hind, in which the system of groynes was recommended. The reports were printed, but the Council--did nothing. Mr. Allan again offered to put down a groyne at his own expense, Mr. Fleming agreeing to superintend the work. The offer, however, was never accepted.] [Footnote 21: The necessary plans and specifications for these five bridges were prepared by Mr. Shanly accordingly,--their value when completed, being put at fully £15,000.] [Footnote 22: The same year, I was chairman of the Walks and Gardens Committee, and in that capacity instructed Mr. John Tully, City Surveyor, to extend the surveys of all streets leading towards the Bay, completely to the water line of the Esplanade. This was before any concession was made to the Northern, or any other railway. I mention this by way of reminder to the city authorities, who seem to me to have overlooked the fact.] CHAPTER XLV. MAYOR BOWES--CITY DEBENTURES. Of all the members of the City Council for 1850, and up to 1852, John G. Bowes was the most active and most popular. In educational affairs, in financial arrangements, and indeed, in all questions affecting the city's interests, he was by far the ablest man who had ever filled the civic chair. His acquirements as an arithmetician were extraordinary; and as a speaker he possessed remarkable powers. I took pleasure in seconding his declared views on nearly all public questions; and in return, he showed me a degree of friendship which I could not but highly appreciate. By his persuasion, and rather against my own wish, I accepted, in 1852, the secretaryship of the Toronto and Guelph Railway Company, which I held until it was absorbed by the Grand Trunk Company in 1853.[23]