The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-30 00:00:00

MEPORT

Your Sub-committee, having had an interview- with the
Birkenhead Docks Committee, to whom it was referred.to con-
sider the question of extending the borough, . proceeded to
inspect and examine the district surrounding_.the• present
boundaries on the Lancashire side, for the purpose -of ascer-
taining whether and what alteration is desirable.-
It appears that those boundaries have been. fieed.without
any regard to the natural features of the country) occasionally
running through parts of fields and houses, and in. several
instances being still undefined. Some change is therefore in-
dispensable, and your Sub-aousmittee are of opiniomthat no
alteration can be effectual and satisfactory which is not based
upon the physical peculiarities-of the land. Themost complete
and• comprehensive plan for-sanitary purposes would be to carry
the extension by a straight:. line across the country by the
valley of the Alt on one side,.and Ditton Brook- on the other.
But this would include a very large area of land which is purely
agricultural, and must long:.eontinue so. Your committee
therefore consider it would he expedient to entertain such a
project,. and they have accovdingly confined their attention to
the localities adjoining the boundaries, where the- land is
assuming the transition character, and is becoming, occupied
by the wealthier class of persons connected with the borough.
Your committee are of op:iiion that the line of extension
most beneficial to all parties, and best suited by nature for
sanitary operations, is that formed by taking the course of the
public-roads immediately beyond the stream- which. are the
natural outfalls for the district surrounding, the- borough.
These are—to the southward, .the brook &wing. between
Mosley-hill and the Allerton-road, and joining the Mersey to
_the west of Bettock's-lane, into which the drainage of the
country from Knotty Ash by the Old Swan, Broad Green-lane,
Mosspit House, and the Allerton-road, carkl3a.conveare4; and
to -the northward, the brook: flowing between Walton-hill and
°ion:
et
nl
et f, oa
tr allß thett cke
,os
atnr ye
lying between it and the present Parliamentary boundary,
from
the Preseot-road to the. new gaol at Walton. The new
boundaryrrwhich
liis thesho naturaluld,ther drainage outlet
ne
and proceed, as shown by the colour red on.the map herewith,
along the nearest roads beyond the brook. to the summit at
Knotty Ash, and thence by Club Moor to Rimrose Brook.
Your committee do not deem it necessary to enter into
details respecting the principle of rating and. other questions
of this kind, as it appears to. them arrangements of a satisfac-
tory description can be made.on such subjects without difficulty.
But they think it proper. to offer for the consideration of the
Health Committee the ftllowinggenerat observations in refer-
ence to the scheme. At present the localities comprised within
the proposed extension_have no proper- drainage; the brooks
are contaminated, andbecome a great nuisance to the inhabit-
ants, to whom efficient. sewerage would be invaluable. The
injurious consequences arising from this state of things are
not confined to the neighbourhood, but, threugh the medium
of the air, affect the town, and constitute a source of disease.
The roads in the district proposed. to be added are mostly
narrow and tortuous, and owing to-the absente of an efficient
controlling power, houses are erected on both sides thereof;
without regard to the line, width, and level of the road, or the
drainage of the premises ; , and unless some remedy is soon
applied, the land will .be so much, occupied as to render im-.
provement almost impossible.
By adopting the enlarged boundary,facilities will be afforded
for carrying out the suggestion which has been revived in the
Council, of providing a great public walk and drive, in. the
nature of a boulevard, which. would extend, without interrup-
tion to ordinary traffic, from, Bootle on one side, by Priory-lane,
I Breck-lane,, below Newshain House, through the Yellow House
Estate and Green Bank-lane, to the Mersey, on the southern
I side.

A great expense at present falls upon the ratepavers of the
borough in maintaining roads which are principally used by
persons living beyond the existing limits, but within the taro-
posed extension, who now contribute nothing to. the rates.
With reference to the extension northwards, the Health
Committee are aware that the dock property extends close to
the proposed boundary at Rimrose. In that neighbourhood
the levels of the land are exceedingly favourable for the erec-
tion of warehouses, &c.; and when the docks are completed
-in this direction the traffic which will arise will tend to destroy
the roads, and greatly augment the rates of the town, whilst
.unless this district is embraced within the borough, the pro-
perty will be wholly exempted from such expense.
Under these circumstances, your sub-committee recommend
that the requisite proceeding should be taken by the Town-
clerk, to enable the Council to apply to Parliament in the en-
suing session for power to effect such extension, and carry out
the foregoing suggestions, in case, upon further consideration,
it shall be deemed advisable to proceed forthwith.

AT the meeting of the Metropolitan and Provincial Law
Association, held at Birmingham, on Monday, a very able
paper, on " Defects in the Law of Debtor and Creditor, prac-
tically considered in order to their legislative amendment,"
was read by Mr. Lowndes, of Liverpool. Among other mat-
ters, Mr. Lowndes referred to the Bankrupt Act of 1849, as
the master grievance of the law of debtor and creditor. He
trusted that the meeting would not separate without agreeing
upon a memorial to the Lord Chancellor, praying his lordship
to have the Bankrupt Act of 1849 submitted to the three gen-
tlemen whom- his lordship had appointed to revise and conso-
lidate the statutes on the important branches of the law, as
being one requiring revision more urgently than any other,
with instructions to prepare a new bill, in which matters
should be expressed in•plain and intelligible, and not in inco-
herent and contradictory terms, like many portions of the Act
of 1849, and particularly the clauses as to arrangement by
deed. The suggestion met with general approval, and on the
following day the draft of a memorial was submitted ar.d
agreed to.