The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-22 00:00:00

"to make assurance doubly sure"—if not also to
" take a bond of fate"—" the Council directed the
Town-Clerk to obtain legislative sanction" to their
acknowledged and undisputed rights. If any one
should think this was a work of supererogation
and extravagance, involving also unnecessary
delay, they must believe themselves mistaken.
Who shall dare to gainsay the Municipal wisdom?
The Council must have known best. It will he
admitted that if legislative sanction was necessary
it. might have been easily and speedily procured.
What then has come of it? Nothing. Who is
•to blame? Of course not the Council, or the
Town-Clerk. The Circumlocution office has many
ramifieations constructed for the strangling of
sorts of endeavours. On the present
occasion, as generally happens, it is not very
Clear in which department the " bnrking" took
place. All that we are told is, that " a clause
was prepared for insertion in the General High-
ways Bill ; but, unfortunately, that bill was not
proceeded with." We have h( and enough of the
evils arising from the incompetency of the Wilig
Radical Government.. Here, then, is another
that comes home to our own doors. We are to
believe that Liverpool has to thank the Govern-
ment that it caunot get a street railway. The
committee are perfectly satisfied that such con-
structions would conduce to the public benefit
and convenience. But what of that ? Has not
the CoUncil already determined to have legisla-
tive sanction in this great undertaking ? That
may waste another year ; but is the Circumlocu-
tion office to give way to public benefit and
convenience ? Then, again, Mr. TRAIN and
Messrs. BUSBY have severally submitted very
good models ; and the former has actually
demonstrated to the public the superiority of his
patent : but why shauld not the Corporation
of Liverpool be permitted to spend a few
thousands in making an experiment of its own ?
It has plenty of money and not much to do
with it ; and even if it should squander a goodly
round sum, nobody in particular will be to blame;
and in the end, after a little bungling, it, will be
at libert.v to throw aside its own hobby, and adopt
Mr. TRAIN'S patent, after it has been introduced
into every other great town in the Kingdom.
Seeing that our councillors have so little to do,
Why should they not add to their duties those of
railway proprietors and directors. Doubtless it
might be made a source of great profit to the
town and help to reduce the rates!
.The town
does not manufacture its own gas ; but ought it
not to make.its own railways and railway omni-
buses? Has not the CorporatiOn provided our
water supply, and have we not reaped enormous
profits from that very successful adventure ? Of
course, our Water-work- Directors, the Council,
have not secured a supply of water sufficient to
extinguish great fires ; but, who's to blame ?
Nobody. Why then should not the Council try
its hand at railWaY construction and manage-
ment ? By all
_means let us have at once a new
Committee of Council appointed under some such
euphonious title as the " Horse Railway and
'Omnibus Committee r ".

In the meantime, althoUgh it is clear that we
vannot calculate on the'realisation of Street Rail-
Ways in Liverpool for a year or two to come, the
discussion drags its weary length along through
committees and sub-committees; and, despite
every obstacle and obstruction that can be
thrown in the way of the Tiaii4 being started in
our streets, the time must come, sooner or later,
When the poor man's luxury shall no longer be
Withheld. In the meantime, it is worth while
noting that the month of November is close at
hand, when abundant opportunities will be
afforded to the electors to do themselves and their
representatives the justice of eliciting a few of
the mysteries of the Circumlocution office, and of
the mysterious process belonging thereto of
How not to do it."

GRAND CELF.BRATION AT THE OPENING
OF THE NEW FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

This event is to be celebrated with a degree of
*Pliindour, magnificence, and popular display wholly

unequalled by any public spectacle hitherto known in
Liverpool, by the present or any former generation.
This is saying a great deal, when we reflect on the
unparalleled gorgeousness of some of the brilliant.
demonstrations which have graced the annals of the
good old town ; but we feel assured that it is not saying
too much. The very fact that the ceremonial is to be
extended over three whole days, testifies to the great-
ness of the occasion, and the amount of honour and
importance to he attached to the event. To this well-
Merited recognition of the gift of Colonel Brown are to
be devoted Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 17th,
18th, acid 19th of October next. The principal day
on which the more important parts of the tri-diurnal
lets is to be gone through will be Thursday, the 18th of
October. The 18th of October is a day of glorious
memory in the annals of the borough. It is St. Luke's
day. And who that knows ought of the history of the
rood old town does not think with glowing emotions of
the noble festivities of our ancestral fellow-citizens, on
that commemoration of what may be called the patron
saint of Liverpool ? Before that horrid nuisance
Reform began to trouble the heads of quiet money-
making and easy-going old burghers, there was no day
all the year round to equal St. Luke's day for jollity and
civic enjoyment. It was the Liverpudlian Carnival—
the halcyon day of the toiling masses—the schoolboy's
greatest holiday—the culmination of civic hospitality.
When less pacific days arrived, and Reform
came to be the fashion—even then the ancient
importance of St. Luke's day was not forgotten.
On St. Luke's Day, 1852, under the glorious mayoralty
ol Thomas Littledale, Esq., who enjoys both naval and
niiliwy honours as captain and commodore, the original
Free PubliC Library was formally opened ; and now, on
the same memorable date, the New Library is to be in-
augurated, attended by every circumstance which can
add significance to the important event. Among the
countless throng of visitors of distinction and influence
Who will assemble to do honour to the occasion will be
no less than five earls, some bishops, viscounts, barons,
and peers, noblemen, knights, and gentry, of various
ranks, and distinguished men of all countries. Some
illustrious connection, all the way from America, will
arrive for the special purpose of witnessing the celebra-
tion.
The proceedings will commence on Wednesday, the
17th, at a meeting in the Royal Amphitheatre, intended
chiefly for the working classes. This capacious build,
Ing, capable -of accommodating so many thousands, will
ba honoured bY the attendance on the platform of many
of the most distinguished visitors and guests assembled
fOr the fete. The speeches will be of the highest
espec ia
and worthy of an audience and an age which order,
lly
v'ePognises the old truth that "a man's a man fox a'
The great day—St. Luke's day, Thursday, the
iSth---we- hope will dawn and maintain itself throughout
glorious day, for it will and ought to be a brave day
for Liverpool. There will be a noble reception at our
municipal palace, t 4 Town Hall, where a procession
'win be formed to •plnceed to the new Free Public
Library. One great feature of this procession will be
that of the whole body of .the Volunteers of Liverpool
and neighbourhood, who will form e.a army of some six
*even thousand men. The procesaion will make a
detour through some of the principal streets, 0 enable
its enormous length to extend itself to its proper dimen-
sions—Dale-etreet being inadequate for that purpose.
'When the Volunteers ,seach the Library, they will pass
by, and baying thus paid t.beir compliments to the insti-
-tq-tion and its donor, they will proceed to march through
list town to give the inhabitants an opportunity of see-
ing this noble army of national defenders, such as they
'have uZ,scr yet enjoyed. This will be of itself a grand
sight never surpassed in the history of the borough. In
rue evening, at six o'clock, a grand banquet will
be held in St. George's Hall, when the cere-
in°nY will take place of unveiling the statue
Colonel Brown, for which a suitable niche has been
awarded in the great hall. The dinner will be prepared
l
▪ Mr. Merrish, of the Merchants' Dining-rooms, and will
be provided oh the most munificent scale. One of the
11'ust gratifying circumstances connected with this festival
..;
4a
the fact that ladies are invited to dine with the
gentlemen at the same board. The galleries will be
oPened to the public at a moderate charge, and refresh-
will be procurable for these occupants at a
moderate rate in an ante-room. The quality of the
Ztlests and the object of the meeting render it beyond
all doubt that the speaking on this occasion will be of
rare excellence. On the evening of Thursday there will
le.ke a treble pyro. technic display for the entertainment of
general public. For the south end there will be an
e hlition of fireworks in the Parliament-fields; for the
\north end on the waste ground near the canal at
u
xhall-road ; for the east side on the cricket g,rotend
between Edge-hill and Low-hill. Thursday, it is anti-
cipated, will be observed as a general holiday, and will
undoubtedly be long remembered by the present and the