The Chronicle

of the month of Pipetal in the year 155

Linrodeth's assault fleet has now sailed for Salvoyn. The massive force took several hours to form into its sailing formation and is the most impressive naval force ever assembled. The size and beauty of the new style ships was apparent as even laden down with marines and supplies they handled with precision and grace. Princess Selina sailed out to join the fleet for its first few days of travel south and returned with a small escort which will now provide defence for Linrodeth against pirate and Noord raider attacks.

Dire news has arrived from Eresan where High King Kieran is seriously ill. Whilst his wounds are not though to be life threatening, he remains weak and will not be able to campaign this year. Forces from Eresan are reported to be consolidating defensive positions on the plains rather than making their usual march towards the Salvoynian borders.

The proposal to allow the Goldsmiths to audit Treasury proved to be hotly contested and a recount was required before it became clear that it has been defeated by 139 votes to 134. Following the defeat of the motion Alan Monterey, one of its main opponents, has now proposed that Princess Selina's accountants be invited to formally audit the Treasury and Committee accounts. The proposal for Trade to propose an alternate budget proved much less contentions with only the Bottler faction opposing it. Commenting on the victory Alan Monterey expressed his gratitude to Lady Davy for the opportunity and then went on to launch a harsh attack on Jim Bottler and William Trueman. "At the moment there is an unedifying squabble between two Aldermen who are more interested in lining their own pockets than running this city. It is about time we started budgeting properly. I remember a time when the fact that a large fraction of the city was destroyed by fire did not stop the Treasury committee from producing a balanced budget, hard though it was. Frankly, it was embarrassingly easy to produce the proposals now being circulated. The most trivial overview of last year's budgets revealed an enormous number of savings".

The budget proposals from Trade and Treasury show an interesting difference. Treasury has proposed a "modest 1 penny in the shilling" increase in Guild taxation pointing out that despite our economic recovery guild taxes are still dramatically lower than they were some years ago. Alan Monterey has however delivered a budget with no tax increases. Battle lines have clearly been drawn. Commenting on both excellent ways both cases had been made Maureen Quiller has suggested that perhaps we could approve the Bottler Tax proposal and the Monterey committee split thereby enabling us to create a much needed reserve for war emergencies.

Cllr Marcus Stenmoor's faction has grown even more this month. The group still appears to be made up of independents but rather than voting separately they are flexing their muscle as group and were clearly delighted to have proved the decisive difference in the Auditing vote.

LATE NEWS

Lady Davy came close to a shock defeat in the Lordship elections. A clearly shaken Lady Davy was forced to use her casting vote to retain her position as the Aldermanic court split 12 votes to 12. A clearly elated Sheriff Hastings told the Chronicle that she respected Lady Davy but felt that in these times of difficulty the precise and faultless leadership that she would bring was what was needed.