The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-17 00:00:00

IVg MUNICIPAL ELECTION.

WESIr D IthY' WARY.

hitt'

MEETIXG OF THE FRIENDS OF
ANDERSON', ESQ:
Last eieh`teg; the electors and' friends of ,the above-
named gentlemanor
addresi has already been phb-
lished, and a most active; E.*. TO the present time,
to secure whose return to our munito
cipal parliament on
the first of November next a most satisfaCterle,anvass has
been instituted—held a preliminary meeting of Mr.
Marshall's, the Edge-hill Coffee-house. Edge-hill, :fol
the pnYrbEie of hearing-Mr. Andersen express his views
on the poptfiat lent is pies at, present on the Lapis. The
weather was exceedingly unpropitious, and that, com-
bined with many influential geutTeitierkeonnected with
the ward being engaged in making preparations for the
forthcoming opening of the Free Library, preveneed many
from being present who would otherwise have attended.
Buti notwithstanding these drawbacks, there was a large
meeting of the ward electors, amongst whom we observed
—EdwardWhitley, Robert Norris, Thomas Atherton,
Thomas Cortliit JBOll5 Ewart, T. Wignall, James
Parnell, George P. Id‘Fnight, Thomas Barrow, Thomas
Page, William Norris, Chailti parker, John Procter,
John *Marshall, J. W. Morgan, trottc Cer/ett, J. S.
Branch, W. M'Clelland, Thomas G. Sutton, john Cor-
lett, Edward Marshall, Charles Rowley Cheshire, 43'. 0.
Livingston, William Ratcliffe, and John Sutton. .
Mr. Josvpir HOLLAND was called upon to preside;
and, in taking the chair, he observed that as all the
ratepayers had been apprised of the objects for which
the meeting had been called, it would be a waste of
time to dilate on the subject. Therefore be would call
nyori Aff. I: O.- Dart to DEOID the first resolution.
Mr. EwAler canto forwardi and was greeted with the
greatest entl uslasin. He said he had great pleasure in
moving the adoption of the' first resolution, which was,
"That Mr. Weir Anderson is a fit and proper person
to represent the West Derby Ward in the nnuncipal
council ; and that this meeting pledges itself to me
every exertion to secure his return on the Ist ilovernlyer
next.' The niover of the resolution: reiterated his opinion
that through the ti'ay the'reprasentative Of the ward (Mr.
Beckwith) had condtieted hihriself, all the rates had
increased. With regard to the eevier-rate; it had been
fixed at tenpence in the pound, but there vfas rt tguaran-
tee that it would not extend to a much larger admit:
He quoted statistics to show the enormous increase in the
rating which had taken place since 1856, and contended
that if the Money raised from the ratepayers of West
Derby had been properly applied, there was no necessity
for an increase of the rates. As an illustration he referred
to the Newsham House Estate, Which had paid to the
Corporation about one per cent.. but stated that had it
been properly appropriated, the same as the waste
land in Birmingham, Hull, Glasgow, and Halifax,
a much greater per centage might have been
„made of the money. The Corporation of Liverpool had
made roe' per cent. of the expenditure of that estate;
b'u't, If they lied done their duty and appropriated it pro-
perly,' they nuigiit Bate had from five to ten per cent. for
their money: Let theta take alone the assessment for
the totinship'pf West Derby---all knew that that ward
had increased in its assessments, mid hating so increased
had a right to' be rei:reSeitted ; in 1848 the assestrnent of
the ward was £75,0013', btit noW it Was nearly doubled
—it was £114,000. That alight to be looked into'. He
then went on to show that Trimly distiicts v4Tere the
aristocracy lived, which, he said, had been drained and
sewered but the poorer districts had not been so treated;
and alleged as the sole cause that Mr. Beckwith bad
not paid a proper attention to the interests of the ward,
He concluded by saying that Mr. Beckwith bad not
fulfilled the duties of the office of town councillor for
the ward, and would, therefore, propose that Mr. Weir
Anderson is a fit and proper person to represent the
West Derby Ward, and that the meeting pledges itself
to use every leg'itima'te eteiticrn to secure his return.
Mr. Atherton: in a few words seconded the adoption
of the resolution.
The Chairman then put tu. i'Milittion, which was
carried by acclamation.

Mr. WEnt ANDERSON then entered the road, and he
was greeted with the most enthusiastic applause. lie'
said he had been requested to come forward to repre-
sent that ward, and perhaps they would be surprised
when he told them that this was the first occasion he
had to address a meeting of which he knew nothing
about until the present but he would clearly and
expliaitly, expound, to those who had objected to his
"biggt right" of becoming a member of the Town
Council of Liverpool. (Laughter.) Mr. Anderson then
went tiff td eiplairi that he was a Tory ; that was
the chief complaint against hini; but he would tell them
that, although he was a Tory, he had received a requisi-
tion from all parties, or he should iiet haVe come
forward to take a part in the meeting. it Was true
that he had been called a Tory. It was true he had been
acting for the Tory or Conservative . party as their
assessor. (Cheers). That was to be in opposition to
the liberal side of the question. But he had nothing
whatevet to do with either'the Liberal or the Tory side
of rive gestion4 the simple, fact was, that if they
pleased to el'eCe On Jig their representative for the
ward, he would perform the duties as their repre-
sentative to the best of his ability. His belief was,
that in supporting Conservatism they Wete doing their
best to support the interests of the queen .arid the
country. As a point of duty, as a candidate for the'
ward, he alluded to an article which had appeared in
the „lien/my a few days since, and which was to the
following effect—but instead of quoting it he had better
teed it entire-it
teas :
"It is Wl' years since there was any contest in this
ward, and a feW of ifieso persons who feel quite at home
when they are spending o'tlrex
*people's money in the
heat of a contested election are determined to leave no
stone unturned in the endeavour to get tip an opposition
to Mr R. M. Beckwith, who has served the ward faith-
fully for the last twelve years. Much against the advice
of some of the most influential men of his party in the
ware, :tn. -Trelt Anaemia IIi.LJ I=ll pixy LLIJULI LO
issue an address to the burgesses. The new candidate
is a thotough,,going Tory ; and, although in his address
he prVesses to eschew politics, these are the only
grounds Upon Which lie can claim the preference of the
electors.
• •
"As to the good taste at• a ze'nereman of Air. Anderson's
position allowing himself to being& the tool of the class of
men who have brought him forward there is no neces-
sity now to speak. We have a far more formidable
objection to the candidature of Mr. Anderson. Our
objection is that he is not qualified to become a candi-
date for any ward in this borough at the forthcoming
election. Even if he should go to the poll, and a
majority of votes be recorded in his favour, all these votes
would be thrown away, and his opponent would, in law, be
declared the sitting member. As a statement of this kind
without evidence would not be received in any court of
law, we now proceed to the proof. On the Ist of March
last, Mr. Weir Anderson was elected on the part of
the Tories to revise the municipal list of voters with
Mr. Driffield, the Reform assessor, and the mayor.
This week the revising asseesors have revised the
list of voters, and it would be a monstrous thing to
suppose that the law would allow a man to revise the
list of electors; and then present himself to the notice
of the electors as a candidate. In the year 1838 the
late Mr. Thorias Harvey Was one of the revising
assessors. After revising the list of voters he, on
the 15th of October, paid £5O, resigned the office of
assessor, became a candidate for Rodney-street Ward
On the Ist of November, and defeated Mr. Henry Law- •
rence by a majority of nine votes. On the 15th January
following Sir W. Follett applied to the Bail Court for a
rule calling upon Mr. Harvey to show cause why an
information in the nature of a quo warrnnto should
not be filed against him calling upon him to show by
what authority he exercised the office of town coun-
cillor of the *borough of Liverpool. On that occa-
sionawl t.gi g
ht
the court omitted a rule nisi, and the case was
argued
niNanovnepmphoeserd.
thTehrealeA.ttorTnieleyy-
Gner al theand
I%,contended ftorl. 1 o
that as by the provisions of the Municipal
Act the duties of the revising assessor were necessarily
to end on the 15th of ectober, and in fact did in
the case before them end on the 13th, nine days pre-
vious to the acceptance of his resignation, which was on
the 24th October. Mr. Harvey got rid of the objection
which might otherwise have existed as to his eligibility
on the ground of the office of revising assessor. Lord
Denman, the judge, observed that the spirit of the act
seemed to imply that no man should revise the lists of
electors and then present himself to their notice as a
candidate. He therefore ordered the writ to issue.
Acting on this decision, Mr. Harvey declined further to
contest his seat, and after legal opinions had been taken
on the question, it was decided that the votes given for
Mr. Harvey were had, and Mr. 11. Lawrence accord-
ingly took his seat, in council, without another election,
in the place of Mr. Harvey.
"If Mr. Weir Anderson wishes to get into a nice and
expensive lawsuit., he will proceed with the election. If
not, he must retire from the contest and wait till he is
not legally disqualified before he again seeks municipal
honours."

In answer to that, as Mr. Anderson said, most 'foolish
and absurd explanation of the law of the case, he quoted
the 1 Vic., c. 78, s. 15, which showed that no burgess
was eligible to hold office as assessor ; and the sth and
6th Wm., c. 78; s. 37. which showed that every assessor
should continue in office until the first of March follow-
ing his election : but by another act of parliament such
an assessor, if elected as a town councillor, could not be
rejected or superseded, provided he complied with the
act of parliament. Having with great minuteness
explained the legal points in case, and said that after
consulting several legal gentlemen, some of whom were
on the opposite side, because he did not think that
it was advisable that doctors should always administer
doses to themselves, he was perfectly satisfied in
saying that if it was the pleasure of the ratepayers to
.elect him—althonzh an assessor he could resign, and
pay the fee of £2s—he would do his duty, and no law
could remove him from the position of their represen-
tative. He concluded by pledging himself, if elected,
that he would not Allow the West Derby Ward to be
"snubbed" by the Corporation, as it had been, but
would do his utmost to promote its interests. Mr.
Anderson resumed his seat amidst the most enthusiastic
applause.
The motion was put and carried by acclamation.
Mr. M'KsrnlfT then moved that the following
gentlemen he constituted a committee to secure the
return of- Mr. Anderson : —Messrs. T. F. Anderson,
Henry Bremner, James Gaskill, Wm. Radcliffe, Edward
Whitley, George Arkle, John Buck Lloyd, Lawrence
Peel, Thomas Corlthill, George Ashworth, Richard
Bennett, Edward Byford, John' 0. Evart, Edward
Marshall, James Darnall, George
Thomas Barrow, Isaac Simm, Robert Wignakll,
Thomas Page William Trevitt, .T. Marsden Buck,
G. H. Horsfall, J. G. Livingstone, T. Ridley, Johin.Golard
P. M‘Knight,
Morris, Councillor Nickson, Joshua Ashley, Richard
Addison,
Ellis Jones, S. Ellis Ibbs,
Henryherton; Hugh
Walker, William Norris, Thomas
Addison, Richard Welsh, James Booth Gaisusil:le,r,Sammuoesl.
R. I'4'reAct, John William rcher, John Williams,
Locock, 'John Sadler,
William Addison,
Willrthink. Hadrian,. George Winram,
Mal-
let, Capt. Bissett,
Ellis Brammall,
Charles Phillis, Thomas Wilson, E.
William Jackson,
\v almsley, John Corlett, William
John Sloane, William Thnrnborrow,
Walmsley, Joseph
Elijah Foulkes, Charles Wright, B. Sears,
Gra-
ham, Edward
Peter Rowson, J. A. Minshall, Chas
John Hammond. James Lott, Henry Grice,- James
Richard Pafford,
low Thomase Ryder.
Rowley Giles ' 9
seconded themotion,l• in
ant • abrief
thought the'- ward'
Mr. Cortirthr, d
1h
Mr. Beckwith. The ward, he
'hie
but forci
had. been,,
one of the largest in . the borough, with one
said, way
Issessinentarnonntir to above a quarter
la. (ilrderejss., Bs
t.. a: e Morgan,
exception ; the , .
present . , .., ,
time ,'
of million at the
humbugged by
w twelve years ago, althotigh lie recollected the ward for
tthe last thirty years, Mr. ' Beckwith bad, when
then elected, pledged himself' that he would
do his utmost to keep the rates down ; that he would
stop the Pike—a scandalous piece of jobbery—(hear,