The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-07-13 00:00:00

There was another question which they had to con-
sider. Were they to take him now for better or for
worse, in sickness and in health, in vigour or in
old age. Now, if he became incompetent, there
was no difficulty in getting rid of the expense ; but at a
future time it would be held out that they deprived him
of kis practice; and if he was living to a 100 years he
must have the £2,000. He did not think the board was
warranted in doing this. He knew not of any kind of
service which could not have been rendered them by
any competent solicitor in the town. He should, there-
fore, propose to leave matters as they were, and not to
put that board under the obligation of paying £2,000
for the entire life of a man who, in all likelihood, long
before he expired would be entirely inefficient.
Mr. BaocKLEBANK, to a certain extent, participated
in the views expressed by Mr. Evans. He was not,
however, going to oppose the recommendation, for he
thought it might be desirable to have the services of
Mr. North entirely for the board; but he did feel that
they would not have been placed in the position of
being asked to enlarge Mr. North's salary to £2,000,
but for the difficulty which had arisen between Mr.
North and his partner.
Mr. FORWOOD thought the question was, were the
services of Mr. North such that they could afford to
lose them. He believed that rather than lose his ser-
vices, or any chance of losing them, they would give
him £2,000. Even after the Birkenhead works were
completed he thought there would be sufficient work for
the solicitor, for, looking at the niggardly way in which
the requisite funds had been given to them, they would
no doubt frequently have to go to Parliament.
Mr. EVANS said there were 700 solicitors in the town,
and God help them if they could not get one among .
them who could draw up au Act of Parliament.
The CHAtaItAN said the solicitor hail h, , T 1 allowed to
engage in private practice, and it the board desired him
to give that up he was certainly entitled to some remu-
neration.

Mr. EVAN.—Whe asks him to relinquish it ? There
is the whole of Liverpool before him, but he goes to
betray the interests of the dock estate in the person of
his partner.
Mr. SHAND believed their solicitor had been placed
in a very awkward position with regard to his partner. It
was originally intended that the solicitor of that board
should not be engaged in private practice at all, and,
under all the circumstances, he thought the committee
had been quite right in coming to the conclusion they
had done.

Mr. BOULT, referring to the statement of Mr. Evans
that Mr. North had betrayed the interest of that estate,
denied its truth, and said that on the contrary he
had always discharged his duty thoroughly and con-
scientiously. With respect to the amount of remunera-
tion, he thought, looking at the enormous extent of the
estate, at the number of transactions, and the number
of people they were brought into collision with, that it
was necessary to have the solicitor's whole services.

Mr. RANKIN, in reply, said that after the opinions
previously expressed at that board, the committee felt
that they could not do otherwise than make the recom-
mendation.

Mr. EVANS pressed for a division on the question,
but was the only one who voted against the confirmation
of the recommendation of the committee.

This concluded the public busiuess.

FIRE ON BOARD A SHIP IN THE
HUSKISSON DOCK.

While a large number of men were engaged in the
hold of the ship Marquette yesterday, discharging a
cargo of New Orleans cotton, they were almost instanta-
neously surrounded with smoke ; and, although they
made the best of their. way to the deck, some of them
were half suffocated, and had to be hoisted up. Alarmed
at the sudden outbreak, and the threatening aspect of
the fire, the parties on board the vessel seemed too much
astonished to take any measures to subdue the flames,
but information was despatched to the' various fire
stations, and at the earliest possible moment Mr. Hewitt,
with the engines, reels, and brigade from the Central
Station, the reels and brigades from Sandon Dock and
Collingwood Dock, were upon the spot.. The firemen
descended fearlessly into the hold, Mr. Hewitt being the
foremost, and were most active in their endeavours to
subdue the fire. After continuing their efforts for some
time, they had the satisfaction of seeing them successful.
and shortly afterwards the discharge of cargo was
proceeded with, the firemen playing upon the cotton as
it was thrown from the ship. One of the firemen fell
from the main hold into the lower hold, but, almost
miraculously, escaped with but little injury. In this
instance the firemen almost surpassed themselves in
their efforts to overcome the destructive element, and, as
to their exertions may be attributed the prevention of a
very serious conflagration and immense loss of property,
they deserve on this occasion more than usual praise.
It may be stated that the ship was uninjured. She
recently arrived from New Orleans, and is consigned to
Messrs. T. and J. Harrison. We have been unable to
ascertain whether the insurance has expired, as is usual
I on the arrival of a vessel in the dock.